“Caring for those Jesus loves draws me closer to him.” – Kay Warran “Dangerous Surrender”
“Coach, today I saw this group of kids in the hall worshipping Satan!” I looked at her with confusion, she went on to tell me what she was interpreting as “worshipping” and then she said, “You know what I did to them?” My mind went immediately to, “Oh no! Please don’t tell me you punched one of them!” I was preparing to reprimand her for her disciplinary behavior but before I said anything I looked at her and her sweet eyes looked up at me as she said, “I prayed!” I’ve been reminded of that conversation all week as I have witnessed people, including myself, partaking in things that are not in the spirit of God. Although I’m the coach and I tend to think of myself as one of the people who has the opportunity to teach my players how to do things the right way, or the way that I think is the best way, I was the one who was learning on this day, she was coaching me on the power of prayer. Instead of placing ourselves above others, condemning them for their beliefs and actions, seeing ourselves and our actions above theirs, stand alongside them, show them love and compassion. Sometimes when you set out to teach others, it’s those you hope to teach, that end up teaching you the greatest lessons.
“To care means first of all to empty our own cup and to allow the other to come close to us. It means to take away the many barriers which prevent us from entering into communion with the other. When we dare to care, then we discover that nothing human is foreign to us, but that all the hatred and love, cruelty and compassion, fear and joy can be found in our own hearts…” – Henri Nouwen
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21
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