I remember my first game, playing pop warner football in middle school. We were new to the area, it was my first semester at that school, we did not know anyone, and my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to join the football team to make connections. Two days before the first game we received our brand-new jerseys. The tradition was that you would give your jersey to whoever you were dating the night before the game for good luck, and that that person would bring the jersey to school on the day of the game. Again, I was new at the school and so when a young lady asked if she could take my jersey home, I was all too eager.
The day of the game I could not find her most of the day. It was not until right before we were to get on the bus that she came running up to me, with the biggest smile, grasping my jersey in her hand while waving as she ran. She told me she had spent all night, and half the morning “working on my jersey.” I will never forget those words, as I repeated them back to her as a question “working on my jersey?”
She had decided that the best use of her artistic skills was to poke holes all throughout my jersey in creative patterns, leaving only the number on the back intact. It was her gift to me – and she did it honestly from a place of joy and intentionality. And so, during that first game of pop warner football, brand new to that middle school, there I stood on the sidelines in a custom-made jersey with holes everywhere, as my coach and team looked on and laughed.
The jersey did not need to be messed with. It was good as it was. God’s word: yesterday, today, and tomorrow is the same. God’s promises, provisions and plans are good as they are. They do not need to be messed with; they are good as they are. What they need, like my jersey; was what my coach said to me during that first game “get some dirt on that jersey!”
What he meant was, do not just wear the jersey, put it in use. Get out on the field and take some hits, catch some balls, and get that jersey dirty. Our faith is the same. It is good as it is, it does not need to be messed with, but it does need to “mess with” the world. Our faith needs to be worked, it needs to be activated, used and trotted out on the field of life to battle on our behalf. Let us not just wear our faith, let us work on our faith. Instead of holding on to the crisp clean and pressed lines of scripture, let us be willing to pray dangerous prayers, speak hope to the hopeless, and preach light to those in darkness. This we can do together; let us get some dirt on these jerseys.
Dr. Ron Bell
