It’s Too Late to Train on Game Day

Let’s journey together back to a day in May 2009…

It was very hot, humid and still. No breeze penetrates the remote jungle of Eastern Cambodia, between the Mekong River and the border with Vietnam. I had visited a nearby village to meet with the Head Man and was walking along a narrow path on my way back to our base camp. It was a normal day, like hundreds of others, except for one thing. A group of rebels had decided that today was the day I was to be assassinated.

As we approached an intersection along the path a feeling came over me like I’d walked into an invisible cloud of dread. In a soft thought that drifted gently into my mind God told me not to continue along the normal path and to take a route I had never used by turning onto the little side track. Going that way would be a significantly longer and harder walk with hills and creeks to wade. I wouldn’t be popular if I made the guys do that.

Over time, through a lot of trials and more than a few errors, I had come to trust that still, small voice so even though the unusual path would cost me time, discomfort and the displeasure of those walking with me, I acted on it and took that path.

A few hours later as we arrived in our camp, the local police commander came roaring in on his moto. He was visibly agitated saying “Mr Mick, the rebels were waiting along the path to ambush you. They know you went around them and they’re coming here to kill you now.”

That news definitely fits in the ‘not good’ category.

I’m very grateful there was a helicopter with the best pilot in the country in camp (coincidence?) and I was soon skimming away across the tree tops, only minutes ahead of the rebels entering the camp…

Now let’s step into the time machine again and journey back a further 2 years to 2007. I’m in a deli in Toronto trying to decide which sandwich to have for lunch. I ask God which one I should have. He says “the one with moldy cheese”. One reason I knew that thought was from God is that I hate even the thought of moldy cheese! Just thinking about it would bring bile up into the back of my throat.

I deliberately decide to trust God and act on it. Stomach churning I order the disgusting sandwich, steel myself and take a bite… And it was really good! I thanked God for expanding my culinary world to include green bacteria and He replied simply “No problem”.

If you’re thinking, “why on earth is he talking about a moldy cheese sandwich? That life & death, bad guys in the jungle stuff was far more interesting!”

The reason is simple. If we can’t confidently recognise Gods voice about a sandwich in the safety of a Toronto deli but we think we will be able to in a genuine pressure situation… Well, to quote the pinnacle of Australian philosophical literature, The Castle, “You’re Dreamin!”

We often like to say “AMEN BROTHER!” to the story of averted crisis… Are we as excited about what it takes to be ready when our own crisis comes? Will we have developed the confidence required to not just hear but to act immediately on what we hear when it will cost us something, as it always does? Should we even expect to be able to have that confidence?

John 10:3 in the NLT says “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Here John doesn’t just say it’s possible for His sheep to hear Him and recognise His voice or that some sheep might. It says they DO…

When I first saw that I found it really challenging! Does anyone else feel a little challenged by that? Unfortunately it gets worse! (Or better actually because being able to grow in this area is an amazing opportunity.)

The fact that all Jesus sheep should hear his voice is a big deal, and conspicuously absent from much of today's church, so it’s understandable that messages on this text often focus solely on that. But that isn’t even the thrust of this verse. He’s just getting started. The next sentence builds on that saying “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

The first key word there is “leads”. What’s the missing link between us hearing Jesus and Him being able to lead us? We have to be willing to move, to put action to what He has said.

The other critical word is “out”. Jesus doesn’t lead us around inside our comfortable sheep pen. Jesus’s aim here is to lead us “OUT” where He needs us to be His hands and feet. Notice that John 10:3a which says “Unless the sheep might feel uncomfortable following their Lord’s lead, then Jesus says ‘Of course you stay there. After all, comfort is our guiding principle.’” doesn’t exist. Nor does it exist anywhere else in the bible as the daily lives of Jesus and the disciples clearly attest to.

In short, Jesus wants us to HEAR, ACT and GO OUT. Hearing is only step 1. Unfortunately to most of the modern, western church, even that step seems a bit like jumping to the moon…

It’s possible that a few of you may be thinking “That makes sense, but I’m not really foreseeing any assassination attempts in the near future so it’s not such a big deal for me.” Sure, your “game day” might not involve bullets in the jungle… What if it’s when you’re driving some friends home and God’s still small voice says “take a different road”… Isn’t avoiding a car crash that would have killed someone just as important? What about when God whispers “Call that person”? Could acting on that, right then, result in a little change of direction for that person that ends up completely changing their eternal destiny? Sometimes the big things ARE the everyday things. In fact that is usually the case.

So here are the key points :

The bottom line is that Jesus wants to lead us. If Jesus wants something to happen and we say He’s our Lord then there shouldn’t be any question about whether we’re going along with Him.

For that to happen we need to :

• Hear and recognise His voice
• Act on it
• And realise that will usually mean stepping “OUT” away from the comfort of the sheep pen along unknown paths which always costs us something.

If we can’t routinely do that with little, every day things like choosing a sandwich but we think we’ll be ready to handle it when the big things come…. Well, good luck with that. I hope I’m not the person God’s relying on you to help.

I’ve had many game days since May of 2009. Quite a few have been far more protracted and difficult. The fact that I’m still breathing shows that I’ve heard and acted correctly at least some of the time. Other times I’ve dropped the ball. Sometimes I didn’t even realise there was a game on! There’s always room for improvement. I see that as an opportunity, not a condemnation.

So what do I do? I just keep training — HEAR, ACT, GO OUT, building confidence about when it is God that’s speaking to me, and when it’s not. Maintaining my state of readiness and hoping that today will be my best game. Joyfully expectant that He will use me for His ends. There might be many spectators but the only smile I’m playing for is His.

Don’t be fooled into thinking there aren’t a lot of “Game Days” coming for every single one of us or that you’ll see them coming and have time to prepare. You’d be wrong on both counts. In fact a simple truth is the that the more ready you are, the more games God will use you in.

The question I think God wants us to be asking ourselves is — Have I put in the training so I’m ready to play my best so I’m of use to Him? Can I help Him win today?

I know my answer. Do you know yours?