I was at an over 35’s rugby game a little while back. A game between two evenly matched teams both at the end of their season and unbeaten. Both playing a percentage game not wanting to risk losing the match. The 1st half ended with both teams sharing the spoils. As half time ended I heard a wife shout to her husband “when are you going to do something?” He shouted back “I am waiting for the right time, and then I will score two tries”
It happened! 5m from their try line they were awarded a defensive scrum. They won it but were going backwards. The scrummy threw a wild pass that missed the fly-half landing in the scoring zone. In the mad rush by both teams to claim the loose ball the player mentioned above managed to rush in from the left wing and secure the ball, everyone (players and supporters) shouting to him to dot it down. He had other thoughts. Stepping the first player behind the try line, he raced forward with the crowd and players now shouting “kick it, clear it!!” Everyone expected that he would, even the opposition, it was the obvious game saving thing to do. He didn’t agree. For him it was the RIGHT TIME to be a GAME CHANGER! With gaps opening as opposition players started to shift into positions to receive the kick he continued to break from behind his try line and then beyond the 22m, evading the odd player. With everyone caught off guard (some of his own team mates included), he was already entering the opponent’s half when a concerted effort was mounted to catch him – too late – TRY TIME!!
Just to rub salt into the wounds he went on to score his second try that he promised his wife. Virtually from the kick-off too, as he surprised them again with a “non-conforming” strategy. He went off after that exhausted, but the game was won. At the RIGHT TIME against the odds, in what would be impossible positions he became a GAME CHANGER!!
You are called to be a GAME CHANGER!
My core belief is that each one of us has a game changing moment/s couched within our destiny. We need to be able to recognise them and take advantage of them.
(Join us at CityHill Hillcrest on 17 & 18 February for the Gideon Experience conference to hear more. Register at http://cityhillchurch.co.za/)
2 Samuel 23:20 describes one of the many notable acts of Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men as “…He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.”
History suggests that Benaiah, busy with the normal demands of life and being a soldier of David’s came across a village under siege from a lion during a severe winter where food was scarce. The lion had made his way from his usual haunt in search of food and had made his home in a cistern adjacent to the village. To the terror of the villagers the lion preyed on them. It would seem God interrupted Benaiah’s daily routine with a task for him. To rescue a village! Benaiah went into the pit with hands numb from the cold, with very little room to move and against all odds battled and killed the ferocious lion angered by hunger. Benaiah became God’s game changer for that village.
Your destiny will likely contain game changing moments, moments that can change a village, a region, a nation. You know that what I have just said touches something in your heart, it resonates inside of you. You feel it, but you convincing yourself that it is impossible. “Too old, wrong timing, not enough money, took too many wrong turns in my life, just battling to survive and do the right/responsible/realistic thing now.” Yes, I agree, you may well be at a distinct disadvantage, but isn’t that where God wants you? Taking on a moment, a challenge, a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention?
Gideon, David, the Nation of Israel at the Red Sea were all at a distinct disadvantage when they answered God’s call and became game changers for Him.
It takes a special breed of man to answer God’s call at such a time as that.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says “Hell begins the day God grants you the vision to see all that you could have done, should have done, and would have done but did not do.”
Our inaction to God-ordained opportunities leaves a bitter aftertaste that lasts a lifetime, as we keep asking “What if?”. Failing to take a risk is like “losing a piece of the jigsaw puzzle of your life” says Mark Batterson.
You might just be a decision, an opportunity, away from becoming God’s game changer. Go take on your lion!!
Let your God-given dream direct you into a game changing moment!