How to Be Unstoppable

Photo: Eric Drost, Creative Commons, cc license

I don't remember them being at all the games, but they were at the home games. Me, jumping around in my red and white cheerleading skirt, or hidden away inside a red Cardinal bird mascot, cheering on the junior varsity basketball and football teams, and Mom and Dad in the stands. In small Midwest farming towns, middle school cheerleaders pulled double duty for both junior varsity boys' sports.

Lanky and gangly in girls' basketball shorts during other parts of the year, I guarded my side of the court, and tried to have my stubborn defensive skills make up for my petite frame. My parents joined the town in the stands while my siblings stood in line at the concession stand or joked with their friends. Throughout my short-lived 7th and 8th grade basketball career, I always felt my parents' love and support. Those memories sprang to mind today.

The call comes and it's been expected. It's a higher counter-offer than we'd hoped for from the seller, but oddly, it's okay. I woke up thinking about it last night, and my husband and I talked more this morning, knowing our range and determined to stick within it.

In my time reading the Bible this morning, I read stories of prison breaks, wild miracles, God at work, and the compelling lines from Acts chapters 4 and 5.

"For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

"They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen."

Then an angel ordered the men to "Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life."

What new life was this? A life of boldness, trust, peaceful calm and joy despite occasional circumstances that seemed against them. A life story of rescue, love, and a fullback hero. And the real kicker? They were on the winning team. Their Abba God Dad was the Coach, and he was unstoppable.

Side-liners and spectators weighed in,
        "If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
         BUT if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men;
         you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

These verses grab me, and I underline the nearby phrases too. "They chose men known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom," including Stephen, "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit," "full of God's grace and power." And "no one could stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke."

And this is no longer really about houses for me, but about a lifestyle, a life focus of wanting to be used by God in bold ways. May I be so filled with Him that he floods from me.

Want to be unstoppable? Your God already is. Reach out, and let him pull you up into the fray and the adventure.

Photo: Ed Yourdon, Creative Commons, cc license

Your dreams, passions, and goals? If they are of God, they'll be unstoppable. He made you and has plans beyond what you can imagine.