Cats or The Cross?

With the madness of March finally over and time to sit back and reflect on my team of choice, Kentucky Wildcats, national championship season, I became very convicted. And then at a bible study on a Wednesday night I was challenged with the question of "what if...?"

I am not much of a deep thinker, or even much of a good thinker at all, in my personal opinion.  But for some reason I got on quite a thinking spree. And I began to write down very quickly my thoughts in my journal. So I thought I would share them on here with y'all.

"What if"... I were as passionate as about Christ as I am about UK basketball? 

This is a hard thought in itself to swallow. Read it again. But substitute your passion or even worse personal idol, in the place of UK basketball if you're not much of a sports fan. Now I am going to stick with my basketball analogy for the rest of this blog entry but it all fits the same mold. It is just some questions to ponder about.

I will be the first to tell you I am a UK Wildcats fan. And proud of it too. But are we always proud to be Christians? Or at times are we more timid and reserved? I wear my UK blue and people can tell I am a UK fan. But can people always tell I am a Christian?

UK-UL week at my work, Dick's Sporting Goods, was quite the rush, very similar to Black Friday times. So of course, everyone wants to talk basketball and I made sure most if not all customers knew I was a UK fan. But "what if" I had the mindset of telling everyone I come in contact about being on the Lord's team?

I really enjoy seeing a UL or Tennessee fan become a UK fan and wear a UK shirt! "What if" we tried our hardest to convert unbelievers to believers and see change in their lives and fruit being produced?

During the season, I can tell when the next UK game is and usually the next two or three there after. Though I can not tell you the day Christ will be returning only that He will be. "What if" we lived each day of our lives in anticipation of His return?

I really like to know and learn about UK basketball (history, players, coach, etc.) I follow many UK and college basketball analysts on Twitter and read many different articles quite often. "What if" I would pour as much time into the Word and wanting to know about Christianity as I did with UK and sports?

Every sports fan loves to attend sporting events and go to the games of their favorite team. "What if" we had the same desire to go overseas and spread the Gospel? Or even just to go and serve locally in an orphanage or homeless shelter, for example.

Finally, here is a little scenario to put this whole idea into perspective. 

If you were watching the UK and UL game and you were the only UK fan, you would definitely wear the colors of your team. And NEVER would you wear the colors of the opposing team. Now let's look at this with a Christian perspective. Let's say UL fans are unbelievers and the lone UK fan is the believer. "What if" we were just as bold in speaking what we know as Truth into the lives of these unbeliever like we would if this were a basketball game?

All Funds Raised!

I am approximately 50 days from landing in the beautiful country of Nicaragua. All of my funds have been raised for the trip and I will be purchasing my plane tickets very soon! The tentative dates for my time in Nicaragua are May 28th- July 28th. 

I am really excited to get back down there this year. I have been able to practice Spanish a lot more from here in the states through Facebook chat with my friends in Nicaragua. Also I will be working with many of the same pastors, kids, churches, and communities this year. I have talked to Paul Rosas from Knoxville (FBC Concord team) and my first week we will be doing a soccer camp/tournament. 

Also Grayson McReynolds, whom I met last year, will also be interning with me this summer. Please be in prayer for both of us as we will be in a different culture with a different language for an extended amount of time.

Also please check back on this blog for more posts and throughout my trip to keep up with us and the work we will be doing in Nicaragua. Also you can follow me on Twitter (@kegandewitt) or Facebook to see when new posts are up!

Genesis 3

In my church service this morning we discussed Genesis 3. These are just some of the thoughts I wanted to get down on how I feel about this passage of scripture.

First off let's just say that I am not a huge fan of snakes so the Lord cursing the snakes makes me feel as though my dislike for them is justified!

Genesis 3 is the main reason we have any other page in the Bible, which is pretty incredible to think of that one chapter can be the setting for the rest of the words in this beautiful story. Verse 6 is the turning point in this story, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." This is when sin enters the world.

A contractor is scrambling to get his quote for a job together and deliver it to the potential customer. The contractor was running out of time so he could not mail his quote and it arrive before the due date. So he decides that he is going to hand deliver it to the president of the company. 

When he arrives at the office of the president, the president is not in his office and so he must wait. As he is sitting there waiting for the president, he notices his competitors quote is laying on the presidents desk. After glancing over his shoulder, he notices he is all alone and he then begins attempting to read the competition upside down as cautious as possible. He then hits an obstacle. The competitors quote total price on the paper is covered directly by a coke can. He yet again checks over his shoulder and begins to ponder on if he should move the can and check the price or not.

He realizes that he is there by himself and no one is around so he takes a deep breath, steadies his hand, and places it on the coke can. He lifts the half filled aluminum can, as he does BB's scatter all over the desk and floor. The contractor immediately realizes he has made a huge mistake and he then lays his quote on the desk and walks away in shame.

This is very similar to the story in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve and the fruit. After they ate the fruit they ran and hid from God and were ashamed that they were naked. Like the BB's, sin spreads throughout humanity. But how encouraging is it to see next, that it was all apart of God's plan.

The Lord curses man, woman, and serpent. My favorite part of this chapter is in verse 15, where he says to the serpent, "he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." This is God telling Satan in the serpent directly that humanity has a hope to come in the larger framework of the Biblical story, that is that this hope comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is presented in the New Testament as defeating Satan! What a Glorious Day!

Chili at Wendy's

Before I tell this story, I am not writing this to "toot my own horn" because I was just as convicted and glad I was able to notice this in my own life. I am writing this as more of encouragement and bring attention to this.

Today I was leaving the Oxmoor Mall and pondering what I should get for lunch. As I was trying to get back on the main road to head towards all of the fast food places, I hit one of those triangle median place in the road. As I followed the road around being the good law abiding citizen I am, I began looking for the first opportunity to turn around. I made a right and a u-turn on the next road, as I can to the stop light I noticed a homeless man standing there on the side of the road. He was holding a sign that said "Hungry, Please help, God Bless!" Completely out of the ordinary for me I sat there at that red light and contemplated picking him up and taking him to lunch with me or not. The light seemed to stay red until I finally made my decision.

I pulled up to the gentlemen holding his sign and rolled down my window and said, "Hey do you want to go to lunch with me?"

I believe he was kind of throw off by my question, as I was wondering "what the heck am I doing?" in my own mind.

He responded, "where are you going?"

And I said "where ever you want to go."

He said, "Rally's! They got really good chili."

"Get on in!" I responded.

We headed down the road and eventually pulled up to Wendy's because "they also have good chili." We sat there and talked for about 45 minutes to an hour. We talked from everything about his dad in the military to the homeless lifestyle.

After we finished eating, I asked him "Where he needed to go to?"

He said, "Just take me back to my spot."

So I prayed for him before dropping him off at his spot and we parted ways. 

As I returned back to campus I began to tell others about my interesting and unique lunch date. I began to get some responses that got my brain going. This was the first time in my life that I had done something this "extreme." But aren't we as followers of Christ called to do this daily? In Matthew 25:40 it talks about "whatever you do for me, you do for the least of these." Sure it requires us to step out of our comfort zone and even put ourselves at potential risk but it is one of our calls as followers. I am again not calling anyone out or putting myself up on a pedestal. Just sharing this eye opening experience to motivate myself and others to start doing what we are called to do! God Bless!