When the stadium is empty and the morning is quiet and still, it's easy for your thoughts to wander as you go through the stadium flipping trash cans, setting up the field, and of course, as I already mentioned, posting the flags at the top of the stadium. Standing on the top tier of our bleachers, trying not to lean too hard against the chain link fence, and standing on my tippy-toes may not sound exactly daunting to you, but for me I kind of get a little weak in the knees if I lean a little too much towards the fence and the 200 or so foot drop that awaits on the other side of the translucent wire barrier. Yet on this particular morning, my thoughts were directed to the bleachers themselves, and to be more precise the rivets, bolts, and nuts that hold those bleachers together.
Each week the stands are filled with hundreds of fervent fans, rising to their feet, children pouncing from one bleacher to the next, and students pounding down on the metal structures as they are either celebrating a winning touchdown, or agonizing over an incomplete pass that could have won the game. As I was walking across those same bleachers early that morning, the thought crossed my mind that really all that holds those bleachers together are small nuts and bolts, some riveted together and others cranked tight by hand or machine. Really? People jump up and down on, rest comfortably on, and fully place their trust in a quantity of nuts and bolts that would probably fit in the bed of my little old red Ford pick-up truck? That's trust, or it's being oblivious. Take your pick. The same would be true for Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, over 100,000 screaming, crazed fans will be jumping up and down on a structure that at its foundation is held together by rather small nuts and bolts in comparison to the task they are charged. Yet we never give it a second thought, we trust that the engineering feats of the skill sets of those that designed and built our stadiums are far more superior than the force of gravity which is constantly pulling things downward. That's a considerable amount of faith I would venture to say.
If we will place our faith in nuts and bolts to hold not only the bleachers up in our stadiums, but also safely protect our own lives and the lives of our children, then what type of faith does it require to trust that God's Word is true, Jesus' life and teachings were real, and that our faith in God is centered around a trust that God is real and that he is there for you in your adversities and afflictions? The words of Jesus recorded in the gospel of Matthew 17:20 assure us, Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." In our daily lives the first thing many of us do is give up when we face adversity. We don't turn to our faith in God and seek His guidance or ask for His strength to face the challenge in front of us. Faithless, we attempt to conquer life's setbacks on our own. If we do turn to our faith, we too often place a limit on what is possible thus limiting our faith, which grows and matures as we hold tight to our faith in the midst of turmoil in our lives.
Mustard seeds are small, so tiny that a large hand full would probably fit on the head of one bolt that holds our bleachers together. Yet, in a second parable also found in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32. If having the faith the size of a mustard seed enables us as Jesus shared in the first parable, then wouldn't it be safe to say that as our faith grows from mustard seed size to the size of the mustard tree, our resolve and perseverance should be growing just as well. As our perseverance grows and our faith matures, should we not arrive at a place where we can place our trust in God regardless of the circumstances or outcomes we traverse through in our lives?
Faith is organic, we don't just obtain it at its most intimate level when we accept God as our personal Savior, instead it grows as we invest ourselves in reading, studying, worshiping, and trusting in Him. Just as the mustard seed starts out tiny and grows into a mighty tree, your faith too will grow and mature as you learn to trust and obey God's plan for your life.
Coach Carter
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