MY GRANDSTAND PEOPLE

Years ago, I heard a message by Dr. Adrian Rogers titled Detours, Dead Ends and Dry Holes.  Little did I know at the time that I was about to hit a Detour, A Dead End and a Dry Hole.  I found myself in a place I never expected to be.  My life took a route I never saw coming.  And as a result, I found myself, for 10 years, living in the gutter – as I heard another preacher put it – I was “Living Beneath the Privileges.”

During that time period, the beautiful little girls pictured above were born.  Something that did not occur to me at the time, is the fact they had never seen their “papa” preach, let alone attend church.  One day while keeping them, my grand-daughter Emma (who was 7 at the time – almost 12 now) asked me, “Papa, you used to be a preacher?”  Tears immediately began to swell up in my eyes, a lump grabbed a hold of my throat, and with every ounce of strength I had, I replied, “Yes, sweetie, papa used to be a preacher.”  And I prayed right then they would not ask me another question.

But, they were not finished with me.  A few minutes later, Emma then asked, “Papa, will you take us to church?  I was doing everything I could to hold back the tears as Maddie then reinforced with, “Yea Papa, will you take us to church?”  Needless to say, that was one day I couldn’t wait to take them home.  Which, by the way, after we did take them home, my wife and I got on our knees before God and asked Him to forgive us for “living beneath the privileges.” I then confessed my sins before God and told Him that all I had to give Him was the broken fragments of my life, but if He would take them and use them – I give Him all I have left.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

The writer of Hebrews is giving us a picture of a runner down on the track, and a great crowd up in the stands.  What are they doing?  They are cheering on their favorite racer.  Folks, I picture myself as being a runner down on that track, losing the race miserably.  I was winded, my hands were on my knees, I didn’t feel like I had the strength to take another step.  And then God reminded me that I have folks cheering for me:

• I have a “great cloud of witnesses” in Heaven cheering for me – Not only the old saints of God from the Bible, but my old Sunday School Teachers, and my Godly grandmother and my brother;
• I have some folks here on this earth cheering for me – my children – who never gave up on their dad, my wife Kim, who encourages me always, my pastor and his wife (Clay and Hope – Church 247) who have prayed for me for many, many years, and my brother-in-Christ, Pastor Marty Starnes and his wife Jeanette from Forever Free Biker Church.
• And yes – these beautiful little girls (and the other 6 beautiful grand children God has richly blessed us with), who may never realize how greatly God used them to get their papa back in the race.

These are my Grandstand People.  I want to encourage you today that no matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, there is no detour, dead end or dry hole that the Grace of God can’t carry you through.  If you are reading this and you feel you have no one in your grandstand – you write me, and I promise you, I will become your Grandstand people.  And the simple truth is, the view is a whole lot better from the Grandstands than it is in the Gutter!