5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
A vessel can be described as a container...and as vessels in the hand of the Master, I believe that we are called to be filled with the Spirit of God, walking in His life. And, we do not keep that to ourselves - we can be challenged to radiate the love of Christ, being so filled with His life that people can detect, in a powerful way, the presence of the Almighty when they are in our presence. Because Christ lives in us, He desires for us to allow that life to flow into the lives of other people.
Let's reflect on some challenging words from 1st John chapter 2:
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked... 9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Yesterday, I shared a bit of the story of Jim Caldwell, offensive coordinator of the world champion Baltimore Ravens. There obviously was quite a turnaround in the Ravens' offense after they went into somewhat of a tailspin toward the end of the regular season. Well, there were some successful moves that were implemented in the Ravens' offensive line just before the playoffs that payed big dividends...one of those moves involved moving the left tackle to right tackle as part of an overall retooling. The right tackle - Michael Oher. Yes, that Michael Oher. You know, "The Blind Side" - if you want an entertaining, heartwarming movie, watch the film. If you want a more accurate picture of Michael's story, read the book. Seems Michael's not a fan of how he was portrayed as having zero football knowledge prior to linking up with his adoptive family - when asked about the film at Media Day, he said, "I'm tired of the movie. I'm here to play football".
But, he's certainly not tired of Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took him into their home, essentially rescuing him out of a troubled background. Eventually, they did adopt him, and he has become part of their family. In July 2010, they released the New York Times best-seller, In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, and established their charity, The Making It Happen Foundation, which promotes awareness, provides hope and improves standards of living for all the children fighting to survive in the invisible cracks in society.
The Tuohys were in New Orleans to cheer Michael and the Ravens on this past weekend, and they were joined by a special guest, actress Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side" - apparently Sandra keeps in contact with the Tuohys and with Michael, as well. And perhaps this high-profile reunion can communicate an illustration of powerful truth.
Leigh Anne says, "When someone comes into your life, like a Michael Oher, trust me, when I tell you that you (the giver) will benefit much more than the receiver ever will. We truly learned about being a real family when Michael came into our lives. We were fooling ourselves before. One simple random act of kindness opened our eyes to the true meaning of what a family was all about."
In a CitizenLink interview, the Tuohys said:
Michael had no family background. He never had a father figure in his life and he had an absent mother.
Michael saw in us a family unity that he had never seen before. We plugged him right in (as a family member) and never missed a beat.
People can tell pretty quickly how you feel about them. At first, I think he was a little shocked and in awe. When he realized it was really genuine (how we all felt about him), he felt comfortable immediately and wanted to receive help.
(In terms of our faith), he felt comfortable with it, and he knew from the beginning that God and Christ are first in our family.
When we went to church on Sundays, I never had to say “Michael, get up,” because he wanted to do what the family did.
He has always known how important our faith was, and he accepted Christ his junior year in high school.
We are really big on letting people see (Christ) in our lives and trying to help them that way.
The Tuohys story is certainly inspiring, and it's their faith the drives them. Over the weekend, Sean talked about the sign in their garage that says, "we believe in miracles". There may be a miracle just waiting to happen somewhere around you - an expression of God's presence and faithfulness...and He may have just chosen you as the vessel, the vehicle, through which it happens. You never know where a simple act of kindness may lead - open yourself up and allow the Lord to use you to radiate His love and bring Him glory.
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