Last night I was able to attend The Sportsman Banquet held at the Neosho First Baptist Church. Basically, it’s a wild game feed that they host on a Friday and Saturday night each year. I believe they’ve been doing it for 13 years. Having to miss 2020 and 2021. It’s an amazing night. Full of faith, fellowship, food, and firearms. Anywhere from 400 to 600 people in attendance. This year the guest speaker was TW Norman.
Years ago when I was teaching and coaching in Carthage, I was also the announcer for the football games. When TW was a senior in high school, his team from Stockton came to our school to play. Being that they were a 1A school, I was a little surprised. We were 5A school. Considerably bigger than Stockton. As soon as he walked on the field though, it was very apparent why we had them there. That was the year he was a USA Today All American. We couldn’t stop him. But he couldn’t stop our entire team. So we won.
But the point of this devotion isn’t about football. It’s about conviction, redemption, and grace. TW talked about how he slipped away while in college and made terrible decisions. How his life did a complete 180. Going in the wrong direction. Much like mine. Our lives also are similar in the aspect of building our faith. Conviction was the first step. We both were convicted because of our sins. Redemption followed. We were redeemed by God. And then Grace. We both felt the grace that only comes from God. You can have these things too. God is there. He is waiting. He will not stop convicting you until you act. After you act, you will be redeemed and then you will feel his grace. And that is awesome.
