This past weekend, I was able to attend The Sportsman Banquet held at the Neosho First Baptist Church. We had a booth there. Veterans were running it both nights. Basically, it’s a wild game feed that they host on a Friday and Saturday night each. It’s an amazing time. Full of faith, fellowship, food, and firearms. Anywhere from 400 to 600 people in attendance. This year’s speaker was Jimmy Holbrook. He is with Drury Outdoors. More importantly, he is the pastor at Overland Park Community Church. He did a great job. Talked about four points of hunting and seeking God. The final point he made is about the blood trail when hunting deer. And how Jesus spilt his blood for us. That alone requires us to seek him. Such great advice.
Two years ago, the guest speaker was TW Norman. For this devotion, I’m going to focus on him. 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 a 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. We both felt God calling us into his arms. We both felt his love. 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. And believe me, God will not stop convicting you until you act. He is not going away. I can promise you that. So you might as well act. And then after you do so, you will be redeemed and then you will feel his grace. And that is awesome.
