Faith Bible Church

When I was 10 years old I played on a little league team in German Township, Indiana. We were the Cubs, and our uniforms looked exactly like the Chicago Cubs. They were so cool and really the only reason I went out for the team. I grew up in the country with four sisters, so I never had anyone to play ball with. Needless to say, I wasn’t very good. Practices were a time of embarrassment and shame for me. I seldom made the play or hit the ball and often longed for the end of the season, because my dad said that I had to finish my commitment to the team. One day while playing second base, I dove for a ball that everyone thought was in the gap and a sure base hit. Quite by accident, I appeared out of a huge cloud of dust with the ball and flipped it to the first baseman for the out. No one was more surprised than me, but what happened after the game was what really surprised me. My coach was an elderly man named Mr. Hahn. On the way to the car he put his arm around me and began to speak. I thought he was going to make a remark about the play, but to my surprise, he did not. He squeezed me tight and whispered in my ear, “You are a special one”. He told me that that I was special because I had heart and that my heart would cause me to do great things one day. I never longed for the season to end again and was quite sad when it did. I didn’t win the MVP that year and I really didn’t get that much better, but I played with heart.

In 1^st Samuel 16, Samuel went to the house of Jessie to anoint one of his sons to be the next king of Israel. All of the sons of Jessie passed before Samuel, except for David, who was considered to be too young and not important enough to even invite to the ceremony. This is the story where God tells Samuel not to consider the outward appearance of a man, but consider their heart, because this is what God considers. Before that night was through, David, the youngest, least in stature, and least important was anointed to be the next king of Israel. It was because of his heart. David was a man after God’s own heart. Where does your heart lie? Do you have heart, a heart after God’s own heart? If you do, He will do great things through you.