The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the football coach taking a knee on the football field and having a heart to heart with God after each football game.

As a Christian myself I was astonished that so many people would be upset by a coach praying in public. Now if he were out there distributing free beer or pornographic literature that would be a different story.

The fact that players would join him because of peer pressure seemed laughable to me. What is dangerous about joining in a prayer with a coach and fellow athletes?

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if that was the kind of peer pressure young people or even adults faced each day?

I saw some Facebook comments where people suggested the coach was just showing off. I don’t know about you but if I decided I was going to kneel in some public place bow my head and pray “showing off” would not be my end goal. A nervous breakdown maybe but not an attempt to show off. 🙂

I saw his actions a little differently then my Facebook friends and it reminded me of one of my favorite songs titled “Thank You!” sung and recorded by Ray Boltz.

The singer of the song was visiting Heaven and a section of the lyrics went like this: “Heard the angels singing and you turned and saw this young man. And he was smiling as he came.”

“And he said friend you may not know me now, and then he said but wait,”

“You used to teach my Sunday school when I was only eight.”

“And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start,”

“And one day when you said that prayer I asked Jesus in my heart.”

Back on the football field with players, coaches and spectators gathered around the coach in prayer how many young people heard the name Jesus mentioned for the first time?

How many adults raised in a Christian home but having lapsed from what they were taught in those early years returned to their Christian beliefs?

That courageous coach years in the future may have that same experience of being welcomed into Heaven with “Thank You’s”. They would come from scores of people that his football prayers had introduced to Jesus for the first time or reignited a faith that had grown cold.

I remember a faith strengthening experience when I was a seventh grader growing up in my hometown of Clinton. Mr. Johnson was our seventh grade social teacher and he went to the same church as our family did.

He and his wife and children came every Sunday and even sat near the front of the church as the rest of the congregation filled their normal seats in the back pews of the church.

I was impressed by their faithful attendance and their examples helped my faith to grow. I’m sure by now Mr. Johnson is enjoying the joys of Heaven and when I make my arrival (hopefully not in the near future )  I’ll be sure to thank him and his family.

Arrival in Heaven will be a joyous time I am sure and I think we will all be surprised how our lives will  have touched people in special ways that we will be completely unaware of.

In fact let’s spend the rest of our lives doing just that caring for and loving our fellow earthlings. 🙂 Can I get an “Amen!” (That means only positive Facebook posts!) 🙂

My prayer has always been that my Christian children’s books, Natures’ Christmas Story, The Easter Sparrows, and The First Advent will touch parents and their children’s hearts. So when the time for them to enter Heaven arrives those books will have helped to guide them to their eternal home. 🙂

The Easter Sparrows and The First Advent are not only in English but they have been translated into Ukrainian and Russian. In fact 1000 copies have been shipped to Poland and distributed to refugee Ukrainian children residing there.

I’m assuming we’ll all be speaking the same language in Heaven otherwise visiting with those Ukrainian and Russian folks might be a difficult thing. 🙂

Well that’s about all I’ve got on my mind for now.

Yikes! This blog is the closest thing to writing a sermon that I have ever done.

Can I get one more “Amen!”

Until next time.