There are a number of sporting events being closely followed in our house at the moment – not particularly by me, but I pick up things that are going on. One of these things happened at Wimbledon on Court One this past week.
During Jamie Murray and John Peers' doubles semi-final win over Jonathan Erlich and Philipp Petzschner, the ball found its way into the crowd after deflecting off a line judge's chair. And who should catch the ball in the Royal Box but none other than David Beckham, much to the delight of the crowd who then erupted into a spontaneous round of applause for the great save. If you watch the clip on the BBC website it’s great to see how calmly he does this. It’s brilliant!
It seems to me that David Beckham was the in the right place and the right time and was the right person to tackle this great save. Of course this started me thinking about this on a spiritual level. I wondered about the many opportunities we as Christians face each day to be a part of a ‘great save’. I wondered how many of us see ourselves as being in the right place at the right time and being the right person for the task in hand.
I immediately thought about the encounter Philip had with the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40. At the instruction of the Lord, Philip found himself meeting with this Ethiopian eunuch who had been in Jerusalem and was on his way home. Philip had the opportunity to talk with him about the good news of Jesus and in those moments the Ethiopian eunuch became a follower of Jesus and took Christianity to Africa. Right place at the right time. Right person for the great save!
As part of our mission as followers of Jesus, we all daily need to be listening out for God and making sure we don’t miss opportunities to take part in the great save – to make disciples. We need to make sure we are in the right place at the right time and don’t shy away from what the Lord wants us to do or say.
May our prayer be the words of the songwriter:
Just where he needs me, my Lord has placed me.
Just where he needs me, there would I be!
And since he found me, by love he’s bound me
To serve him joyfully.
God Bless
Captain Clare