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Serendipity – Fellowship

    I had an unbelievable pleasure this past week.  I got to take my high school football coach, Tom Calvin, to an athletic function in my hometown that involved high school football players from the past fifty years.

    Coach Calvin is an icon of football coaches in the state of Alabama .  He coached for years at Sylacauga High School where I attended and played football under him.  The purpose of the function we attended was to raise money for the athletic program at Sylacauga High School .  The S Club not only raises money for the football program, but also gives several scholarships, the largest being in Coach Calvin’s honor. 

    About 130 former players and coaches attended.  It was truly a “who’s who” of Sylacauga Aggie football.  I visited with men who were my heroes growing up—who made All-American at Alabama and Auburn .  I felt out of place, to say the least, but next to Coach Calvin, I was probably the most thanked person in the group.  You see, I had made it possible for Coach to attend and most of these men had come to see him.  Man after man came up to me and thanked me for bringing him.  I was touched as I saw sixty-five year old men come up to Coach and thank him for changing their lives.

    It was then that I realized that I was a part of great fellowship that transcended time.  Here were guys I had only met once or twice in my life that I felt this special bond with.  I remembered how much I loved playing sports and I went out for football because I loved the game. I realized that night what I received was much more than the blessing of playing the game.  I was a part of a special group and I will always be a part. 

    I didn’t go looking for this fellowship—it was a gift—“serendipity” if you will.

    So many people spend their whole lives trying to be accepted by others.  I have seen it first hand in education.  Kids and adult who will do anything—be anything—just to be accepted by others—to be a part of a group.  Funny thing is the harder you look for acceptance, the harder it is to find.  Those people who spend their lives looking for acceptance never seem to be able to find it.

    One of the great serendipities of the Christian faith is the fellowship we have with other Christians.   You set out wanting to serve Christ, but in the process you become one with other believers.  Those first disciples who followed Christ didn’t even know each other, but soon they became more than friends—they became one in Him. 

    You and I are part of a fellowship far greater than anything the world can offer.  As Disciples of Christ, we have been given a gift—the serendipity of Christian fellowship.  Not only is Christ always with us, but the Body of Christ is there as well.  We are accepted—we are part of an eternal group in Him.

    I thank God for men like Coach Tom Calvin who God used to make a difference in my life.  And I thank God for you—for we are one in Christ.  You are a gift in my life—a result of following Him.  I thank God for you and for the fellowship of all who call on His name.

Love In Christ,

Billy

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