by Guest Pat Immel
So, today we're talking about David and that one thing, or why Pat is here, and why some of you are here.
A little later we're going to get to the Scripture, 1 Samuel 17: 31 - 49. I tried to cut this down, but this is a toughie to get the whole story.
First I have a story, and to tell the story, we need to do just a bit of pop culture studying. So two movies I'm going to mention real quick. Many of you have probably seen these, but I'm going to remind you of them.
The first is City Slickers, okay? That was a movie that starred Billy Crystal and Jack Palance. And if you remember, Jack Palance was the original Marlboro Man, but in this movie, Billy Crystal was with his buddies, and they were at, I think this is like at a dude ranch, and one night, they were out on a ride, and Jack Palance played the old grizzled farmhand Curly. And they were talking, they were having this existential conversation about marriage and his relationship with his wife and how to be a better father, a better person.
Curly, the old cowboy, he raised up his finger and he said, “It's one thing.” And Billy Crystal goes, “Well, what is the one thing?” “That's for you to decide.” So we have City Slickers.
The next movie, and you will see where I'm going with this, this will circle back. The next movie that I'm gonna talk just a little bit about is a movie called Bull Durham. Again, some of you have seen this.
Okay, and in this movie, Kevin Costner plays an old catcher by the name of Crash Davis, whose job is to mentor along this new upstart pitcher that's played by Tim Robbins, and his name was Nuke Lelouch. And Nuke was young and willful and headstrong. And as Kevin Costner said, “You have a million dollar arm and a five cent brain.”
He would not listen, so he kept on giving up home run balls. And Kevin Costner, or Crash Davis said, all you're pitching right now, you're just throwing up meat. And they're just smacking them out of the park because you're not listening to me.
So he started calling him meat. There's the setup. Many years ago, we'll say, I was at Northwest and I was teaching.
And I had a student in one of my classes, first day of class, and we did a roll call. (I'm going to change the names to protect the innocent.) I called attendance and I said, “Steve.” He raised his hand and then he said another name. And he said, “That's my rapper name. I'm going to be a rapper and I want you to call me by my rapper name.” I said, “No, we're going to go with your given name, Steve.” And he didn't like that very much.
Throughout the semester, I tried to try to help him with things, but he for sure knew what he needed to do and what he needed to accomplish. And none of it was right. So I started calling him Meat.
And he asked, “Why do you call me Meat?” And I said, “Well, when you figure out why I'm calling you Meat, Meat, I won't call you that anymore. Okay, but that's up to you to figure out.” And it went that way through the whole first year.
This young man went away for summer theater, I believe they worked, and they came back. Within the first one or two weeks of class, everybody cycles through my office, you know, and they’re like, “Hey, how'd your summer go? What'd you do?” Well, we started having this conversation and we're talking with this young man, with Meat. And I came to realize, “Okay, he got it.”
I went over to him and I held out my hand and I said, “Steve, it's so nice to meet you. My name's Pat.” And I thought he was going to tear up a little bit.
But he figured it out. He got that one thing. And again, most students figure out that one thing, but it's different for every single person.
And let's stop and talk just for a little bit about what that one thing is. Another way I would categorize it as like your North Star. What moves you forward? So the big question is, what was David's one thing? And we can ask the same question about Saul, as well.
So what was David's one thing? This is kind of a softball question. It's kind of a gimme, but the biggest thing was his faith in God. His faith in God gave him the courage to fight the bears and fight the lions and to save his flock.
Okay. His faith in God gave him the courage to say, “Yeah, I think I can take that guy. I think I can take that Philistine.” And David probably wasn't a big dude. And Goliath, the Philistine, I read was five cubits and a span tall, which is nine feet, nine inches tall.
So you had to have some courage. You had to have some faith that you were going to survive that. And he needed faith to go talk to the king, to have that courage to do that.
Same thing for Saul. He needed faith to trust that this young shepherd boy was going to have the wherewithal and the skill to defeat Goliath. Because Goliath was out kicking butt for weeks before that. And nobody could defeat this Philistine. And this young farmer boy said, “I can do it. I have faith in the Lord that I can do that.”
And sure enough, that's what happened. His North Star was his faith in the Lord.
Now, I want to talk for a second about why I'm here or what drives me. You're expecting the answer to be, it's my faith in the Lord.
Well, I struggle with that every day. I don't know if others do, but I struggle with my faith all the time. Here’s another pop culture reference. There was a Tom Hanks movie. And at one point somebody asked him if he believed in God. And he said, “Faith is not a gift that I have yet to be fully blessed with.”
And I feel this. I have not been fully blessed with that gift. I'm there. So, that is the answer maybe you thought I would say, but my answer is: my one thing, why I am here and why I do what I do is the building and the people.
We're not talking about the physical building. We're talking about what the space represents. There was an old, old, old, old chocolate eating, old wise pastor. I don't know if Dale's reading this, but I thought I'd add in a couple extra olds.
We would come down to the table, he would say, “Everybody is welcome at the table. You're all loved and forgiven child of God.”
And that stuck with me. It made me feel this is a place where I want to be. Things have changed over the years, and, we don't necessarily say that out loud anymore, but I think that what the old, old pastor said is still implied. People are still welcome. Our message is that everyone is welcome.
Everyone is welcome.
And that means a lot to me. And that is one of the, I guess if I had pillars to my one thing, that would be one of the pillars. And the other one is the people.
You know, there are people here that would do anything for this church. We're small, but mighty. And there are people here that would do anything for anybody else. And that just isn't something that happens easily these days. You know, people will do anything for you here.
Yeah, those two things, why I'm here, my north star, to come to First Christian Church is the message and the people. And faith is something that I will continue to pick up along the way. I'm sure it will, like anything, ebb and flow. So, again, this one thing is different. The one thing changes.
I don't think the one thing for myself here is this monolithic thing that doesn't change. I think the one thing changes as your situation changes, as you grow older. I think that you are working towards. I thought a lot about the one thing and do you ever get it? I think it's always something that you're following.
And the one thing is different for everybody else. You know, the one thing that I have, why I'm here or my modus operandi or why I do what I do here, is different than Linda’s or Kerry’s or anybody else’s.
And I'm sharing it, but that is something I think is a private thing. You know, why you do what you do. Why do you do that?
I leave you with a challenge to think about your one thing. Have you found it? The Praise Band did a song a couple of weeks ago called “I still haven't found what I'm looking for.” I think that's a really good song, you know? I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for that one thing. And so I challenge you to go out and think about what's your one thing? Have you found it today? Or, can I do something else to help me find my one thing?
One of the things Dale, that old, old, old, chocolate-eating Pastor said at the end of the service was go out and be the church. Do that today. Do that. Go out in search of your one thing. Maybe help somebody else start finding their one thing. Be kind to strangers because someday you might be a stranger yourself.
Dear Lord, thank you for letting us be part of your flock. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. And thank you for helping us find our one thing. And in the Lord's name we pray. Amen.
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