Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

90 Million Dollar Senior (6/1/03)

LeBron James has got to be the richest high school senior in the world. This past week it was announced that he's inked a deal worth $90 million! When I was getting ready to graduate from high school, I thought making $5 an hour driving a delivery van for a nursing home was big bucks. Guess I should've spent a few more hours practicing at the foul line.

$90 million! Just to lace up sneakers that have the Nike "swoosh" on the side. He hasn't scored one point in the NBA yet. He hasn't even been signed by any team. He still has to go to home-room every day & bring a note from his mom if he wants to leave early. $90 million!! Needless to say, he'll probably be quitting his paper route.

$90 million!! I can't seem to shake it out of my head. Just so people will see him wearing a brand, & hopefully run out & buy it for themselves. And it's really not even a gamble for Nike. Figure the average top quality pair of sneakers costs what, maybe, $125? All they have to sell is 720,000 of them to break even! Over five or seven years, you can bet they'll sell bunches more than that.

Which makes me wonder if maybe God could've come up with a little better marketing plan of His own. I mean, we've got a website, & a small ad in the weekly paper & in the Yellow Pages. We occasionally put up our own signs on the church property to catch the Rosemont Avenue traffic. But compared to Nike, that's pretty small thinking. What if we had the Christian equivalent of LeBron James? A potential superstar, in any realm (doesn't have to be basketball), someone who will be instantly recognized & beloved?

Someone who can level those handsome eyes into the camera & say something like, "I lace up with Jesus every day; why don't you?" Man, the church buildings all across America would be filled to overflowing! It may cost several million dollars, but as soon as we got the new recruits up to speed on the tithing deal, we'd recoup the costs in no time.

Our celebrity spokesperson wouldn't even have to actually "lace up with Jesus every day." Just making people think he did would be enough. I mean, several sneaker companies courted LeBron, & he went with the best deal, not necessarily the best shoe. It's image that counts, not substance. Right?

Time-Out. Wrong. True, there are lots of ways God could have chosen to get His message of grace out. He's more creative than Madison Avenue will ever be. But He nixed that option. Instead, He simply asks every believer in Jesus to shine a little more every day. A little more servanthood here, a little less selfishness there. A little more compassion here, a little less bitterness there.

And slowly, imperceptibly, yet relentlessly, the aroma of His goodness wafts through culture & communities, creating good desires & stirring up holy appetites, wooing people to the Savior of their soul (not sole).

It won't make the evening news or the cover of Sports Illustrated, but it will attract those who sense that there's more to life than wearing the "right" sneakers, or hauling in the mega-paychecks.

Hidden with Christ,


Jim Dewar --