Yesterday was Garcia/Gum family fun day. For the past three years, my dad has gotten WVU basketball tickets for a game when all of us would be home for Christmas. So our day started by watching my beloved mountaineers put a stop to Cleveland State’s unbeaten record. (Thanks to Cam the Man’s career highs in minutes, assists, and points) After the game we went to dinner. And when your brother in law lives in Houston, the only option available is Keglers. It’s a good thing he only gets to go a few times a year because the man ate 30 chicken wings yesterday. He may have eaten more but they were closing early for a private party. My favorite part of the day wasn’t a WVU victory, or the hot honey barbeque wings (I only ate 8); it was game night. I love playing games, especially with my sister and brother in law. They are both brilliant (my little gum nugget is going to be the smartest child alive) and they would rather eat shards of glass than lose to one another. For our family game night, the teams were: the Garcia sisters Vs. my dad and brother in law. The first game we played was Nameburst and to say that the Garcia girls won wouldn’t exactly be accurate. It’s more like the Garcia sisters completely destroyed the boys! They may beat us when it comes to changing oil and naming quarterbacks from the early 70’s (yes, I am still mad at myself for missing that question) but I know that when trying to get my sister to guess Caesar, you give the clue: my favorite salad opposed to the most famous Roman general. All the brains in the world can’t compete with years of sister bonding. Unfortunately, years of sister bonding didn’t help me much for our next game. We played catch phrase music edition which is similar to catch phrase except every clue is a song. So, to get your teammates to guess the song, you sing, whistle, or hum the song. Deficit one: I am a terrible singer and I can’t whistle. Deficit two: 95% of the music I listen to is either Christian artists or Dave Matthews, neither of which were on this game. Every time it was my turn, I would laugh at my sister’s reaction to my attempts to give clues. (I don’t care what she says; my rendition of Benny and the Jets was stellar). And every time I was holding the game disk, she was laughing at my inability to know the song choice. Fortunately for me, my sister is a musical genius. And not only was she able to sing 99% of her songs (complete with dance moves), leading me to the right answer; she was able to guess the song Milkshake without me singing, humming, or whistling a single note.
My family doesn’t share my love for Christian music so they weren’t struggling for ways to give clues to their teammates during Catch Phrase. (and they definitely weren’t laughing as much as me either) I may have been struggling during the second part of game night (maybe now would be a good time to tell you that my sisters and I also won Catch Phrase) because I didn’t know the song lyrics but I don’t struggle through life because I know Jesus. How many people in your life are constantly stuck in a struggling state because Jesus is as foreign to them as the U2 lyrics are to me? How many times do we interact with loved ones and never explain Jesus to them? When we asked Jesus into our hearts, he planted a seed. He planted a seed for us to love Him and He planted a seed for us to share His love with others. We can’t assume that people in our lives know Jesus. And we definitely can’t allow them to go around singing the words of Christianity without knowing the artist of the song. When you take the time to share your faith with those you love, you will be surprised at how many people in your life have never accepted Christ into their hearts. Sometimes, we have to give clues to those we love in order to plant seeds. Sometimes, we have to say, “let’s pray” before eating a meal with individuals who never pray. Sometimes, we have to invite others to church repeatedly. (When someone declines my offer(s), I can’t wait to come back and tell them: God was at my church this morning and you missed him.) Sometimes we have to buy devotional books just because we know someone we love is going through a hard time and the gift of Christ’s love is the best gift we can give. Sometimes, we have to e-mail them Christian blogs. (Especially when we know they check their e-mail daily) And unfortunately sometimes clues aren’t enough. We must look them straight in the eye and ask them, “If Jesus would descend upon the Earth this very second, would you be among those who inherit the kingdom of Heaven forever?” And if they seem unsure or say no, get your shovel ready because you most definitely have a seed to plant.
To properly lead your teammates to identifying a song in Catch Phrase requires a decent knowledge base in many genres of songs and semi-decent singing abilities. If you don’t have either you are in for a long entertaining night filled with random clues and random song lyrics. In order to properly lead those we love to Jesus requires us to have a decent knowledge base in Him and requires us to sing songs of praise to Him always. If you don’t know Jesus personally, you are in for a long defeating life. Don’t give random misleading clues when it comes to Jesus. Be direct, be honest, and be wise: Be the one who wins a soul for Jesus. I managed to share the victory of grand champ on game night because in 26 years I have developed a relationship with my sisters that only we can understand. I share a victory with Christ every night because we have a relationship that only we can understand. I don’t like sharing the title of family game night champion but I will share the title of champion in Christ every time I see someone struggling to correctly identify the artist of the music that will touch their hearts.
Verse to remember: Psalm 21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give!
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