"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God."
Welcome to the Todd McClure story. Some of you may know these details and some of you may not. But I am going to fast-forward through my life to get to my main point. I have no intentions of dwelling on my past or even bringing attention to myself, but rather my goal is to show what the LORD has truly done in my life...
Growing up, soccer was my dream. I even remember coloring a picture in kindergarten and telling my teacher that it was my dream to play professional soccer. God and family were always a big part as well, but soccer was my passion.
In high school, I won two state championships. I also received numerous awards and as a result, I was contacted by many different schools, some offering scholarships and others offering the opportunity to play Division 1. The latter was too good to pass up. After visiting Marshall University and speaking with the head coach, I knew this is where I was supposed to be.
I often look back and wonder what it was that drew me to Marshall. To be honest, soccer is the only reason I came here and well, that hasn't exactly flourished. I guess I could go into more details with that. I had aspirations of being the star, but coach never put me on the roster. I had dreams of being the leading goal scorer, but really, I was never given a chance. I wanted to have my jersey retired one day, but instead, I have bounced around from number to number, depending on who was injured. Ironically, the one thing that brought me to this school hasn't exactly worked out. There are a lot of other things that have happened, many of them illegal, and so I cannot post that sort of material on this site. Point being, however, soccer really wasn't all that I had hoped it would be.
Following each semester, players had individual meetings with the coaching staff. Mine always consisted of coach suggesting that I transfer and me simply just turning that talk into motivation. However, no matter how hard I worked, or how hard I tried, I felt as if I was invisible. And if you looked at the Marshall record books, I was invisible.
In the meantime, I was a part of Campus Crusade for Christ and Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was growing daily in my walk with the LORD. But one day in particular struck me more than any other day. It was at the 2008 Campus Crusade Winter Conference and Chad Young was speaking on going to the "deepest, darkest parts of campus to share the love of Jesus." He suggested scenarios such as going to the the fraternities or the sororities, but for me, I knew that it was a call to go to my teammates and to the rest of the athletic teams on campus. For the first time, a vision was implanted in me and I knew that I had to go.
That spring, several of my teammates came to Christ. This was not because of my own doing but it was because the LORD was simply just answering prayers and allowing me to be a part of it. In addition to this, several football players, including a former roommate of mine, also made professions of faith. What a miraculous event all of this was! We were seeing the athletic department won to Christ!
A lot of times, people have stories of the past, but mine is still present. You may notice that we are now more than a year from that original event, but God is still leading people to Christ throughout the whole athletic department. In fact, we have seen our FCA grow from about 6-7 people my freshman year to more than 50 people this year! God really is at work.
However, over the past year, I have known that my main mission is to share Christ with my teammates and my coaches. My teammates were easy, as those that had come to faith were also assisting me in that mission. However, the coaching staff was a different story. I had tried to talk to the coaches, particularly the head coach, multiple times a year. But the more and more that I tried, the higher and higher the barricade went. Multiple times I was asked to leave his office or he simply just walked away as I was trying to share the love of Christ with him. But I knew that I had to keep trying. He was the last one on my mission.
I knew going into this spring that it would be my final semester on the team. The coaching staff had made that very clear and offered me the opportunity to quit right away, but I told them I didn't want to do that. After another semester of trials and hardship, I was finally given another opportunity to meet with the coaching staff, this being my final meeting.
When I was praying before my the meeting, I thought back to Esther 4:14 when Mordecai suggests that Esther was raised up for "such a times as this." Again, I often look back to my reasons for coming to Marshall and I knew that it felt so right. So could it be that I had come for such a time as this as well?
The meeting started and, as predicted, I was told that my career was done. But (prayers answered) he then asked if I had anything to add, which I did...
"Coach, looking back over the years, I haven't really moved anywhere on the depth chart. And each time that we have met, you have suggested transferring or quitting, but I have continued to ignore you. And so with that, I must be extremely stupid, or extremely determined..."
With that, he made his point as to why I appeared to be determined, shown by my motivation on the field. However, I responded...
"You see my motivation on a really shallow level. If you don't mind, I would like to introduce you to a deeper level of my life, and this is where my motivation lies. As you know, I am a member of FCA and am a follower of Christ, and the only reason that I have stuck around this long is because sports gives you a platform. With that platform, you are surrounded by 25-30 guys every day, a coaching staff, and a community that looks up to you. Now you can either use that platform to glorify yourself or you can use it to glorify something greater. And I use it to glorify Christ. You see it as me sticking around simply just to try to earn playing time. But I want you to know that the only reason that I have stuck around for so long, despite all the opposition, is to show my teammates the love of Christ, to show you all the love of Christ, and to show the community the love of Christ."
He responded a lot better than expected, "Todd, I have noticed that you have always been on a mission...And whether you know it or not, you really have had a great impact on the lives of your teammates, and, I say this humbly, you have made a great impact on my life as well..."
Much more took place in that meeting and much more was said, but that is a conversation that must be shared with you in person. However, I left that office feeling like I had accomplished something. I left with all weight removed from my chest. And I left without any regrets.
I came to Marshall with the goal of playing soccer, but God took that and literally made me one of "the least of these" (1 Cor. 1:27). From that position, He gave me the mission of proclaiming Christ to my teammates and to my coaching staff and for the first time in my life, I can finally say that I have completed that task. I don't say that boastfully because the majority of times in my life, I fail in carrying out the mission that God gives me. However in this situation, I can say that I have done it. And that does not mean that my ministry is done. Rather, the door has actually been opened to a lot more Gospel conversation with many individuals, including my coach.
If I can end on one final point, this is it. John Piper has written a book, "Don't Waste Your Life," and that theme has just really stuck with me ever since I read the book. It was the theme of FCA this year, it is a title of an often-played Lecrae song, and it also shows up on many of my shirts. But if we could scale that down a little bit, I would encourage you to not waste your day, or not waste your hour. In my situation, I knew that I had one last meeting with coach, and I don't know how I could have handled it if I had wasted it. I guess I did have a slight advantage knowing that it was my last one. But maybe you have an opportunity at school, or at work, or in the Kroger checkout line. You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Maybe this is your last encounter with this person. My prayer is that you won't look back on that situation one day with regrets, but rather you will look back praising God that He gave you that opportunity and you made the most of it. In this life, nothing else matters. If only we can just finish the course that God has set out for us. We have one life to live. Let's not waste it.
"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God."
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Ministry of Reconciliation
Many of you may remember my post from awhile ago titled, "A Message of Love." It was all about how I was given a message from Colonel's mom to pass on to him. The message was, "I love you." Given such an incredible message to share, I couldn't wait to find him. I ended up passing on that message and I feel like so many doors were opened in my relationship with Colonel. Well this past Wednesday, another incredible event took place.
I saw Colonel on Tuesday night after coming home from FCA. Luke, Chris and I stood out by the dumpster and visited with him for a little bit. I shared with him that his mom had called me a couple of days ago to just ask how he was doing. I then asked him if he wanted to talk to her. He immediately responded yes. It was sort of too late to call at that time, so we planned to meet the following evening at 8:30 pm, sharp.
I walked out of my apartment at 8:29, and there was Colonel, leaning on his can-filled buggy, waiting for me. He complained that I was a minute late, but I explained that his watch was actually two minutes fast. We quickly got through that dispute and he asked, "Can I call my mom?" I grabbed my cell phone and dialed her number and it rang a few times before the answering machine picked up. I hung up and kept trying over and over for the next fifteen minutes until his mom finally answered the phone.
I then passed off the phone to Colonel and he got to talk to his mom for about 25 minutes, the first time they had talked in nearly 2 years. You could see the joy on his face! He asked her all about his sisters, and nieces, and cousins. He found out a lot about how everything back home had developed in the last 30 years and how he had kind of missed out on all of it. He got to tell his mom all about Huntington, WV and about the "scrap metal business that he runs". And with each exchange of words, you could see how welcomed he felt by his mom.
Afterward, Bobby (one of his partners) asked if he, too, could use my phone. He preceded in calling his uncle and talking to him for the first time in nearly two years as well. I have no idea how he remembered the phone number. But in both conversations you could see how delighted they were to get in touch with their family. Especially in Colonel's eyes, you could see how he went from a feeling of anxiousness and fear (not knowing how he would be accepted, or even if he would be accepted) to a feeling of love, knowing that he was accepted by his mom.
In the last blog post about this topic, I talked about how it reminded me of how God, also, has given us a message of love. He has given us the Gospel to take to all the nations. Well this night reminded me even more of it...
Before my eyes, I witnessed two men who were being reconciled to their family. They had left under harsh circumstances and hadn't talked to their families in many years (Colonel hasn't seen his mom in over 30 years). They were once extremely close, yet now they have been separated from their family. But we were given the opportunity to reconcile them.
The same is also true with God. In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul writes of how we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. He writes in verse 16 that we are to "regard no one from a wordly point of view," but rather we are to see everyone as Christ sees them. I think often of how we are so moved by seeing the reconciliation of families, but rarely are we moved when we see a sinner reconciled to Christ. We are moved by the fact that Colonel has been reconciled to his mom, but in reality, it doesn't matter unless he also becomes reconciled to Christ (which is a daily prayer from his mom).
I share this post for three reasons:
1) I wanted to update you on what has happened in that story. It truly has been incredible to witness. And please understand that it is nothing by my own doing, but rather, it is God at work. So give Him all the glory!
2) I want you to pray for him. Pray for his reconciliation to the true Father. Join his mother in praying for him daily.
3) I want you to think about how you can reconcile others to God. You have been given the ministry of reconciliation. And when I saw how welcoming Colonel's mom was, I couldn't help but think about how much greater the welcome from God will be (just read the story of the prodigal son).
Maybe it is you who needs to be reconciled to God. Maybe you are the one who has left God and are now digging in the "trash" of this world. If so, please get in touch with me. I would love to talk more with you about how to get things right with God. Or even if you don't need my words, please just let me know how I can pray for you. God is waiting patiently for you to come home, ready to welcome you with open arms.
I want to leave you with the final verse of the 2 Corinthians passage to just meditate on for a little while. It truly is incredible:
"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
I saw Colonel on Tuesday night after coming home from FCA. Luke, Chris and I stood out by the dumpster and visited with him for a little bit. I shared with him that his mom had called me a couple of days ago to just ask how he was doing. I then asked him if he wanted to talk to her. He immediately responded yes. It was sort of too late to call at that time, so we planned to meet the following evening at 8:30 pm, sharp.
I walked out of my apartment at 8:29, and there was Colonel, leaning on his can-filled buggy, waiting for me. He complained that I was a minute late, but I explained that his watch was actually two minutes fast. We quickly got through that dispute and he asked, "Can I call my mom?" I grabbed my cell phone and dialed her number and it rang a few times before the answering machine picked up. I hung up and kept trying over and over for the next fifteen minutes until his mom finally answered the phone.
I then passed off the phone to Colonel and he got to talk to his mom for about 25 minutes, the first time they had talked in nearly 2 years. You could see the joy on his face! He asked her all about his sisters, and nieces, and cousins. He found out a lot about how everything back home had developed in the last 30 years and how he had kind of missed out on all of it. He got to tell his mom all about Huntington, WV and about the "scrap metal business that he runs". And with each exchange of words, you could see how welcomed he felt by his mom.
Afterward, Bobby (one of his partners) asked if he, too, could use my phone. He preceded in calling his uncle and talking to him for the first time in nearly two years as well. I have no idea how he remembered the phone number. But in both conversations you could see how delighted they were to get in touch with their family. Especially in Colonel's eyes, you could see how he went from a feeling of anxiousness and fear (not knowing how he would be accepted, or even if he would be accepted) to a feeling of love, knowing that he was accepted by his mom.
In the last blog post about this topic, I talked about how it reminded me of how God, also, has given us a message of love. He has given us the Gospel to take to all the nations. Well this night reminded me even more of it...
Before my eyes, I witnessed two men who were being reconciled to their family. They had left under harsh circumstances and hadn't talked to their families in many years (Colonel hasn't seen his mom in over 30 years). They were once extremely close, yet now they have been separated from their family. But we were given the opportunity to reconcile them.
The same is also true with God. In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul writes of how we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. He writes in verse 16 that we are to "regard no one from a wordly point of view," but rather we are to see everyone as Christ sees them. I think often of how we are so moved by seeing the reconciliation of families, but rarely are we moved when we see a sinner reconciled to Christ. We are moved by the fact that Colonel has been reconciled to his mom, but in reality, it doesn't matter unless he also becomes reconciled to Christ (which is a daily prayer from his mom).
I share this post for three reasons:
1) I wanted to update you on what has happened in that story. It truly has been incredible to witness. And please understand that it is nothing by my own doing, but rather, it is God at work. So give Him all the glory!
2) I want you to pray for him. Pray for his reconciliation to the true Father. Join his mother in praying for him daily.
3) I want you to think about how you can reconcile others to God. You have been given the ministry of reconciliation. And when I saw how welcoming Colonel's mom was, I couldn't help but think about how much greater the welcome from God will be (just read the story of the prodigal son).
Maybe it is you who needs to be reconciled to God. Maybe you are the one who has left God and are now digging in the "trash" of this world. If so, please get in touch with me. I would love to talk more with you about how to get things right with God. Or even if you don't need my words, please just let me know how I can pray for you. God is waiting patiently for you to come home, ready to welcome you with open arms.
I want to leave you with the final verse of the 2 Corinthians passage to just meditate on for a little while. It truly is incredible:
"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
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