Fellowship of Christian Athletes*
“When we put away our selfish pursuits and seek to build God’s kingdom and bring Him praise in all we do, we will experience something this world can never offer us.”
-Shane Williamson, FCA President/CEO
Our lives should be marked by lasting glory.  Even after we decide to follow Christ, the temptation to fall back into worldly ways of competing can be strong.  However, chasing after our own glory creates a lack of authenticity and often causes us to hide behind our successes and failures.  This is a road to selfishness and pride and will only provide temporary fulfillment.  God’s way, however, is real and lasts far beyond the fleeting highs we can experience in this life.  When our hope is in God’s lasting glory, we will seek His Kingdom first and experience true joy and purpose.
We’ve been leading coaches and athletes on this important journey-a deep dive into pursuing God’s glory above all else. 
As a faithful financial partner to the ministry, you are enabling us to minister to coaches and athletes in this way.  We rely on your support to engage, equip, and empower them to glorify God in all they do.
*Taken from Volume 67, Lasting Glory

                  This week I was doing some online shopping, because who wants to walk through a store these days, and I ran across a feature that I am sure is not new, but new to me. You can now make payments. These are not large purchases.  Small purchases, sometimes less than &100. But you can now defer the cost, and it occurred to me that we can sometimes take that same attitude into other areas of our lives.
It is the human tendency to believe that the cost can come later. Sometimes it is the cost of growing in our faith. I have never talked to a brother or sister in Christ who didn’t say that they wanted a better relationship with God, who didn’t indicate that they wanted to be better disciples. As long as they didn’t have to do it right now. We want to read our bibles more, as long as it starts next week. We want to have a more vibrant prayer life, but not too early, and not too long. We want to be able to experience the pleasure of our secret sins, as long as the consequences either never show up or are far down the line.
The consequences never come later; they cut us apart day by day. The desire for more spiritual depth never seems to gain traction. Later is always just over the horizon. But for today, we are still stagnant in our faith and becoming more callused to our sin.
There is a story in the Old Testament that has always stood out to me. In 1 Kings 19 we see Elijah calling Elisha. Elisha was the son of a rich man, with a yoke of oxen twelve strong. He had a life. And then the prophet Elijah showed up and threw his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders and invited him into something greater. What has always stood out to me in this story is Elisha’s response. He burns the plow and sacrifices the oxen. Not later, that day. You have been clothed in Christ. His mantel has been thrown over your shoulders. Today is the day to burn the past and stop the cycle of putting off for tomorrow what is meant to be your calling today.