He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, He said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me but the One who sent Me."

Mark 9:36-37, NIV

 

The Happy Champions are a group of about forty K-4th grade children who have been working on their ball-handling skills for past two months. Last night, they performed their newly acquired skills in front of a packed auditorium in the little town of Happy, Texas. Happy's got a population of about 672 people when everybody is home, and the high school gym was filled with about 400 of them and our visiting team from Nazareth's fans.

 

For those of you who do not know, Nazareth is Happy's biggest rival. It doesn't hurt that they are only 25 miles away but add that to the fact that their program is near the top of the United States in state championships won, and you have a pretty intense rivalry. 

 

Sometimes, we even forget we are neighbors in the heat of the game...

 

But last night, at the half-time of a boy's game that was so close it took an overtime to decide it by a single point, the kids came out onto the court. And the crowd, both sides in fact, gave a mighty cheer!

 

The performance went as one might have expected with a collection of kids ranging from five to ten years of age. There were some who were pretty good, and there were some who were brand new to the concept of dribbling. As a matter of fact, the basketball came up to knee height for some of the smaller ones, yet they performed marvelously. It's true a basketball or two escaped (one from a coach who had been doing this for 20 years), but this did not matter to the fans, for when the performance was over and the Champions circled up for their mighty champion yell, the fans yelled and cheered even louder.

 

The fact is that when these little ones perform it gives a certain amount of pride as well as a certain measure of perspective. The kids of course go from being half-scared to death to absolutely delighted as they learn that the crowd is not only not hostile but is actually wildly supportive - mistakes not withstanding!

 

It is this combination of the kid's reaction and the crowd's reaction that mean the most to me. The fact of the matter is that the parents and grandparents and neighbors are not rooting for the kids because basketball is so important to them (though, of course, it is). The reason they cheer is because they love these kids!

 

And the kids feel that love!

 

And though this is clearly pales by comparison to the example that Christ set for us, it is still pretty remarkable. These kids are not only our future, but they mean the world to us. We want them to feel good about themselves - not in some unhealthy manner in which we award participation trophies for minimal effort, but because we know that they have worked hard to develop their skills and because they have tried hard to make sure they are doing them well.

 

And because of this, we have a strong desire to show our love and appreciation to them, and that is exactly what the crowd did. They welcomed them when they got there, they cheered for them while they performed, and they loved them all the more for the opportunity to do so.

 

This, I believe, is why the Champions are so important to Happy - it's because our kids are so important to us no matter where we live or what they are doing. These little boys and girls have big souls that are going to spend an eternity somewhere. If we can love and welcome them at something as inconsequential as a display of ballhandling skills, then surely we can see the importance of welcoming them in Jesus' name and making sure that we train them up to know both He and God. If we can do that, then we will have accomplished something truly worthwhile in this life: We will have influenced a small child in a way that will help them to know and to love Jesus!

 

I do want to thank each one of you who cheered on these little ones last Friday - you buoyed their spirits! And you probably had a good time doing so. This is one of the pleasant side effects of welcoming little children: it just has a way of making everyone feel good. And this good feeling has the potential to last more than just a few minutes after the applause has died down. If we do it right, it has the potential to last unto eternity!

 

And that, in my opinion, is why the Champions are so important to Happy!