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Standup & Cheer!


January 24, 2024 While the cheerleaders took center stage at the Cheer Sports event, their coaches were relegated to a small rectangular area in front of the judges’ stand. As I waited for our granddaughters to perform, I watched coaches from other teams cheering on their squads.

During one team’s intensely spirited performance, the coaches had all they could do to keep from jumping out of the small, allotted space. With arms outstretched, the coaches kept time with the musical beat. They clapped their hands over their heads. They fist-pumped. They reached beyond the yellow-taped boundary, shouting encouragement. When the team’s momentum built to a perfectly-timed crescendo, the coaches leaped to their feet, cheering and laughing.

Watching the reactions of the coaches, reminded me of heavenly coaches – our “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).  I wondered . . .  do I ever do anything worthy of my coaches clapping their hands, high-fiving or fist pumping? In the catch-22 of the Christian life, the most noteworthy actions are those unseen by the world.

Though I may not hear clapping or see side-line cheering, my heavenly coaches do encourage me by that still small voice inside my heart...to put others first, be humble, forgive those who wrong me, tell the truth (even if it's costly), and go the extra mile. When I do it without complaining, perhaps that elicits a heavenly fist pump!

The cheer coaches know what’s coming up and what needs to be done in each performance, and, from the sidelines, they encourage their squads. Likewise, my heavenly coaches have walked where I am walking, through troubled waters, hard places, difficult choices, and faith-testing trials, and though they may have occasionally faltered, they kept the life of Christ as their light and the Word of God as their guide.

Cheerleading requires strength, agility, grit, timing, and teamwork. Trust and commitment go a long way to achieve the synchronization of spins, flips, tosses – and catches. Though our granddaughters love to cheer, sometimes getting up early to spend hours at practice sessions is no fun, yet they do it because each of them has a unique place to fill on their squads.

Much like the Christian life – we each have a unique place in God’s plan, yet sometimes we may not feel like putting in the effort, we get in a slump, and think what’s the use. But when we focus on the greater good – serving our Lord through serving others – and remember those heavenly coaches who are waiting to cheer us on, then, as Isaiah 40:31 reminds us . . .we shall mount up with wings like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint.--Judyann Grant

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