You Only Have One Shot

from gettyimages.com

A few Sundays ago, we gave the Gospel message along with an opportunity to become a Christian.  We had 9 children raise their hands to signify they were ready to accept Christ.  I am so excited that God moved, and we had so many come to Christ. 

Let me caution you, however.  All of these salvations were in second service.  I didn’t have a single one in first.  In fact, I didn’t even offer because I knew they weren’t paying attention.  I justified this misstep by saying that they were all saved anyway.  They already know the story of Jesus crucifixion.  They were bored.  All of these may be true, but may I offer another reason?  I wasn’t ready. 

I spent my pre-service time socializing. I didn’t double check my tech.  I didn’t show my sound person what she needed to do.  I didn’t even go over what I was talking about that morning.  The last time I even looked at it was the Thursday before.  As a result, I had to break up the flow of the service to load a video for my object lesson through a web-browser, which took way too long, and why I don’t normally do it.  On top of that, my browser auto-filled my link and opened the wrong video.  Unfortunately, I didn’t notice the difference until it was over.  By the end of this botched object lesson, the kids had checked out.  I tried my best to get them re-engaged, but even I was just trying to get through it.

I am reminded of Eminem’s song One Shot.  In case you haven’t heard it, he talks about how we have one shot, just one chance to make a difference.  With those children in first service, I had one shot.  Many of them came to second service and heard a better presentation.  Others didn’t. 

Use this as a cautionary tale.  Do your best to be ready and prepared mentally, physically, emotionally, and above all spiritually as you walk into your services this week. You never know when that one shot is coming until it’s too late.