When I was a kid, I played team sports…basketball, football, church league softball (no comments from the peanut gallery), soccer and more.  And inevitably – regardless of the sport – I would be on the worst team in the league.  I’m not sure what that says about my athletic skills or my leadership ability.  But, apparently, neither was strong enough to pull my teams from the trenches. 

To this day, my parents laugh at me about my 5 year old soccer team.  I rarely came close to the ball.  And I didn’t sit around picking flowers, either.  I was more like Forrest Gump.  I just ran…and kept on running.  But my running never produced a championship trophy.

In football, my teams from the YMCA leagues and each school I attended were regularly decimated.  We weren’t big hitters.  We weren’t fast runners.  We weren’t too keen on blocking.  Therefore, we were never crowned champions.

My friends had trophies lining their shelves for little league play and they had an accumulation of metals for winning races with their pinewood derby cars.  My shelf had some nice pictures and a fine layer of dust.  No trophies. 

So, maybe I’m not the one to write a piece on what it means to be a champion. 

But, in reality, most of life’s championships have very little to do with sports.

When it comes to picking a wife, I’m a rock star.  When it comes to being a dad, I would like to think that a trophy may sit on my shelf one day.  And in the area of Biblical generosity, I may not be hitting it out of the park, but I’m consistently pounding out singles and doubles.  I’m getting on base and moving the cause forward.  I’m being intentional about imitating the generous ways of God and I’m doing what I can to keep this mission in front of others.

As Paul would say, “I am out of my mind to talk like this.”  But, in regard to Biblical generosity, I am a champion.  And I am not going to stop striving to get this right.  I’m not going to let up until I’m living a consistent lifestyle that cares for the widow, the orphan and the poor.  I’m not going to back down until I become more like God in the way that I handle both my material and non-material resources.

And I am far from the first to embark on this journey.  Let me give you some examples.

There is a guy named Ron in Northern California who has come together with his wife and decided to rethink their standards in life.  They are being sacrificial in order to align their ways with the ways of God…and they are inspiring others to do the same.  Ron is not on staff at his church, but his lifestyle is catching on among their congregation.

In Texas, a man named Kenny decided to do a very simple thing for a few hurting families.  While he was interacting with leaders from a local elementary school, he learned that over 60 students had overdue fund on their lunch accounts.  In a great act of joy, he paid the entire $465 dollars to cover all of the overdue balances and positioned those children to eat healthy, warm meals again at school.  Kenny’s actions and his willingness to challenge others through his story have made him a champion of the generosity message.

Rachel Beckwith was an eight-year-old girl with a dream.  She wanted to raise $300 for her ninth birthday to provide clean water to 15 individuals in Ethiopia.  She fell a little short, only raising $220…and told her mom that she would try harder next year.  At that point, Rachel and her mom had no idea that she would not make it to her next birthday.  She died tragically in a car accident, but her mom wanted to carry on Rachel’s dream of providing clean drinking water.  As her story was told, over 1.2 million dollars was raised in Rachel’s honor to provide nearly 40,000 people with clean water.  Rachel and her mom may never have trophies on the mantle reminding them of this feat, but they are generosity champions.

All of these stories show that there are only 2 qualities needed to be a generosity champion.  First, champions are people who live the Biblical message of generosity.  Second, they are people who are willing to let the light of God shine through their stories to inspire and equip others.

So, what about you?  Are you a champion?  Will you consider letting your light shine before men today…that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven?  Will you consider letting your light shine before the leaders of your church…so that they can rally others to this mission?

You may not turn the entire world upside-down, but you can turn someone else’s life upside-down by living as a generosity champion.  So, join the team.  And let’s imitate the ways of God together.