His workmanship

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. A youth group from Idaho came over to our part of the wild west and did the neatest job of working with our kids. Lots of soccer playing went on too. The boys rode their bikes down each day as we live only a mile from our little church.

This week is basketball camp - just two hours a day but great fun. We don't have many activities in this area so we take advantage of the few we have. It's interesting to watch Wyatt and Paul's reactions to the same activities. They are so unalike. At the end of yesterday's scrimmage, Paul told me he really didn't like basketball and doesn't want to go back (he's going).

Wyatt loved every minute. One of the coaches came over at the end and said Wyatt has some real potential for the game and recommended we invest in a good ball, etc. He asked how tall the men in our family are and if there were any basketball players. I mentioned he has a relative who is around 6'7 who played college ball. They're hoping he'll join the middle school team starting this winter. So next time we're in town we'll get a good basketball.

I was reminded of the verse in Ephesians (2:10) that says: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

While I don't think Wyatt will be any more a Michael Jordan than Paul is Itzak Perleman, I do believe each of them - and us - has been gifted in certain ways. Before birth. That's what the scripture says - God prepared beforehand. Our job is to walk in them.

Want to know what God prepared in advance for you to do? Then answer this - what is your passion? What ignites your heart? The sick/handicapped? Orphans? Music? Senior citizens? Children? The lost? Missions? Business?

Max Lucado says that as a young man, he was unsure if he was understanding God's will for his life. He asked a minister he admired who told him this - "Don't preach unless you have to."

What is your passion? Find it and you'll find His will for your life.