I am SECOND!

I am Second!

What place are you? I am shooting for second place! NOT!

The first trophy I ever got was for placing 2nd in the Ruston Peach Festival Bicycle race. I was NOT happy to be in 2nd place, I’ll tell you. I was riding my sparkly purple bike with a psychedelic “flower power” banana seat and those handle bar streamers. Even those streamers were sparkly! That was an amazing bicycle! And I was amazing ON the bicycle! Have you ever been in a competition in which you were in the lead until the very last minute? Just when you think you’re going to pull off the victory, ZOOM!, someone else powers past you? Yeah. That was my story. I was pumping my little legs, and was ahead of the pack until the very last few yards, and this girl on a fancy-smancy 10-speed bike zoomed past to take the coveted 1st place trophy. I went right home and started making plans to get a 10-speed. So much for beauty. I was in it for SPEED now! I wanted to be NUMBER ONE!!!

I’ve been thinking this week about being 2nd. Who wants to be SECOND? Well, after thinking about this, and praying even, I’ve decided that it would be best if I were just that: SECOND… or maybe even further down the line. What would our lives be like… how would our lives be different if we all decided to be 2nd? What I mean by this is: What would our lives be like… how would our lives be different if Jesus Christ were always No. 1?
Can you imagine your daily schedule? How much time would you spend in prayer? How much time would you spend reading and studying scripture? Would you join a Sunday School class? Or maybe regularly attend a Bible Study? Or ALWAYS go to worship services on the Sabbath? Would you be God’ “Yes Man”… always saying “yes” to God, no matter what and no matter when? Would you honor your tithe before that credit card? Would you raise your children differently? Would you have a different work ethic? Would your daily life be filled with compassion and deliberate efforts to bless others?

Okay, I give up… I WANT TO BE SECOND!!! How about you?