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Truth or Dare

by Alex Willmott - October 29, 2010 in Willmott with 2 Comments

I’ve done it hundreds of times and it never gets any easier. Due to my love of football, whenever I move to a new place I have to get involved with a team. However, this means walking up to the side of a pitch and literally asking a group of strange men if I can play with them. (I usually phrase it differently though). It’s humiliating. I feel like a Welsh Oliver Twist asking for a kick around with the lads. And the problem is that here in Chesterfield I’m about as local as Magners cider.

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So this week I did it again. In the bitter East Midlands rain and wind I walked with my head down towards the pitch now littered with strangers who knew everyone in sight; except me. I had been told about this team of lads who play football every Monday. Half of them church goers. I looked for the church going type in a bid to protect my pride.

crowdMy initiation went well until the final whistle.

Scottish Dave, who runs the team, is a passionate man who shares my scepticism of every English sportsman. He’s also a Christian and wants to share his faith with those who haven’t heard the real message of Jesus. We were getting on really well until he said this: “Alex, every week before and after the game, we gather the lads together and one of us leads a prayer. Would you pray for us?”

I had just spent 90 minutes trying to win over the respect of the team, which included a lot of men who did not go to church. Until this moment I was seen as the decent Welsh lad who managed to bang a few goals in. My heart rate increased. Give me a microphone and a Bible and I’ll go like a madman, but put me in reality, and I start to sweat a little.

Why am I still more concerned about my image than the need for men to hear about the immense truth that Jesus is exactly who he says he is.

Suffice to say I grew a pair and prayed for us all. And guess what, they invited me back. On the journey home I laughed with my creator as I remembered a prayer I whispered three weeks previous. “Lord, put me under the spotlight so I can point people to you.”

My challenge to you lads is simply this. Dare to pray that today. In fact, pray it now and before you go to sleep to assure God that you mean it.

Peace.

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About Alex Willmott: Alex Willmott is a very Welsh 25-year-old who has the potential to grow an afro. His passions include cheering for Blackburn Rovers, reading Science Fiction books and dipping his toast into his tea. He loves reading the New Testament and is quite sad that so many churches in the UK have a serious lack of twenty somethings in their congregations. He believes the message of Jesus is more relevant now than its ever been. On a lesser note, it is rumoured that Alex is offended by wasps, golf and the taste of jam.

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  • http://nwelford.wordpress.com Nick Welford

    Excellent stuff mate. When I saw you were writing about football I didn’t think it would pan out like this….

    I know the feeling though. I visited the CU at the Uni the other week and got asked to pray at the end and bricked it, and they were all Christians. To top it all off I mispronounced the word ‘facade’ during the prayer. Hard times.

  • http://www.cnvrstns.co.uk Dave Magill

    Good blog. Love the line, “put me in reality, and I start to sweat a little.” So often we have the faith upside down. We fall for the trick that the preaching, teaching, singing, hands waving, momentary thrills that we get in church or in ministry are where it is at. When really it is in the day to day encounters, the wrong and right choices with an audience who don’t know Jesus that the real battles are won and lost.

    As a boy who preaches and fools himself into thinking he’s pretty good at it, I needed to read this today. As always, cracking!