“We are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). That’s the first Bible verse I ever memorized. I was 6 years old, and it would be a while
before I took on John 3:16 or other passages.
Like many boys my age, we became acquainted with this portion of 2
Corinthians 5:20 because it was the Royal Ambassadors motto. For some reason our group never got into
saying the Royal Ambassadors pledge.
Maybe our leader and parents thought the whole “keep myself clean and
healthy in mind and body” part was just too high a bar for us to clear at the
time.
Today, family and friends will gather at Reevesville Baptist
Church to give thanks to God for Dennis McAlhaney. As my RAs leader beginning 39 years ago, he
demonstrated to a bunch of energetic boys what it meant to be one of Christ’s
ambassadors.
We did a lot together.
Mr. Dennis taught us about missions and carrying the message of
Christ. Most lessons were about being
kind and helpful. One Christmas, he even
talked us into singing for the church program.
We took a trip to The Citadel for RA day and we watched Stump Mitchell
run all over Newberry. Sometimes we
would complete craft projects at home and bring them on Wednesdays for some
show-and-tell.
Ask, however, any of my colleagues from Royal Ambassadors
days what they remember most about the experience and, to a man, they will tell
you about the track meets. Every year
Mr. Dennis helped us get ready for the Screven Baptist Association’s RA track
meet. We practiced events, especially
the relay. Our parents got involved and
even organized a conditioning program where we learned to stretch and do some
distance running. We’d travel down to
Baptist College and win the track meet, then celebrate the victory at Hardee’s
in Summerville (remember when that was a treat?). The next morning we all had to be back at
church where Mr. Dennis would stand us up in front of the congregation to
present us to them as their champions.
It strikes me how many of those images are fitting metaphors
helping define what it means to be one of Christ’s ambassadors. As Christians, we need our coaches: the
leaders, teachers, preachers and parents who help us learn about faith in Jesus
Christ and show it to us through their actions.
We didn’t know it as kids practicing a relay race, but now a more
important baton has been placed in our hands which we are required to hand off
to the next generation. Faith, hope and
love are meant to be shared. Winning as
a team certainly speaks to how much we need each other in this life
together. When we follow Jesus Christ,
it certainly will stretch us and it will require perseverance, but we will
grow, and the Bible tells us that because of Christ, we are “more than
conquerors”.
No, we didn’t cover all of that during lesson time on
Wednesday nights, although somehow at the end of the year we had earned our
pins and patches. Mostly, we were
anxious to be turned loose to go outside and run. Hmm… now there’s another good metaphor for
you.
Throughout all that activity, though, the constant we can
agree on was that Mr. Dennis was there for us.
Here was one ambassador for Christ who invested his time, talent, patience
and love in the lives of children. Jesus
would have said he was doing good Kingdom work. We had no idea that we were
gaining a lifelong friend much less being introduced to an Eternal Friend.
Thank you, God, for Mr. Dennis, from “all the boys”, he certainly
helped turn us loose to go out and “run in such a way that you might win”.
