15Sep2009 Acts 10:41

⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

When I was in Elementary School, and even into High School, I hated those times when teams were chosen. I inevitably was chosen near the end. I was not very athletic. Not that I wasn’t strong or fast, just that when it came to team activities, I did not excel. I couldn’t hit a baseball. I didn’t like getting knocked down, since I was the skinny kid. Individual sports were more my style. I was great at gymnastics. I could shine. But team sports, I was not very good. I didn’t even enjoy playing them. In fact, if the truth be told, I hated them, mostly because I would be chosen last. I have a clear picture of that process in my mind. The team captains were chosen by the teacher. I never got chosen for that. They would stand in front of the crowd of kids and begin the process of elimination. We always knew the kids who would be chosen first. They were always chosen first. Then the crowd would get thinner and thinner. Finally a couple of us would be last, and reluctantly we would be picked, almost as a chore, a drag on the perfect team they had already chosen. At least that is the way I saw it. The first ones were enthusiastically pointed to and called out of the crowd. The opposing captain would wince when one of the good players got snatched from their grip. But by the time my turn came around there was hardly even a sound, and absolutely no motion. The team would sink when my name was said. “What are we going to do with him” was the message sent. “We had a perfect team until he was chosen.” Our text talks about a select group of people who were chosen the God for the purpose of eating and drinking with Jesus after his resurrection. Not many made it on that select team. They had the job of testifying to what they had seen and experienced. Only a few were chosen out of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who had witnessed Jesus’ life and ministry over those three years. Even today, not everyone who hears the message of Jesus will respond in an accepting manner. There are no late picks in the salvation lineup. Everyone is enthusiastically chosen and gifted for service. Your unique gifts are needed. Won’t you yield them for use today?