God can take all comers

Growing up in Temple in the 60s and 70s, there was a place downtown that some of my friends and I so enjoyed haunting. It was called The Pastime—Temple’s only pool hall.

Only once did I skip school (I think in my sophomore year) to go and play pool. That day, there was another old friend who had graduated about a year earlier, Dickie Jarma (wow, the names just come flooding back). He was only about twenty years old. To scare the daylights out of us, he said he knew we were skipping school, and he was going to call the Principal of Temple High School and tell him where we were. He picked up the phone. We pretended not to panic—bravado and all that stuff. He never dialed the number.

But I digress, back to The Pastime. There was one shark there we all knew. Mild-mannered guy, really. But this guy—Jimmy Church was his name—could beat at pool anyone else we knew.

I remember one day when he was challenged. It was that moment when each player went to the wall to choose a cue from the dozens that stood vertically in the cue racks. But the challenger opened an alligator case, removed parts of an ivory-inlaid cue, and screwed them together. We all thought: “Man, this guy must be a pro.” And we wondered which cue Jimmy would choose.

Jimmy walked over behind the cash register— (sometimes Jimmy helped out around the place— worked there from time to time—maybe even owned it later on) —anyhow, he walked behind the cash register and picked up a mop, unscrewed the handle from the mop and returned to the table.

He didn’t choose the mop handle because it was the best mop handle at The Pastime. He didn’t choose that mop handle because it had ivory inlay (which it didn’t). He didn’t choose that mop handle because it was the perfect weight. But using that mop handle, Jimmy Church won the match.

Throughout the Bible, God is a God who chooses. God chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau. God chose David over Saul and Ephraim over Manasseh. Jesus chose twelve followers he wanted to be his disciples. Matthias was chosen over Justus to take the place of Judas. The early church chose seven men to be deacons.

Why did God choose the tiny nation of Israel? Why did God choose a carpenter from Nazareth to be the Savior? Why did Jesus choose men who smelled like fish to usher his gospel into all the world? Why does God choose us? In a world of saints and ivory-inlaid pool cues, why does God choose us: sinners and mop handles! The early believers asked these questions. And, reflecting, Paul wrote: “Brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to confound the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to overcome the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to show that all good and wonderful happenings are done by God.”

God’s choices are made to reveal God’s glory and power, and the hope of the world. What a gospel it is to read again the words of Jesus, “I chose you” (John 15:16). If you would have it so, if it is in your heart and your true desire, God chooses you, and with you, God can take all comers.