You’re the God of this city.
You’re the King of these people.
You’re the Lord of this nation… You are.

Some of my favorite indoor Olympic events are the diving competitions. Competitors twisting, turning, and spiraling downward through the air until they hit the water with hopefully a minimal splash. In these events, there are different heights from which the athletes can jump and different aerial feats that can be achieved based on the distance from the competitors’ starting points and the water’s surface. But there is one thing that they all have in common. Each individual has a platform from which they can showcase their talents.

A few years ago Chris Tomlin and his band were in Belfast, Germany for a concert event. It was early in the afternoon and the band’s guitarist had some free time. So he decided to check out the local bands there. While he was listening, the band started singing a song that gripped his heart. He ran to get Chris out of the dressing room to come hear this song. By the time Chris got to the stage, the song was over. So Chris and the rest of his band met with this local Belfast worship band afterwards. They gave him MP3s of all of their songs and he listened to that one special song. Tomlin said that he was so moved that he just had to ask them what inspired this song.

Their band and a few other members of their church went on a mission trip to Pattaya, Thailand recently. In Pattaya, there are over 30,000 female prostitutes over the age of 18! (That is not counting the ones under 18, or even the male prostitutes there) While they were walking around the town, they walked into a local bar there called….”The Climax Club”, which was looking ofr bands to play. They agreed to give it a try and asked how long the owner how long he wanted them to play. The owner said, “As long as your friends continues to buy cokes.” So they ended up buying cokes for 2-3 hours.

So for over 2 hours this band sang Jesus over these prostitutes who had no idea what they were singing! All of the sudden this song “came down from heaven,” as one of the band members recalls.

The band, whose name is Bluetree if you want to check out their album, used what platform they had to reach a lost city for Christ. We may not all have the same platform as “high” as Bluetree or Chris Tomlin, but in our everyday lives we are constantly performing for an audience. Our friends, our families, our coworkers, our classmates- they are all watching us, “tuning in” so to speak, to see whether what we proclaim is real. And just as my entire perception of swimming and diving is formed based upon the performance of a few individuals on a platform every four years, so many of you will encounter people whose entire perception of Christianity is based upon whether you are “real” with them or not. When I challenge you to perform well, I don’t mean to fake an identity in the way an actor performs. I mean to dig down deep and call upon the strength of the Lord that you have hopefully filled yourself with- similar to how an athlete who has trained summons his weeks and months of training when it is time to perform on the field. Utilitze the gifts God has given you and capitalize on the opportunities and platform you have been entrusted with (Matthew 25:14-30). You never know just what kind of splash you may make…