** Answer our question of the month: “What do you really want?” http://mentodayonline.com/chat/ask_IC.html 

by Darren Hewer

Martin St. Louis, of the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL hockey team, is not a big man in stature, but he is in presence. As he led his team to the Stanley Cup in the 2003-2004 season, he also won the Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer), Hart Trophy (most valuable player) and Lester B Pearson Award (outstanding regular season player). It’s hard to believe that just a few years earlier, no NHL teams wanted him.

St. Louis is officially listed as 5’9″ tall, but is actually probably closer to 5’7″. For a regular guy that’d be average, but for a hockey player, that’s tiny. Even after an impressive career in the minor leagues, St. Louis wasn’t chosen in the first round of the NHL draft. In fact he wasn’t chosen during the draft at all, which is definitely a traumatic event for any hockey player. He was later signed by the Calgary Flames, but was soon released as a free agent; the equivalent of a hockey team saying, “We don’t want you anymore.” Later he signed to Tampa Bay Lightning and looked to be having a great year until a broken leg canceled the rest of his season. Although everything seemed to be against him, and few probably believed it could happen, he persevered and attained amazing success.

God often chooses unexpected people. In 1 Samuel 16:6-7, Samuel was sure God would choose Eliab to be the new king of Israel. But God tells him, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7, NLT) Instead of Eliab, whom Samuel wrongly judged to be “the one” based on outward appearance alone, God chooses the simple shepherd David.

All throughout the Bible, we see God choosing unexpected people to be heroes: Moses (who had a speech impediment), David (the youngest and scrawniest of his family), Matthew (a despised tax collector), Peter (a hothead who couldn’t hold his tongue) … and us. It doesn’t matter if we aren’t the fastest, strongest, smartest or best-looking people around. In fact, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27) and Paul boldly says, “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Samuel judged by outward appearances, but God does not. Instead, He is impressed by the condition of our hearts: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). If you ever feel inferior because aren’t the fastest, strongest, smartest or best-looking person around, don’t worry: God often raises up the most unexpected heroes.