Vanilla Cone Moments

Dr. Jeff Cary: I just want to tell you how thankful I am that you're all here, not just at LCU, but
in this room today.
It's really important that we as a community come together and that we regularly come to
remember the center of our lives, which is our God, from whom we come and to whom we
go, in whom we live.
It's good for us to gather together and remember what's most important.
So I encourage you today, whatever you're bringing into this place, whether it is anxiety or joy or fear or even despair,
I encourage you to come within the hearing distance today.
One of my great friends and mentors is here to share an encouraging word with us today, Dr. Jim Martin.
I got to know Jim back in 2003 to 2006 when my family and I lived in Waco.
I was attending Baylor University for graduate school, and Jim was preaching at the church where our family attended.
And he became such a source of wisdom and stability for me and really taught me a lot about how to be a minister and how to try to be an encouragement to other people.
So he was going to be here this weekend, and I said, would you come speak to our student body, and would you come speak to some of the ministers in our area?
So he's here to do that, and I want to encourage you to give your full attention to Jim.
He spent the last 10 years as a vice president at Harding School of Theology, and last year he retired.
And most of what he spends his time doing now is helping to encourage and support people in ministry.
So please help me welcome Dr. Jim Martin.
Dr. Jim Martin: Thank you, Dr. Cary.
You know, there are a lot of big moments in life.
I spoke to a young woman at church who was just about to run the St. Jude Marathon.
And she was so excited.
she had trained and trained, and she was looking forward to that day.
It was the day of the big race,
and people gathered from all over the country in Memphis for that run.
And yet for her, and probably most of these runners,
this big moment was really the culmination of a lot of small moments,
moments of preparation,
Moments that included long runs, speed work, cross training, adequate rest days, etc.
I'm guessing that there have already been some big moments for you at Lubbock Christian.
And when you have a big moment, it's usually something you remember.
And yet most of our lives are not about big moments,
but they're about ordinary moments,
small moments, regular moments.
These small moments may seem insignificant,
may seem ordinary, may seem inconsequential.
And so imagine going into Baskin-Robbins
and you have a group with you, you have some friends with you,
and all of you walk inside and you see the seasonal offerings.
Pumpkin cheesecake ice cream, German chocolate cake ice cream,
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
And so you begin to order and you look at the regular offerings
and all kinds of combinations,
and then your friend walks up to the counter and says,
I want a vanilla cone.
And you kind of look at her, look at him,
and you say, a vanilla cone?
Now, me even saying that,
some of y'all are sitting there thinking,
what's so wrong with a vanilla cone?
Not a thing, not a thing.
But that is the way a lot of life is.
A lot of life is a vanilla cone moment.
Ordinary moments.
These moments seem small, but they matter.
Moments like, for instance,
you have a cup of coffee one day with a friend
and you just really talk.
And you remember that moment.
Or one day you go to class
and that afternoon you work on your project
and that evening you eat
and it's so ordinary,
but it felt like a good day.
Or you get a pizza with friends
one evening and you laugh and laugh and laugh.
And it just felt good.
The challenge that we all face
is paying attention
to small moments, ordinary moments
that may in fact matter.
You know, you can walk across campus
and you're likely,
you're just likely to see someone trying to get the attention of someone else.
Maybe a coach blowing a whistle trying to get the attention of his or her team.
It might be a professor at a microphone in a large classroom
maybe trying to get the attention of a class.
Or maybe you're sending a text and you just hope you can get the attention of your friend.
I want to encourage you
to pay attention to what's ordinary
pay attention to the
vanilla cone moments
and don't wait for the big moments
I know we like them
I know they matter
but you can spend days and months
you can spend a long time
just waiting for that big moment and just completely miss the vanilla cone moments.
I love these words of Jesus, Matthew 22, 36 through 40.
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
Jesus replied,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.
So maybe it comes down to this.
can I pay attention to the ordinary vanilla-coned moments
and see the opportunity in that to love God
and to love another person.
And if you do that, you will have lived a day that matters.
We're dismissed.
Thank you very much.