One reason I think there will be sports in the age to come is that there are crippled and paralyzed men in this age who never knew the joy of agility and physical freedom. It would be like God to make this up to them. Not because he owes anybody anything, but because he is so good. When God restores the fortunes of his people what will we do with all our time?

Zechariah 8:5 says, “The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. I cannot imagine that those of us who love to run and kick and throw and dodge and jump and bat and hit and whack will be told that we cannot join the children. In fact we are commanded to be like children in order to get into the kingdom. Shall we get there and be told to grow up?

Therefore, believe it or not, I invite you to come to the second annual 24-hour men’s retreat this year (Nov. 15-16) to enjoy a little realized eschatology. That’s a fancy way of saying: Volleyball is a foretaste of heaven. So is racketball and soccer and football and softball and basketball and volley ball—especially when you are playing with comrades in the greatest Cause in the world.

There’s more. How do you know how much to play and how much to work? When to rest and when to fix the broken doorknob? When to walk with the wife and when to talk with the kids? When to visit friends and when to be alone?

This raises the whole issue of planning. So our theme this year is God’s Purposes and a Man's Plans. Why is it so hard for us to make plans? Why is it hard to choose ahead of time what we will do instead of just doing what comes along?

One reason is that Satan does not want us to plan. He loves it when men drift and coast and let their lives be molded by the whimsical pressures of every day. But he trembles when he sees a man take a Bible and a note pad and go out under a tree by himself to think about his life’s priorities.

Satan knows he is in trouble whenever men take an hour, go to a park, sit down under a tree and ask, “What’s God’s purpose for my life, my job, my singleness, my marriage, my fatherhood, my gifts?

I really want to meet with you men to pray and plan and play together. I hope you will come. PLAN IT! It costs $29. It starts at 7:30 p.m. November 15 and ends after dinner the next day. Wood lake camp feeds us really well (you don’t need to eat supper Friday, the late evening snacks are more than snacks!).

This is for any man from 18 to 98, including friends from outside the church.

In the camaraderie of King Jesus,

Pastor John