The Right Ones

There's a really good movie that came out in 2004 called "Miracle".  This movie takes place back in the time when hockey was cool.  It depicts the organizing, development, and eventual success of the United States men's hockey team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. This team faced a lot of adversity while looking forward to the Olympics.  But they overcame that and shocked the world when they beat the heavily favored Soviet team to advance to the Gold-Medal round, in which they defeated the Finnish team to claim the top prize.

Near the beginning of the film, the head coach, Herb Brooks, is setting the final roster in place.  One of his assistant coaches questions his decision:

"You're missing some of the best players" he says.

Herb answers back, "I'm not looking for the best players.  I'm looking for the right ones".

 Herb Brooks knew what he wanted to do with this team.  He knew what it would take to create an Olympic-ready hockey team.  He didn't take the easy way out and make it simply a test of hockey skills.  But coach Brooks examined each player's personal talents.  He made his decision to create the best team chemistry, to mix different personalities and characters.  This chemistry is what ultimately refined them and prepared them to defeat the Soviets.  It truly was a miracle.

I think there's something to learn from all of this.  I believe that God has this same attitude with His children.  Our Heavenly Father calls prophets to help teach His children here on the Earth.  These prophets are normal people who are called to a not-so-normal role.

One good example of this is Moses.  Moses said of himself that he was "slow of speech, and of a slow tongue"(Exodus 4:10).  He thought that a prophet should be able to communicate with people and he struggled with that.  Some might think that Moses wasn't the best man for the job.  But God doesn't care who "the best" people are, He just wants "the right ones".  Through an imperfect man, God miraculously led Israel out of Egypt, counseled them for forty years in the wilderness, and issued the still-relevant ten commandments.

So if you ever doubt yourself, just think about all of the imperfect people through whom God has done His bidding.  We may not be "the best" people for whatever we have to do.  But if God wants us to do something to fulfill His purposes, we are "the right ones".