So I want to welcome all those who are joining us literally from all over the world. It is amazing.

Not to mention all of those you were joining us at all of our Atlanta area churches and all over the country.

It's so great to be a part of a growing number of Christians who understand our responsibility to not simply believe things, but to do things.

And to the degree that we do things, we make the world a better place.

We're going to talk a little bit about that.

Today, however, I would like to begin with a parable.

Now, as you probably know, if you've read any of the New Testament, Jesus taught parable

and taught me in parables.

And a parable is a made-up story.

He would just make up a story that would illustrate something true.

So in my case, with my parable, this is actually a true story that illustrates something important.

And borrowing from Jesus' approach to how he introduced parables, I would like to begin like this.

The kingdom of God is like a five-year-old little girl whose parents signed her up for swim team,

and she absolutely loved it. In fact, at her pool, she was known as the friendly swimmer because she would swim with her head out of the water and grin the entire time. However,

she lost every race, which was so odd because she was taller than most of the kids. She was stronger. She was lean. And this went on for the

entire season. And at the end of the season, her parents said, do you want to do that again?

And she said, yes. She was looking forward to season two.

So, season two came along, and now she's six years old. And once again, same outcome, smiled and lost

every race. And then about halfway through season two, her mother was putting her events on her wrist with a Sharpie.

And she looked at her daughter and she said, okay, honey, get out there and win this race.

Startled. The little girl looked at her mother and said, it's a race?

I thought we were here to meet people.

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