May 7, 2001
Lucado at DBU: God does for his
children what they can't do themselves
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___DALLAS--Max Lucado, noted author, preacher and speaker, was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree at Dallas Baptist University April 20. Lucado also was the speaker at the school's spring convocation.
___"We recognize Max Lucado's commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ through hisministry, which recognizes people through both the written an spoken word," said DBU President Gary Cook.
MAX LUCADO
___At a luncheon honoring Lucado after the convocation, the San Antonio pastor recalled being in the sixth grade and waiting to see if he had made any of the Little League baseball teams in Andrews that year. He had tried out that afternoon and was now waiting for the telephone to ring, for a coach to say, "You can be on our team."
___The telephone didn't ring.
___"For all of you out there, at some time or another, the phone didn't ring," Lucado said, emphasizing that all have known disappointment.
___Lucado linked that to what he termed his favorite Old Testament story found in 1 Samuel. In this passage, David and his men return to their camp to find it plundered and their families taken captive by the Amalekites. After a brief discussion, the band sets out after the Amalekites to retrieve the families.
___The group stops, however, at the Brook of Besor. When the march begins anew, 200 of the 600 men are too exhausted to continue the trek.
___"Churches have their share of those kind of people--who are just tired and need to sit and rest," Lucado said. "What we do with those people says a lot about who we are. We might shame them into service or run them out of the army, but David let them rest."
___David and the remainder of his army routed the Amalekites and returned with not only their families and all that had been taken from them, but also all the Amalekites had taken from everyone else.
___When the victorious party returned, they didn't want to share the spoils of battle with those who rested, but only give them their family members back. But David insisted they be given an equal share.
___"This is David at his best," Lucado said. "He knew the success had come from God, not the might of men. David knew if they had anything, it is by the grace of God."
___That night Lucado waited in vain for the phone to ring, he finally did hear a knock on the door. It was a coach inviting him to play baseball.
___Later conversations with his mother led him to believe his father had made a call of his own. His father had done what Lucado couldn't manage on his own.
___In the same way, God does for his children what they cannot do for themselves, Lucado said.
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