Star Clemson wide receiver Hunter Renfrow was picked up in the NFL draft last week even though he’s only 5’10”, 184 pounds. Small. Quick, they say, but not fast. What he can do is get open and catch the ball, two essential qualities for a wide receiver.
The top pick in the NFL draft was a 5’10” quarterback. In past years, “too small.”
What changed is the NFL has realized that teams shouldn’t rule out players based on artificial and absolute standards, the kind that caused a lot of teams to pass over the legendary linebacker Mike Singletary when he was in the draft back in 1981: 3/8 inches too short. Oops. He went on to have a brilliant career with the Chicago Bears.
Jesus chose what to us looks like a ragtag bunch: fishermen, a tax collector, a guy who hated tax collectors. But from the beginning, God has chosen unlikely people. Moses stuttered, Gideon was fearful. David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons and didn’t even get invited to Samuel’s audition (1 Samuel 16.5-11).
I like that when Paul charged Timothy to invest in “men who will be able to teach others also,” the only qualification was that they be faithful or reliable. Not necessarily educated or talented or from a certain place or of a certain race. Just “faithful.”
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16.6, 7, NIV)