Giving

During the second week of March, Bob Simmons, the head football coach at Oklahoma State University, could not be found. One rumor placed Simmons on a recruiting trip. Another rumor said that he was having a kidney transplant. Even the Oklahoma State Athletic Director did not know the coach's whereabouts. Eventually, Simmons issued a press release stating that he did have a kidney transplant with his wife being the donor. In his statement Simmons made a poignant comment. He said the story "is not just about Bob Simmons. This is about a loving gift from my wife."'Christians talk a lot about "my faith," "my salvation," "my God," and other aspects of the Christian life as if these things centered on the individual. The Christian life, however, is not a story centered on anything that is "ours." "Our" story, like Coach Simmons' story is really about a loving gift from God, a gift given by the Father (John 4:10; Eph. 2:8), brought by Christ (Rom. 5:15), and made real by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).