The NFL draft happens today. Many college hopefuls have spent most of their lifetimes preparing for this event. Everything they are is focused on this one thing. Getting drafted presents the opportunity of a lifetime. Most of us can grasp the excitement of getting paid extreme amounts of money to play a game as a way to make a living.

Let’s say that, in some fantasy universe, it happened to you. What a celebration there would be! You would undoubtedly have difficulty containing your emotions about what you had just accomplished. Your lifetime of “blood, sweat, and tears” paid off. You made the grade. You have arrived.

Upon showing up to training camp you see lots of familiar faces… veterans who have been on the team for previous seasons, other rookies who were drafted along with you, some undrafted players selected for what they could bring to the team, and… Fred.

Wait… Fred? Who is Fred?! He wasn’t on anyone’s war room draft chart. It’s doubtful that he has ever even played football beyond a backyard pickup game. How could he possibly be wearing the same uniform you are? He has done nothing you have done to get here. He just is here.

You ask around and find out from other confused players that Fred was put on the team as the result of a direct order from the front office. The team GM called him personally and asked him to show up, and so he did. What kind of team did you get drafted to? What happened to fairness and rewarding hard work?

In our upside down kingdom reality we find that none of us are “drafted” in, but all of us are “grafted” in. We are all “Freds” on God’s team. Not one of us deserves to be here. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, our “training” really has prepared us to be on the other team.

We are paupers made princes and princesses, lepers made clean, broken people made whole, and outcasts made heirs to a kingdom. This is a story too good to be true. It is beyond our comprehension, but it is certainly true. Jesus has forged the way and sealed us for it with his Holy Spirit.

Inconceivable!

So what do we do now?

Find more “Freds” and bring them to God’s “graft day!”