I am always inspired by kids who seem to have a natural talent or gift for something. It is incredible to see how they can use their gifts at that particular age. In fact, someone forwarded me one of Oprah’s shows on the World’s Smartest Kids on the internet. It is truly fascinating.
So this got me thinking after seeing the latest child protégé on ESPN. His name is Marquise Walker who became a YouTube sensation. One of the big reasons why he became a hit was because of a marketing strategy used by his father, who wants his son to go to college to play basketball and eventually end up in the NBA.
The thought was – “how much of it is natural talent and how much of it is a parent’s training of the child?” Maybe it is both.
This made me think about discipleship. Every Christ’s follower has received a gift (Eph 2:8) and this gift begins to grow. In fact it needs to be developed (Php 2:12; Jas 2:14-26). But like with all things, if we try to push too hard on our own timetable then there are a lot of negative consequences that will follow.
How many child protégé turned out to be a bust?
I am wondering if the child protégé with the right combination of love, encouragement, and support, they might be able to go far.
Isn’t this the case with many young believers who are now growing towards maturity?
Check out ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” Special on Marquise.
Here is a compilation of some of Marquise’s games on YouTube.