Keion Henderson - The Little Giant

Today, I want to talk to you about this: «The Little Giants.» I’m going to discuss the movie «The Little Giants.» I don’t know if you have ever seen this film; chances are some of you have. In the movie, there are two brothers, Danny and Kevin. Danny has always lived in the shadow of his brother Kevin, who is a Heisman Trophy winner. He has a local peewee football team called the Cowboys, and if you watch this movie, you know that the Cowboys typically win the championship every year. Kevin is the man; he drives around town in a red Corvette, has a beautiful wife, and is a local town hero with a restaurant and food named after him. He’s the man. However, his brother Danny isn’t viewed in the same way. He is a short, nerdy-looking guy with glasses, and he has a daughter who wants to play on his brother’s football team. Guess what? She’s the best player on the team! But because Kevin doesn’t respect the fact that a girl can play football, he actually cuts her from the team, causing her to be upset and telling her father. The story continues with the father starting a football team for his daughter, and they end up going up against his brother, ultimately winning the championship. The reason why I’m fast forwarding through this is that I didn’t come to preach to you about a movie today; I only use the movie as a backdrop to show you what I’m going to reveal in the text. If you want to know the outcome and specifics of the movie, I suggest that you watch it. It is a story of complete sensibility and notoriety because there is this nerdy, glasses-wearing, short, curly-haired guy who is smaller than his big strong athletic brother. Somehow, by the end of the story, the little guy beats the big guy. That is what I love about this story: the little guy beats the big guy, and the girl who wasn’t considered good enough for the team ends up being the MVP of the league and wins the championship. The girl beats the big guy! There was even one scene where this big kid came and tackled everyone until he heard them, but he couldn’t do that to this young girl because she was a little giant. When I look at this story, it reminds me that even if you have never seen «The Little Giants,» I know that most of you have heard the story of David and Goliath. David and Goliath is such a fixation in American culture that it has become synonymous with good versus evil, top dog versus underdog, and advantaged versus disadvantaged. It has become synonymous with the winner versus the loser because we have stripped this story of its salvific significance and distilled it down to a context that is usable and palatable across all genres of conversation. David is a type of Christ, and this is truly a story of biblical proportions. However, because it has such significance, we can use it in everyday language. But I would argue that this story has more than meets the eye. David had a life filled with ups and downs; his children had all kinds of issues, and he faced relationship troubles. On one occasion, two of his wives were kidnapped, and he had a heated battle with one of his sons. David had a rough life, but you may not know anything about Tamar, you may not know anything about Absalom, and you may know nothing about the other brothers that were there when his father chose whom Samuel would anoint as king. Yet all of you know about David versus Goliath because this battle has become the most important story of his life. The battle with Goliath has become the most vigorous part of his conversation, history, and destiny. But I would argue that just because this is the most celebrated story of his life, it is not the most consequential. Oh, everybody knows that he had this battle with the bear, and they know about this giant, who was nine feet tall and armed with sheaves, a sword, and a shield. We all know that David took that slingshot, aimed, and hit that giant in the center of the forehead, and we know he killed him with just one shot. But what if I told you that just because it was the biggest moment of his life doesn’t mean it was the most consequential moment? What if I told you that we often miss the moments of the small because we are so infatuated with the results of the big? Yeah, we wouldn’t even know who Joseph was had he not become Prime Minister. But there were some little things that took place along the way because we often talk about how he was the Prime Minister, and we use this subject, «What you meant for evil, God meant for good.» Yes, that is true, but let’s not forget that he was thrown in the pit by the Midianites and that God sent a caravan of people to take him out. He was thrown in the pit by his brothers, and God sent a caravan of Midianites to rescue him. Then, he ended up at Potiphar’s house, and somehow, God delivered him from that. Then he was…