Vocabulary Victory

I've been telling my seventeen year old that he needs to know what "lugubrious" and "salacious" mean- I have a feeling he'll see them on the SATS he is taking again in October. When I was in high school, I was in Advanced Placement English- and we had twenty vocabulary words a week to memorize. I remember those two words from that time- and I think I even had them on my SAT exam. Lugubrious means mournful, but I couldn't remember what salacious means until I looked it up and found it means lustful or obscene. Yuk. Stay away from anything that is salacious!

But my vocabulary word today is a word that's in my blog address: Champion. It's been on my mind again. Usually people think champion means someone who wins, who is the first place victor. And that's the hard truth- there are situations where there can only be one winner. Why is it that we have to have first place, second place, etc- when it comes to winning?! Can't everyone win?

If you look up the definition of champion in Webster's New World, though, you find that the first definition given is this "One who fights for another or for a cause; defender" and then the second definition listed has to do with being first place winner. Love the order of that!

The verb form of champion is "to fight for, defend, support"- as in "Let me champion your dreams!" And that's what I want to do.There's enough people competing for first place, as though winning at the expense of others feeling lost and last, was okay. It's not.

There are too many people who feel they are without a champion for their dreams. They wish they had a perpetual cheerleader to cheer them on. I can understand that feeling. But remember-

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong." Eccl. 9:11

The race is for everyone - and run it well- because His eyes are on you, His thoughts are toward you (Jer 29:11) and God's plans are for your good. He is championing your dreams- and they're dreams that HE put in your heart.

So if you need to know just ONE vocabulary word for the week, know what "champion" means-
because you have one, and so do I.

I hear Him calling me onward....right now.