I watched my siblings play a lot.  I watched as one brother excelled in a few sports, as another became one of the top baseball players around, and as my sister became the top athlete at our high school.  When I watched them do remarkable things on the field or court, I wanted to do them.  I never excelled in sports like my siblings, but the desire to be an athlete came from watching them.  Today, I see that in my own kids.  I still like to play basketball, and my daughter sees me play and wants to play too. 

The Gospel is filled with situations where Jesus was followed by crowds.  Sometimes, He would seek privacy, but the crowd would find Him anyway.  They followed because Jesus performed feats they could not (healing the sick, disposing of demons, etc.) so He received a following.  Then He used their desire as a platform to speak the Truth and love of God to them.  He performed remarkable things, so He had the ears of everyone who followed. 

Do your parents or other adults in your life come to watch you play?  How about siblings, do they watch?  There might even be people in the audience you don’t know who are there because it’s a school game.  Whatever the case, if you are an athlete, you have an influence.  The question is, what are you doing with that influence?  Are you using it just to get popular?  Are you using it for good, even the good of sharing Jesus with others?