November 14, 2011 - Bench Players Commit Zero Turnovers

What is your excuse? Why aren’t you tearing up the “court”? Why aren’t you making a difference in the “game”?

Far too many Christians are content going through the motions of the “game” and focusing on the idea that what makes us good “players” is not committing “turnovers” (making mistakes / sin.) Although that is a wonderful accomplishment, by itself it doesn’t make you an effective player.

In basketball a player that has been entrusted with the ball is gauged by a simple formula of assist-to-turnover ratio. How many assists is he dishing out compared to when he is messing up? (And as a coach you are also looking at variables such as how much pressure is the player under.)

One of my former players is now the point guard at Oak Hill Academy. Through their first 7 games his assist-to-turnover ratio is 10.3 to 1.5 - That is an amazing number!   What is even more amazing is that the night I went to watch a game the opposing team played very physical and pressured him the whole game, most of it picking him up with full-court pressure. The result was amazing. He played the entire game and had zero turnovers. (Way to go Tyler; and congratulations NC State – you are getting an amazing and effective point guard next year!)

There are many that question Tyler’s game. They say he is too small; too slow; too weak; etc. It would be very easy for Tyler to just buy into the questions and be content to just try to stay away from trouble. When facing pressure from the other team he could choose to try to stay away from the pressure by playing “east-to-west” (sideline to sideline) instead “north-to-south” (goal to goal - attacking the pressure.) I believe Tyler could still maintain good low turnover numbers in games that way but he would not be an effective guard doing that. (Heck, some players just simply do so little that they get to stay on the bench. Do you realize that a bench player doesn’t commit turnovers; but does that make him an effective player?)

So back to our original questions: What is your excuse? Why aren’t you tearing up the “court”? Why aren’t you making a difference in the “game”?

Obviously we are not talking about the game of basketball. We are discussing serving the Lord in our Christian lives.

Maybe your excuse is that you are not “talented” enough to make a difference. You are right; but Christ in you is! Colossians 2: 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

It is time to get busy and make a difference. Christ in you gives you the potential to be an all-star player for God. Yet I will end this week with a quote off of Tyler’s dad’s Facebook page. Coach Lewis is a scout for high school players and he said this:

“Too often potential never matches performance and production. Potential may be the single most overused word to describe players today.”

Church we have the potential; let’s perform and produce!!!!!!!!