November 26, 2018 - Make Contact with the Opponent

I recently got to watch a great college basketball game between Duke and Gonzaga… the number 1 team in the country vs the number 3 team. (And this week those rankings are still true… just reversed on which team they go with.)

Entering the game Duke was considered the team to beat, not only that night but for the year… with many already thinking they are a shoe in for the national championship next spring. I am not a Duke fan per say, but I must admit I too expect them to be there in the championship at the end of the year… in spite of the fact that in the game I watched they lost to Gonzaga… and honestly for most the game Gonzaga was fully in control.

Duke ended up losing by just two points as they climbed back into the game late as a result of their incredible athleticism and skills. They were able to spread the floor and get some separation, allowing them to find lanes to drive to the basket (using their speed and jumping ability), without Gonzaga putting a body on them. Quick players love to play when the defenders give them space to move. (And coaches hate to see their defense allowing unimpeded lanes to the hole!)

I watched the game due to my intrigue in watching Zion Williamson. This kid is a “monster”, weighing over 280lbs, yet fast… nimble… and can jump out of the gym. He is explosive and is fun to watch. But in spite of the size and strength, I noticed that young Zion is still in need of unobstructed lanes to use his speed, as he has not learned yet to create space in the low post; (nor has he learned to defend the post…)

My favorite player in that particular game was a young man named Rui Hachimura. He is a player for Gonzaga that is greatly skilled and athletic, but more impressively knows how to use his body. Weighing in at around 50lbs less than Williamson, I watched Hachimura run a clinic on how to get low in the post and create offense. Williamson is used to using his incredible jumping ability and quickness to block shots, make steals, etc. and thus plays defense straight up and down and not seeming interested in putting his body on the opponent. Rui would run to the low post spots he wanted with no resistance… so even though he may not have always had an initial lane to the goal, he did have lanes to his spot and once there, he would drop step and “sit down” on his defender. That simply means he would get his behind low and into the defender so the defender couldn’t use jumping ability or quickness to stop him. It was a beautiful display of sealing off the defender and creating space.

Well I am starting to write as a basketball junkie, and would love to talk hoops, but there is a spiritual point to my observations. In our game plan called the Great Commission, we will find that we do not always have a “clear lane” in sharing the Gospel. There are typically obstacles, or hindrances to getting others to listen… as well as an enemy that wants to block our lanes…

So, if we want to be successful at getting to the goal of evangelism and discipleship (the Great Commission) we have to get to our spots and “sit down” making contact… how do we do that? The Great Commandment tells us to not only love God but to love others… In Jesus’ great sermon on the mount, He told us how to make contact with the opponent…

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you…

As a coach, I often was heard yelling at players to put a body on others… to make contact… I AM SCREAMING TO US AS THE CHURCH TO MAKE CONTACT THROUGH LOVING… EVEN OUR ENEMIES! Can you imagine FaceBook filled with blessings toward our opponents? Or the workplace or schools with doing good to our opponents? Or what if we actually prayed for, instead of ranted against, our opponents? That happens to be how Jesus said we should make contact...

November 19, 2018 - Unkind Rims and Soft Shots

This past week I have been able to spend a good amount of time on a basketball court in Lake Worth FL; one where I spent many hours with my son Clay… one where I spent many hours on our ROCK’em Road Trips that we brought guys on… It is a beautiful setting that almost always has available rims to shoot on.

Yet as with most parks, the rims are very stiff… something often referred to as being “unkind”; and playing in FL also brings the challenge of constant wind. On top of all of that, the ball we have is a cheap rubber ball that is VERY BOUNCY…

“Unkind” rims + wind + bouncy ball = shooters nightmare! Not the best place to be getting in a shooting workout where one is keeping up with percentages…

Yet, that is where we found ourselves… not only getting up the daily requirement that Faith’s coach had given the team but having to catch up for some travel days where we couldn’t make it to a court. So, I have my 13-yr-old daughter needing to take and record hundreds of shots in these conditions. (Let’s just say the shot chart has not been impressive.) [And remember, the days she missed on the court = missed shots… “you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!”]

These conditions can be quite demoralizing… therefore, I have had to not just be the rebounder/counter/trainer, but also the sports psychologist. I’ve had to remind her of something I have coached for over 30 years… that good and bad shots are not determined by makes and misses… that it is possible to have a “good miss” or a “bad make.” The trainer in me has concentrated on alignment, follow through, hand position, shooting “soft” shots that give the ball a chance, etc. The psychologist in me has given praise for many, many repetitions that did not go in… reminding her that there is not such thing as a shooter’s roll on the unkind rims… that we are more concerned with shooting right than we are with the shot chart. (In fact, sometimes the shots went in even though the execution was wrong… just getting the ball up there at least gave it a chance to go in.)

I’ve taken pictures to show her errors in her delivery, but have over and over blurted out, “That one looked great! That was a good shot! That’s what we are looking for! What matters is we’re getting up shots!” I’ve reminded her that in a controlled environment like a gym, with a better ball, the percentages will look better. And we’ve had those streaks where she didn’t need to worry about the rims or the ball, as it would all come together, and she would string together some swishes…

I could go on and on with how basketball training has been going, but there is a devotional point to this… in our carrying out of the great commission these truths need to be heard.

1.       I mentioned that Faith was days behind because we couldn’t get to a court… although there is an element of truth to that, the reality is that if we prioritized it we could have made it to a rim somewhere… MOST of us go through most days without “getting up any shots” – without even making an attempt to “score” with the Gospel…

2.       When we do try to share the Gospel, we will often face difficult circumstances and we have to remember that we just need to focus on the execution of “shooting right” – we need to be self-aware of our delivery…

3.       Ultimately what matters is getting shots up - the Gospel is powerful and as long as it is being proclaimed it has a chance to “go in”!

In Philippians chapter 1, Paul is talking about some folks that are taking good shots and some that are taking bad shots… some preaching Christ (the Gospel) out of love… some preaching out of selfish gain… and here is what Paul the spiritual psychologist says: 18 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! (The Message)

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Bottom Line: The Gospel needs to be shared! We need to be aware of how we share it so we deliver “soft” shots… We need to consistently Gracefully Share Grace!

November 12, 2018 - Who Are You Running With?

Recently I have had many conversations about who my favorite teams are… to which I always respond that I have none… I don’t have any team that I am fanatical over… I am a player-fan! I love to keep up with certain players no matter what team they happen to be on.

In the basketball world there always seems to be disparaging talk when players choose to go to a different team; yes, sometimes in professional sports this is because of a bigger paycheck somewhere, but often it is players admitting that they simply want a better chance of winning. (This doesn’t just take place at the pro level, as it obviously takes place at the collegiate level, the travel team level, and even the high school level… all with players looking for the best situation to insure success.)

This week the discussion is centered around the mega-move of Jimmy Butler being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Butler has been very disgruntled where he was at in Minnesota and has openly stated he just wants to win… And now the talking heads are debating if this makes the 76ers a title contender… if he will mesh well with their team.

But I am simply bringing it up because all that is happening is that Butler had expressed a desire, and was granted the opportunity, to run with a different set of teammates…

I’m not writing for us to debate how he went about it; but instead to state that I understand wanting to run with different guys… and think we all need to consider our teammates.

I was looking at Proverbs 12:26 on BibleGateway.com… when I clicked on parallel versions, I found quite a difference in the translation of the verse… so I went to BibleStudyTools.com and checked the interlinear version…

And then I settled on what I believe the verse is actually saying… and it states that we need to choose our running mates wisely.

This is the verse from the Youngs Literal Translation: 26 The righteous searcheth his companion, And the way of the wicked causeth them to err.

NKJV: 26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully,
For the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Find teammates to run with that will help you succeed!!!

November 5, 2018 - The Other Team

Last week I shared about how others view us, as Christians… with a reminder that when they look at our “box score” it should read about the positive things we have done in the game… Over and over the phrase that “Christians are known more for what they are against than what they are for…” So last week’s challenge was simply a reminder for each of us to focus on being difference makers…

This week, as promised, I am going to challenge us about how we view / deal with the “other team.”

I have never gone into the other team’s huddle to get on them about their mistakes they were making, nor have I tried to coach the other team on what they should be doing on the court… and I NEVER have I had expectations of the other team knowing and running our plays.

I am troubled with how often believers are angry that the unsaved, spiritually-dead, blind, and chained unbelievers are living sinfully… I personally am not offended or angry when a “blind man can’t see something!”

When discussing how we view the “other team,” I simply want to ask this week:

Are you more angry at their sin than you are broken over their lostness?

Oh that I/you be accused, like Jesus was in Luke 15:2… “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” (The Message)

WE HAVE GOOD NEWS TO SHARE!!! That is hard to do with a scowl on your face…