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!
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