I often spend time in these weekly blogs with challenges
to be more offensive (looking to score), while not being offensive (rude and
unloving.) Yet I realized following last week’s devotion that sometimes it is
easy for a coach to say things that the players simply are not fully equipped to
carry out… telling a player to score means nothing if the player doesn’t know
how to get in position to shoot!
In basketball I spend a lot of time not only teaching the
basics of shooting the ball, but also in teaching players how to get open for
the shot… how to make reads. For instance…
…if a player has ball in hand, I may show him how to
feign relaxing and when the defender starts to come up out of the defensive
position to then blow by…
…if a shooter has a defender on her I will teach if the
defender’s hand is down let it fly… if it is up blow by…
…if a player is off-ball and the defender is trying to
deny him the pass… if the defender stays between him and the basket then pop
out for the past… but if the defender over-denies and steps past the shoulder
to cut back door…
I realize this is gibberish to non-basketball folks
reading this, but I think we all get the point that there are ways to be much
more effective in getting good shots. And last week I encouraged to be taking
shots by sharing the Gospel. So, this week I thought I would give a simple tip
on the how-to’s of sharing… of being offensive without being offensive.
I mentioned holiday greetings in the previous devotion
and those seem to get a lot of attention on social media; for instance, I often
read things like “it is not happy holidays, it is merry Christmas!!!” – or – “keep
Christ in Christmas!!!” (And I emphasize the exclamation points!!!)
Quick questions, (and remember my goal is to help us get
open for good shots), why do we expect the world to put Christ in anything? When
the world gives their greetings, are they being rude or nice? The way we come
across sometimes is like we are saying, “How dare you say Happy Holidays to me!”
When, to wish someone happiness during the holy-days is a pretty nice sentiment.
And even if it is as crazy as “Mery Xmas”, at least they are wishing merriment…
If our responses to folks are abrasive and demanding of
our rights, we have already gone against the example of our Savior who laid
down His rights; and we have committed an “offensive foul” by trying to run
through the defender instead of getting an open shot…
What if instead we said something like, “thank you so
much, and Happy Holidays to you too! I love this time of year. What is your
favorite of the holidays? Mine is Christmas… the promise of joy and peace… it blows
my mind that God would come to earth… do you know why He did that?” And you can
get into a great Gospel conversation.
Or maybe you see the Merry Xmas sign… what if you asked, “hey
what does the X mean to you?” And then follow it up by solving for the variable?
(Every CHRISTmas I like to mention this point to make my math friends happy!)
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer each one” Colossians 4:6
Burden translation: Be offensive without committing an
offensive foul! Take good shots!
No comments:
Post a Comment