September 30, 2019 - You Gotta Want The Ball!

One of the things I love is doing basketball clinics for young players… I love breaking down the FUNdaMENTALs of the game to their most basic form. This includes simple truths like showing how to use the fingertips to control the ball when dribbling… using proper form shooting… etc.


One area I really enjoy teaching is passing. I break down the position of the hands… how to snap the thumbs down to get backspin and zip on the ball… even where the ball should bounce and where your teammate should catch it on a bounce pass. There is a real art to doing it right, and a huge emphasis is made to repeat these things, so they become second nature…


You may wonder why I bring up teaching passing when there are more exciting things for the kids in the clinics to work on; and let’s be honest, most people are more concerned with getting the ball thrown toe them than throwing it to someone else… and a big part of teaching passing during my clinics includes how to receive a pass. That is where we are going to camp in this devotion… being the receiver of a pass.


In my many years of playing ball, coaching teams, and even some stints teaching PE, I have heard many times complaints like, “they never pass me the ball!” So, we teach not only the mechanics of how to catch the ball, but how to stand when not having the ball… communicate that you want it!


Picture with me the kid in PE that is out on the court standing up straight with arms to the side… looking bored or frustrated. Bottom line is that no one is going to pass to that kid… not because he is not liked… not because the others are intentionally thinking about keeping the ball from him… BUT simply because the kid doesn’t look like he wants the ball. So, we teach staying in an athletic stance with hands up, showing one’s teammate that you are ready and want the ball. We even tell them it is ok to yell, “ball, ball, ball!” This let’s the teammates know you are an option.


This is something I have touched on in past devotions, if you are a person that feels like the church or your friends are not meeting your needs (don’t care), it may be because they simply don’t know about them. BUT I am going to flip the script on this week’s devotion…


Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.


I am flipping the script by this: Let the “ball” represent a heavy weight upon someone instead of representing something that is good. The reality is that often when hurting, people don’t feel comfortable sharing it; it makes them too vulnerable… it’s risky. The word for “burden” literally means a heaviness or trouble; I’m thinking a person under that kind of weight is too busy trying to survive than to share it with others.


Almost every Christian I talk to expresses a willingness to serve… to meet needs; and yes, although it is important to know about those needs. I am encouraging us to communicate our willingness to take the weight of the ball off our teammates... to seek out those needs. We need to be visible (in posture and voice) to our “teammates” that we are there for them to serve them and help them.


“Ball, ball, ball… I’m here to carry that for you!” Many hurting people need to know we are there and available to help, not to judge them. (Read the verses surrounding Galatians 6:2 and you will see the admonition to do this humbly and lovingly.) Don’t just be willing to serve, actively pursue serving others!


Bottom line: You gotta want the ball!

September 23, 2019 - “Playing tired = poor performance!”

This week’s ponderings are the result of discussions I had this weekend with one of our InBounds coaches… and to be fully transparent, my personal and present state of mind… trying to rush and get things in…


As a coach it is imperative that you “read” where your players heads are at… it is easy to get frustrated when a player is making uncharacteristic mistakes in a game or practice… or maybe he is not dealing with his teammates or even the coaching staff well… or maybe he simply seems out of it.


I believe the number one reason players “get stupid” is fatigue. The simple rule is that “Playing tired = poor performance!”


This is true in all areas of life… I try to remind teachers of this when students are acting out… or parents… and I even remind kids/students/players that their leaders are human and subject to the same rule. (Spend time with an infant and you will see this in its purest form… I took my granddaughters to Alabama this weekend to surprise Lisa’s parents. The oldest of the two is just a year and 4 months. She did AWESOME, even on the long 8-hour road trip (each direction); awesome, except when she would start getting sleepy… and then we were all very aware that she no longer wanted to be in her car seat.)


Honestly it didn’t take my granddaughter crying to remind me of this truth… I had been corresponding with my co-laborer Coach Trenton Green, he has recently completed his time with InBounds as an intern and is faithfully serving in ministry back in his home state of Alabama. A group of young people he works with were faced with issues this past week as they realized that they were worn out… Trenton contacted me to ask me what I thought, yet before I could try to give some guidance Trenton started sending Scripture to me and simply asking, “would this be good to share with my friends?” (So, in essence he is helping write this week’s devotion.) Check out these Biblical reminders… (I’m going to use The Message paraphrase because it gives great description to why Trenton mentioned these verses.)


Mark 6:30-31 The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat.

(Trenton’s commentary he sent me, “Once they rested, they were able to serve accordingly.”)


Psalm 127:2 It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your fingers to the bone. Don’t you know He enjoys giving rest to those He loves?


As I was driving through the afternoon and evening, I was trying to think about what I was going to write on tonight… I was planning for trying to do something that is good… yet I said I would be transparent… the longer I drove the more irritable and negative my thoughts turned. This tired old man was ready to say forget about this week’s devotion. (We’ve been doing these every Monday since the beginning of 2002… and fatigue started distorting my thoughts! Then as my granddaughter got a bit “crazy” and I thought about how I was a bit “crazy,” I remembered the conversations I had been having with Trenton about fatigue making us “play stupid”!


Get rest my friends!!!

September 16, 2019 - Too Much Dribbling is Selfish!

I’ve written in the past about my favorite basketball trainer… his name is Jason Otter (check out otterbasketball.com) and I think he is the best because the gets the most out of his players. I think the secret to his success as a trainer is very basic… efficiency… he trains players to avoid unnecessary movement… avoid wasted movement. I have watched many trainers that are really good at teaching skills (and I do ok at it), yet Jason has tapped into ways that gets players to function at peak performance… where even average athletes seem to be a step ahead.


Jason teaches in a way that the smallest movements are analyzed and speed of executing the skill I maximized. On a bigger scale, we as coaches do that to an extent when we discuss things like not overdribbling… if you can get to the rim in one bounce, why take 3 or 4?  Taking extra dribbles is not against the rules… not “wrong”; yet just because it is “right” doesn’t mean it is “right!”


I guess my question this week is, “do you want to be a step ahead in life?” Have you evaluated your day to see how efficient you are living? Are there things that may be “right” but are keeping you from reaching your goals?

Just a quick reminder this week:

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. (1 Corinthians 10:23)


Taking “extra dribbles” is a selfish way to play! It could hurt the team by wasting time and not getting to the goal… The Scriptures are clear that we need to evaluate our lives and live in such a way as to make the “team” better!

September 9, 2019 - Stop Trying To Do Too Much!

I spend almost every day talking with someone (often myself) about what is the next move to make… or to make it sound theological… what is God’s leading?


As a coach, one that makes decisions on plays, one often faces games that don’t necessarily go as planned. At times this is because the other team does not do what was expected… and other times it is because the team is simply not executing the plan.


In one of the NFL games yesterday, the star rookie quarterback (Kyler Murray) was struggling and found his team (Arizona Cardinals) down by 18 points... In the 4^th quarter the team made an incredible come back and ended up with a tie in overtime. The reason I write about it is because of what the offensive coordinator had to say:


"It was three quarters of the worst offense I've seen in my life and it was my fault," Kingsbury said. "Bad play calls, just trying to do too much, and we'll get that corrected."


When reading other articles, the coordinator talked of trying to do too much and getting away from what they had worked on… he took the blame for not sticking to the game plan.


As I was giving some counsel yesterday, I had to tell the person that even though at times the game (life) is rough, the first place to stop and look is one’s own choices… are they measuring up to what the Scriptures clearly lay out for how one should live? (God has much to say on how we should treat others… how we should do business… how we should handle our finances… etc.)


Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.


Coach Burden Translation: Stop trying to get cute and do too much… stick to the game plan… do things the way He has told you to!

September 2, 2019 - No Spiritual Cupcakes

One phrase I used to hear a lot as a kid was that someone was “all talk and no action.” Often it was surrounding my sports world with someone running his mouth about what he was going to do on the court… (and to be honest, at times it was used during altercations when someone was puffing his chest out and talking smack…)


As a coach I would regularly hear my players talking about what they were going to do… how the season was going to go… etc. Yet, to be honest, much of it was just talk because there wasn’t the work/effort put in to back it up.


Today I am writing very simply to the church… it is time to move beyond being “all talk and no action.” I have heard throughout my churched years sermons/teachings on what we are supposed to be doing… I’ve even gone as far as stating that “if you know someone that doesn’t believe in God or that God is loving… it is probably your fault!” (I know, I know… making statements like that do not help get repeat “business” for an itinerant preacher/teacher…)


I have spent the last couple of days trying to keep up with the effects of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, and of course the future impact. To any of you that know us, you know that we have a lot of very close ties down the eastern seaboard of FL; yet we also have close ties in the Abaco Islands… Lisa and I were in the Abacos just last summer and met some people we dearly love…


The point is this, we often, as the church, complain about how the government does thing; but the reality is that if the church stepped up and put some action to its teachings, the needs would be taken care of.


So, for this week I am encouraging you to not only consider helping those in the Bahamas (and those that will be hit in the US); but to take inventory of your life and determine if there is a reality of your actions correlating with your beliefs…


Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.


Deuteronomy 17:7-8 If there is among you a poor man of your brethren… you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him…


Leviticus 25:35 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him…


One of the phrases I often used about the trash talkers was that they had “alligator mouths and mosquito behinds”; or another term we used for those that didn’t back up their talk… “cupcakes.”


This week’s bottom line: No Spiritual Cupcakes!!!

GREAT OUTREACHES TO HELP THE ABACO ISLANDS
https://www.islandoutreach.com
https://www.missionaryflights.org/