With the re-start of the NBA games in the Orlando-bubble there have already been some disappointing performances and also have been some incredible breakout games as well… (shoutout to TJ Warren dropping 53 and 34 in his first couple bubble-games!)
But one player that stood out to me for this week’s devo is Michael Porter Jr. Apparently, he had a lackluster outing a couple days ago, one that had his coach frustrated; and I’m sure Michael as well. He is a very talented young man that battled injury in his lone college season (playing in barely over a game’s worth of minutes and scoring just 30 collegiate points total; yet he was chosen high in the draft and then was held out due to the injury his first year after being drafted… so this year is considered his rookie season. He has been given a chance to start with some of his teammates out and apparently the 1st game back left him frustrated and worried on how his coach would respond…
An article I read on ESPN stated: "Michael Porter Jr. texted Michael Malone three times over the past few days, telling him he can do better and pleading with the Denver Nuggets coach to stick with the talented rookie."
I didn’t watch the game, but reading what transpired afterwards, it is clear that he was a bit lethargic and maybe playing tight… which happens often when a player is pushing too hard to impress the coach… maybe not sure where he stands with the coach. And I LOVE the response he got from his coach…
"I said, 'Michael, I'm not going anywhere,'" Malone texted back. "I'm gonna stay with you."
In today’s game Porter Jr responded by playing a much more complete game… dropping 37 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Quite a performance for the young man! So what was the difference?
As a coach I realized that my players were much “looser” when they knew I was on their side… knew they had some freedom to just play without worrying about being “yanked” for every mistake. Coach Malone empowered his player by giving him some security and freedom…
All of that to point out a really cool word study I did for a message a couple of weeks ago. As I prepared to teach about why we can trust God (that He is on our side and has given us security and freedom), I shared a very familiar passage from Proverbs 3:5, which tells us to “TRUST in he Lord…”
When we listen to God, we can do so with a TRUST… that word literally has the idea of “with confidence… being secure… feeling safe… being carefree…
Just “get in the game and play”… do what He has said, and realize that even though we may blow it sometimes, we are safe and can “play with confidence”… which in turn allows us to “play to our potential.”
God is literally saying to you, “I’m not going anywhere… I’m gonna stay with you!”
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