December 27, 2021 - Reaction Time

Toward the end of 2001, I was approached with an opportunity to utilize, what was at the time fairly new technology, World Wide Web to enhance our ministry outreach… (in case you didn’t realize it, the “web” didn’t start rolling out to the public until 93-94… and the first Windows platform was Windows 95.) I jumped at the chance to use this to increase our audience to share God’s Playbook with… and we began our weekly CoachBurden.com outreach…

Today CoachBurden.com turns 20 years old!!! (March 1 of 2021 we hit our 1000^th consecutive weekly devotion going out, and I shared a bit of the exciting opportunities it has afforded us… look into the archives if you want to read more about it.) We were presented an opportunity to expand our outreach and jumped on it!

As I thought through ideas for this week’s devotion, I simply went back to a very basic concept… the best players are the ones with not only good skills, but also with great reaction time. The idea of reaction time involves detection, processing, and responding to a stimulus. Once the need is detected, one must properly process the information/options and then execute the right response. For instance, a sprinter is waiting for the audio stimulus of the starting gun, and has trained to efficiently set his body in motion as quickly as possible… yet a basketball player has the visual stimuli to consider of teammates making cuts, where the defenders are, etc. But the reality is that a great athlete is making decisions and in motion in just fractions of a second… anything more than that and the opportunities are missed.

As a coach I could often be heard yelling, “That was a good thought!” Yet good thoughts or intentions must be executed in a timely manner. For example, if a player sees an open pass but waits too long to throw the pass, there is a good chance there will be a deflection or interception… Right thought… poor execution!

It is a bit ironic to me that in this day and age of instant gratification, I spend much of my leadership time discouraging delayed responses… (as a dad I have regularly stated that “delayed obedience is disobedience!” I realize there is also a matter of prioritizing what and when we do things, but I found that delaying action often ends in forgetting…)

This is all on my mind following a message I preached yesterday… it dealt with reaction time… when the shepherds heard about Jesus they "said to one another, ‘Let us now GO to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And the came with HASTE…” (Acts 2:15b-16a)

They heard (detected a stimulus), processed the information, and executed a response. As a result, they didn’t miss the opportunity… (in my mind I wonder, did they leave their sheep unattended or wait till a shift change… we just know it became a priority!) Then they immediately became missionaries telling others…

I then thought about Jesus’ Great Commission command to “GO” and wondered how many of us, in spite of having good intentions, live a life of delayed obedience (disobedience)? His command carries with it the intent of using great reaction time…

Let’s not just GO MAD (Make A Difference), let’s GO NOW!

Side Note: as you read this, please pray about how you could partner with InBounds in our upcoming 2022 season… Your gifts will help us GO!

December 20. 2021 - MAKE A STRAIGHT CUT TO THE GOAL and HURRY!

I have written/taught many times over the years about the idea of efficiency… no wasted movement on the court… i.e.:

·         On defense bust your butt to where the offensive player is going and claim the real estate, instead of chasing him…

·         On offense make straight cuts to the basket… no banana cuts…

·         When dribbling, do just enough to find a lane and then make a straight cut to the goal… overdribbling simply closes lanes…

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the athletic examples here… just a phrase I used… “Make A Straight Cut To The Goal!”

In Luke chapter 2 we see the story of the birth of Christ… and most, maybe all that are reading this, have head the story of the promised Messiah’s birth as the Savior! And if you haven’t accepted the gift of the Savior, I urge you to do what the shepherds did upon hearing this story…

15 When the angles had gone away from them to heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “let us GO STRAIGHT to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came IN A HURRY… (NASB)

Make a straight cut to the goal… the goal of salvation… and peace that is found only in Jesus! The Scripture goes on to record that the shepherds then made the message known to others…

I love a recent meme I saw on one of the social network platforms… it emphasized the core message of the promise of why Christ came… it was from Isaiah’s prophecy (chapter 9):

6 FOR unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is GIVEN…

FORGIVEN – what a glorious prophecy and promise! Receive it and share it! And “HURRY”!

December 13, 2021 - A Torn Thigh Muscle and Some Broken Toes... NO EXCUSES!

“Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court… when, Willis Reed stood so tall, Playing D with desire, it’s basketball” (Kurtis Blow, Basketball)

I’m sure some of you old timers now have that song bouncing around your head...

It was the 1970 NBA Finals Game 7 between the New York Knicks and the Los Angles Lakers… Willis Reed had missed Game 6 due to a tear in his thigh muscle that happened in Game 5; stating later that he didn’t want to regret sitting out 20 years later, he suited up and made his way out to the court… to everyone’s shock, including the Lakers. Reed only scored 4 points and pulled just 3 rebounds, but harassed Wilt Chamberlain into many misses, as the Knicks went on to win.

I was thinking about when players choose to play hurt… (probably because my 16 yr. old daughter Faith dropped a 45lb plate on her foot in the gym Saturday night, breaking multiple toes; and when her older brother called to tell me about it, he didn’t say they were coming home… Instead, he said Faith wanted to stay and do upper body since she broke her toes…)

I LOVE it when players focus on what they can do… not on their limitations!

The Apostle Paul has a well-known story from his life where he states (in 2 Corinthians chapter 12) that he had prayed 3 times for the “thorn in his flesh” to be removed… and I LOVE what the Spirit prompts him to write in response to having to “play hurt”…

“Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities (weakness, illness, injuries), in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (12:10)

I don’t know what you are going through, but I do know there is still a “game to play” and we (the body [team] of Christ) NEED you on the court doing your part! Do what you can to Go MAD (Make A Difference) in someone’s life this week… don’t let your hurts stop you from being a help!

And by the way, when Willis Reed “stood so tall” in Game 7 on D, his teammate, Walt Frazier, picked up the scoring slack dropping 36 points and dishing out 19 assists. It is one of the most impressive Game 7 stat lines you will ever see, yet, overshadowed by the desire of the injured player that still suited up and gave his all.

Let’s concentrate on picking up the slack when our brothers and sisters are hurt…

December 6, 2021 - Trust the Coach, Not the Scoreboard! (Part 2)

I ended last week’s “game plan” with these words: “Trust the Coach, not the scoreboard!” I also mentioned an old adage coaches use that says “trust the process.” 

Those words sound good but I feel there are some things we need to further address in order to pull this off. Trusting a coach has the implication that sometimes you may not understand what He is doing… his decisions on when to play you… how to use you… when to correct you… etc.

I have probably shared in these weekly “game plans” the following example on at least one occasion, maybe more… (after all in just a few weeks CoachBurden.com turns 20 years old.) In my office I have a photo of me in a huddle when I was coaching high school basketball; in it I can point out some players that to this day I still have an incredible relationship with… to the point I get messages like, “Coach, I love you and miss you.” Also in the picture is at least one young man that despised me as a coach. The other important information pertaining to the photo, I am very clearly angry at one or more of my players… and the one it seems directed at happens to be one that has sent me messages about missing me??????????

Why would some love me and yet others hate me? It really boiled down, not to circumstances, but to character! The ones that loved me were convinced I was on their side… even when I was frustrated or making a decision they didn’t understand. They could “trust the process” because they knew I would only make a decision based upon what I thought was good for them… The one(s) that hated me simply did not trust my character… that I was on their side, and thus their approval always rested on if the circumstances were what they wanted and envisioned.

Multiple times this week I have been in counseling/teaching settings where I had to remind people that we should not allow circumstances to be how we judge if God is on our side. He sees things in a different way than we do. And if we only believe God loves us when things are going our way, we are doomed to doubt when life is hard.

God is good! God is love! My personal circumstances do not determine those truths!

If God does or allows something I don’t understand, I rest in His goodness and love, even if I don’t like the current circumstances. I have often taught the following truth: God and life are not synonyms! I add to that: Circumstances and character are not synonyms!

As Jesus was facing his arrest and crucifixion, He knew the apostles would encounter circumstances they would not understand… circumstances that would make them feel God had left them (which in a physical since He did.) And Jesus shared these words on how to handle even difficult times:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in (trust) God, believe (trust) also in Me.” (John 14:1)

 

As He told them to trust, even in the dark times coming, He went on to remind them: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

 

So we may boldly say, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)