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 1000th 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!
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