November 28, 2022 - Be An Impact Player!

Are you an impact player?

What does that mean? As a young athlete I must confess that I usually thought of that just as the player that had the biggest stat line… which is possibly true, but not always true… That is why we now see things like a plus/minus rating showing how the team is doing when a player is on the court… we see things like a PER, player efficiency rating… These are ways to try and determine not only one’s individual contributions, but also one’s effect on the team. A player’s contribution does not always show up on the stat line.

(Great Example: Last night as I watched a basketball game on ESPN, the commentators spent a significant amount of time discussing a player that didn’t even get in the game. The player, Conrad Hawley - who happens to be the nephew of one of my dear friends, warmed-up with a camera attached to him… he is apparently nicknamed the CEO – Chief Energy Officer – for the Iowa State Cyclones. It was discussed how he chose college basketball over college football because of how he could be a part of, and impact, the team culture. They talked of how he impacted practices. Not only did they discuss him at length during one segment, but his name was also brought up other times throughout the game. I don’t ever recall hearing that much about the impact of a player that would not even appear in the box score…)

I could go on and on with this example but simply want this week to encourage us to seek significance over status! I typically refer to the basketball idea of being a “triple threat”; we each have “the ball” in our hands when it comes to determining how we are going to spend our lives. When the ball is in hand we can:

Shoot to score: we all know folks that need to hear the Gospel! Share the life-transforming good news of the Substitute whenever there is an opening…

Dribble to create space: in our basic serving of others, it can often lead to openings to score. By serving others it creates the platform for others to listen to the Gospel… (It is over-dribbling when we ignore Gospel opportunities)

Pass to teammates that are in position to score: Sometimes we are presented with a better option of providing resources to teammates that are already positioned to share the Gospel…

Yesterday in church the pastor was challenging us to live lives of impact… lives that matter… he landed on this great reminder:

SO TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS. THAT WE MAY GAIN A HEART OF WISDOM. (Paslm 90:12)

The idea of “number” is not just to count them, but to prepare and appoint each day to one of “wisdom”… the word wisdom here has the idea of skill… administration… shrewdness… In other words significance, not waste.

Look at how you are investing your time and energy for the team… be an IMPACT PLAYER!

As I scrolled through the passage of Scripture that was his main text, I came across this beautiful benediction:

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and ESTABLISH THE WORK OF OUR HANDS FOR US; YES, ESTABLISH THE WORK OF OUR HANDS. (Psalm 90:17)

[Shameless Plug: I’m writing this on the eve of Giving Tuesday – as you consider the possibility of “making a pass” (INVESTING) resources… look to INVEST for Gospel-IMPACT! InBounds Ministries is in the midst of our 4^th Quarter Push to “end 2022 strong and start 2023 stronger”… we have been positioned to “score” and need help from teammates… (i.e., In February of ’23 we will be in Budapest Hungary)]

November 21, 2022 - Duties of the Grind

Today’s practice or game matters! We’ve recently been talking about focusing on the journey more than the destination… this is not to say that we shouldn’t have dreams of championships, BUT…

I write this week as I also work on ministry plans for next year… which involves dreaming, and sometimes dreaming big. Yet I know that I cannot wait until January 1 and expect things to be in place…

Years ago as I challenged our school’s football team before a big game, I simply reminded them that winning the championship would ultimately be the result of attention to details… with the mantra, “win the down!”

James says it this way, “Come now you who say, ‘today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow…” (James 4:13-14b)

Basically we are being reminded we don’t know about tomorrow… injuries?... pandemics?... the economy crashing?...

Please note, I am not trying to rain on anyone’s parade… to the contrary, I want you to have a championship parade! I just know the path to that begins with being the best we can be today!

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” Muhammad Ali

Galatians 6:5 has a very simple statement: For each one shall bear his own load.

In other words, take care of your business today!

Dreams of championships are fueled by the duties of the grind! Get after it! Coach B

November 14, 2022 - Which Way Should I Go?

Lately we (my family and I) have been talking a lot about God’s will and what that looks like… and last week I touched on the fact that we need to not always be looking at circumstances; I mad ethe following point: “I remember many times that players would question my decisions based upon the score of a game and not the effect on the season or seasons to come.” In other words we used the scoreboard to determine if we were doing the right thing… I also think we tend to use the “scoreboard” (circumstances) to determine if we are heading in the right direction (following God’s will.)

My whole life I have heard the ideas that God’s will is based upon “open doors”; and the adverse, whenever things have gone wrong (closed doors) it is assumed that a person is not in God’s will. I am not saying that God can’t or won’t open and shut doors, but if that is our primary way of making decisions, I believe we will miss out on many opportunities God has for us. Too many times I hear of someone feeling led to do something for the Lord and just waiting for the open doors, yet I believe if God has truly laid something on your heart, you should try to knock the doors down.

In fact, in basketball, I often taught our defense to present an “open door” to an opponent in order to lure them into trapping situations…

An ”open door/closed door” theology makes a lot of assumptions:

1.       That God is the one that opened or closed it…

2.       That God doesn’t have plans later down a path to open a door or close it…

3.       That God has the same destination in mind as we do… (i.e., maybe plans to use one path simply to prepare for another one)

4.       That closed doors are just to change our direction and forgetting they may be circumstances designed to strengthen us…

I’m sure I could go on but here is my point simply put:

1.       Joseph wouldn’t have made it to the place if not for some closed cell doors…

2.       Paul wouldn’t have reached the Philippian jailer and his family if he would have went through an open cell door…

I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray for direction, and I do believe God gives peace in decisions (or as I was told Dr. Cambron stated, “when I have more peace about going than staying…”) I’m just saying that circumstances alone are a poor indicator.

 What I do know about God’s will:

1.       He wants people to be saved… so share the Gospel (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

2.       He wans us to be thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

3.       He wants us live wisely and soberly so we can make a difference in this world (Ephesians 5:15-20)

4.       He wants us to live holy (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

5.       And check out how the Message paraphrases Micah 6:8…”But He has already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously--- take God seriously.”

Could it be that we get too caught up in where we are going instead of in how we are getting there?

(One thing I know for sure, His will for where we should go will NEVER contradict His will for how we should get there!)

November 7, 2022 - Stop Counting!

As I was sitting in church yesterday morning, I was again struck by my strange way of thinking… I spend a lot of time talking about grace and faith… and what that really means. That in and of itself is not strange, but after almost 21 years of these sports-themed devotions, I always see coaching/playing parallels with Biblical truths… and then yesterday evening as I huddled up with a couple of coaches, we again drew sports parallels to Biblical truths.

Lately we have been keying on the team and being a good teammate, and a lot of that ends up boiling down to another important truth (which I have written about many times over the years), trusting the coach! It is much easier to focus on our roles as players when trusting the direction we are heading in.

This is especially true with new coaches or new programs, where a new culture is being established. And it is much harder to accomplish when the scoreboard or record have us on the losing end… times when we are having to be reminded about the difference between winning a battle vs winning a war… I remember many times that players would question my decisions based upon the score of a game and not the effect on the season or seasons to come. I’ve asked players… students… my own kids… many times to trust me, even when they couldn’t see the projected outcome.

Well I feel like I am rambling a bit (which those that have been in my huddles, or services, know happens easily)… but bottom line is that we tend to spend too much time looking at life’s current circumstances and allowing that to cause us to question the Coach. I know that sounds harsh, but we spend way too much time questioning God, or let me be more blunt, distrusting God. When life doesn’t line up the way we want it, we tend to try to take things in our own hands instead of trusting the Coach!

This truth came out in the message yesterday when one of our pastors (Clay Minor) was sharing about King David’s disobedience to God in taking a census of his men… looking for confidence in numbers instead of in God…

David went against God’s word and wise counsel (2 Samuel 24) and afterwards was broken before the Lord admitting, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done…” (vs 10) Clay did a good job of reminding us that it was not a sin of census-taking but a sin of not trusting God.

If you personally want peace… if you want a positive team culture in the body of Christ… stop being driven by “the score” or your “record” [circumstances] and focus on, what we have been talking about the last few weeks, the good of the team! This is rooted in simply “playing’ in a way that has confidence in the Coach… which allows us to “play” freely.

Clay’s bottom line was: Don’t count, trust.