April 24, 2023 - Why Practice?

This week I decided to talk about the importance of practice… which to basketball fans of yesteryear probably immediately brings memories of Allen Iverson being drilled in a press conference about missing practice… and immediately the naysayers were slamming him with their commands to “not forsake the assembling” of the team…

First in fairness to Iverson, he had apparently only missed one practice, while averaging over 43 minutes per game that year and playing with a broken hand… and averaged over 41 minutes per game for his career… so it was a bit of a rap on a very hard working player… he used the term practice 20 times in that conference as he was astonished that the reporters were keying on that… and I believe he had a right to be frustrated.

BUT he did make one remark that I would disagree with, when he asked a question of how he could make his teammates better by being at practice… and asked in a way to insinuate that he didn’t practice for that reason. I BELIEVE YOU ABSOLUTELY PRACTICE WITH THE INTENT OF MAKING YOUR TEAMMATES BETTER, NOT JUST YOU GETTING BETTER! PRACTICE IS ABSOLUTELY ABOUT THE TEAM!!!

All of that to say that I believe we spend way too much time viewing church only from the angle of if we, as individuals personally need it at the time… is it making ME stronger? Comforting ME more? Making ME feel better about MYSELF? Or maybe just going because it is commanded or expected of ME…

There’s a whole lot of views of practice/church that put an “I” in “Team”!

Now maybe you are thinking of the command in Hebrews 10:25 that tells us not to “forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some”… so maybe we go to practice/church BUT we ignore the purpose, which can be found surrounding that command to be at practice/church… pay attention to what we are supposed to be doing when we assemble…

24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, (Sounds like making teammates better!)… …but exhorting one another… (Sounds like making teammates better!)

It is time to stop viewing practice/church about ME but instead focus on WE!!!

It is time to stop patting ourselves on the back for going and instead start going to pat others on the back!!!

April 16, 2023 - Just Do It

Just do it! In 1988 Nike dropped a new slogan… one which many of their executives were apparently not fond of, but decided to give a try… and one which became synonymous with the brand… It is actually a phrase that was inspired by a documentary on a murderer (Gary Gilmore) that was executed and his last words to the firing squad were, “let’s do it.” The Nike campaign was intentionally targeting “all Americans… regardless of age, gender, or physical fitness level.” (Wikipedia)

This slogan came to my mind as I was sitting in church today listening to a challenge to be bold… a challenge to be active (in word and deed.) I have shared this idea a few times recently, but I think it bears repeating… At some point we need challenges that don’t pat us on the back for willingness but instead for action. Boldness is stepping beyond willingness to action! (Willingness in an attitude; boldness is attitude in action!)

In Matthew 26:41 Jesus states: …The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The question we need to ask of ourselves and challenge in others is not one of willingness but one of what is being done… as I have shared many times, “everyone has the will to win; few have the will to prepare to win.” (Bobby Knight)

Matthew 26:46: Rise [note Jesus doesn’t say, be willing to rise], let us be going [translated let’s do it!]. See, my betrayer is at hand. [it’s time!]

Are you willing to share Jesus with the lost? Just do it!

Are you willing to serve those in need? Just do it!

Move beyond attitude to action… It’s Time!

April 10, 2023 - So You Have A Dream....

Have you ever wished you could see the future? Have you envisioned what your life will look like in a year? In 5 years? When you retire?

There is an old saying that says basically “show me the company you keep, and I can tell what life you lead… or what you are like…” This is a Biblical concept, yet the Bible takes it a bit farther…

The first half of Proverbs 13:20 states that “he who walks with wise men will be wise…” So, in other words we become wise by hanging out with the wise… but the verse goes on with a dire warning…

In essence it states that if you show me a man’s friends and I can tell you his future… “But the companion of fools will be destroyed.” That word “destroyed” carries the idea of being broken… a reference to what the future holds.

Yet that is all just an introduction to the thoughts I had for this week’s game plan… our site has a motto of Game Plans for Life… maybe a better motto would be Game Plans for Living Life… or Game Plans for Today…

I think the Scriptures warn us not just about the company we keep, but also the agenda we keep… if a basketball player tells me he wants to play in the NBA or in college one day, and I look at his/her daily habits and find limited “investment” into that dream, I would tell him/her, “you get what you pay for!”

Success is not built by dreams, it is built by hard work… dreams are not the fuel for championships… they are the fuel for daily drive… I’ll predict your future if you let me see your habits.

In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul gives us this same recipe for success… he states that he is no longer looking back… BUT instead is “reaching forward” and will “press toward the goal…” NOTICE: he is not just dreaming or looking toward the goal, but instead is doing something about it…

The word “press” has the idea of action… of movement… it literally means to run after or pursue eagerly! Choices/actions of today will determine the results of tomorrow… will shape one’s future!

What did your today look like? If you take a hard look it will reveal what tomorrow will look like… Let’s not just PLAN to Go MAD (Make A Difference) for the Lord… let’s PRESS or PURSUE it!

April 3, 2023 - Hey Ref, Are You Blind? Deaf?

I am looking forward to seeing how March Madness winds down tonight for the men’s side of the tournament… and wow, what a great women’s tourney this year! Yet what amazes me is how little coverage and social media comments there has been about the actual athletic performances in the game… Over and over I am see posts about Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Coach Mulkey… and oh yeah, an enormous amount of complaints about the officials. (Yet, expected to read mo0re about the INVREDIBLE bench play that LSU got… outscoring Iowa’s bench 30-8… and Jasmine Carson, holy smokes, 7-7 from the field in the 1^st half… 5 of those were 3-pointers…)

Throughout the years of doing these weekly game plans I have tried to use sports analogies to teach Scriptural principles… and adversely the transforming power of the Scriptures over the years changed my athletic principles as a player, coach, and fan! Thus my mantra when I was an athletic director/coach was “Players Play, Coaches Coach, Refs Ref, Fans Cheer!” And then as we developed our men’s basketball outreach we allowed Scripture to dictate our “rules”… one of which was “if you get fouled you can’t call it… instead play through the contact.”

This rule was based off of Philippians 2:14,15 which states: Do all things without complaining or disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and whom you shine as lights in the world…

Notice that in the game of life we are going to face a game that is “crooked and perverse”… in other words the refs may be bad and the opponents may cheat or be jerks… YET how are we told we should respond?

The reality is that we, as God’s Team, are far too often children of God with fault… I have often heard that Christians are more known for what they are against than what they are for… we spend our energy yelling at the refs and fighting with the opposition instead of cheering for God’s team and game plan.

This came to my mind, as stated, from reading everything about last night’s women’s championship… and also from a point that jumped out during church yesterday… one where Jesus is being arrested in the garden and Peter decides to fight for right… pulls his sword and cuts off Malchus’s ear… to which Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath…” (John 18:11)

Jesus didn’t need Peter to fight the enemy… Jesus came to Bethlehem (in the womb) riding a donkey… He then rode a donkey on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem leading to this moment… in other words Jesus came and left in peace on that visit… and calls us to be ambassadors of that peace… He faced the worst call in history by a ref (judge) when Pilot sentenced Him to death… and He took it without complaining…

If we are to be “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault” we need to “put our swords in their sheaths”! As I discussed the message yesterday with my wife and daughter it ended with Faith (my daughter) making this observation: Maybe refs (those judging us and our message about God) aren’t blind, but instead are deaf because in our haste to fight for right, we have cut off their ears…