September 25, 2023 - Half-Hearted Results

I’m currently sitting in NC with my son and watching a little Monday night football… we have covered over 7700 miles so far on this tour and still have a ways to go… I’ve been enjoying not having to be anywhere tonight (even though I am due to share tomorrow morning in a chapel)… and then it hit me, “It’s MONDAY night football”! I’ve only been doing these weekly MONDAY game plans since the beginning of 2002… and yet it was still slipping my mind in the midst of the crazy travel… but MONDAY is the day I gotta get it done!

In my teaching on this tour I have been emphasizing that God is not impressed with our willingness but instead in our action… that is why Jesus says things like “…blessed are you if you do…” (John 13:17), not blessed if we are willing to do…

Every year as a coach I heard players set grand goals and tell me they were willing to give it all, only to see many that simply weren’t putting in the work. Michael Jordan’s name has come up often on this tour as I ask who the greatest basketball player is… he stated this: “I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do I can expect halt-hearted results.”

Before Jesus made the statement I shared in John 13, he stated “If you know these things…” What things do you “know” that God has called you to do? James 4:17 says this, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not DO IT, to him it is sin.”

I believe we celebrate to much the idea of being willing as opposed to doing… and it leads to half-hearted results.

September 18, 2023 - Benched! For Making A Shot?

Recently I was having a talk with a dear friend who is a pastor in Indiana… we were discussing life and ministry, and waxing philosophical… and during that, as he shared an illustration he had used in a sermon, we landed on a simple truth that good and right are not synonyms!

Let me explain what I mean from a hoops perspective… when I was 18 years old I was coaching my first team, a junior high team that was at a school that hadn’t won a junior high game in many years. The players on that team were for the most part very inexperienced, with only one or two guys that had actually played organized. I was making many of my decisions based upon long term goals, more so than short term scoreboard gains. The season was going pretty well as we opened up with a blowout victory over a rival conference school… BUT there was so much learning to do, and as a coach the job was about more than the won/loss column!

This was at a time when the 3-point line had been introduced to the game… and during a hard-fought game one of my guys let a 3 fly… swish… nothing but the bottom of the net! I’m sure our fans, and especially his family members, were going crazy… I’m equally sure they were going crazy in a bad way when I immediately benched him! (Which left us with just 4 players due to others fouling out earlier…) I’m sure I looked like an idiot to the fans… and one referee came over and questioned my decision. Remember I was a really young coach.

Yes, the shot was a good shot… BUT it wasn’t the right shot. You see I had told my team how many passes I wanted them to get in on each offensive set, and the 3 was taken after just one pass. It may sound like I was a control freak, but I knew my guys needed the work to grow as a team, and I happen to believe players should listen to their coaches!

In Genesis 2:9 the garden is described as “every tree… pleasant to the sight and good for food.” So is each tree good? Of course… but not each tree is right… as the “Tree of Knowledge” is mentioned as being part of that garden of trees… and we know that in verse 17 God clearly said it was not right to eat of that tree… you see it? GOOD and RIGHT are not the same thing!

Bottom line this week is that God is the Coach, and we should listen to Him even if we don’t feel like it… even if something to the contrary looks good… even if it is good… I love an old phrase I heard: Don’t let good be the enemy of the best!

Yes, in the game I was coaching the 3-pointer gave an initial gain, but it harmed the process of the team learning to trust the coach… of the team allowing the coach to teach them things that would help them grow as players.

What God says to do or not do is right! “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” (Proverbs 3:5) 

September 11, 2023 - The Big 3

Greetings team from the shores of Salt Lake… On our ROCK’em Road Trip entitled GOAT Status (How Jesus defines greatness.) As I think about greatness in the sports world, I realize that a player can be a great athlete but not a great player… a player can have a great mind for the game yet not have the physical attributes to be a great player… a player can have both physical and mental greatness but lack the understanding of being a part of a team, and thus not be a great player… (As I am typing this I can remember some of the most talented guys I knew,  that rode the pine for their college programs!)

John Wooden had what he called “the big 3” on what had to be present in a great player: Conditioning/Fundamentals/Teamwork.

Let me remind each of us this week on the importance of these things in our Christian walk…

Conditioning: Are you spending time in the Word and in prayer… simply allowing yourself to be “transformed” (Romans 12:2) and to “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19)? That is being well-conditioned!

Fundamentals: are you familiar with the Playbook and the things God says should be true in our fundamental living? “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Teamwork: “We are His workmanship…” (Ephesians 2:10) Do you see the plural “we”? Christianity is a team sport!  Figure out how you can be the best you can be FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM!

September 4, 2023 - The Leading Scorer On A Losing Team

Man did I love playing the game of basketball! As I was driving today (while on a speaking tour) I was thinking about different ideas for this week’s game plan… I had spent Saturday with some high school and middle school aged basketball players and then got to hang out with some old buddies I used to play hoops with… I guess I got kind of nostalgic and while driving flashed back a bit to my high school days.

The reality is that our team was not very good in those years… in my freshman year we had some success, but even though I was able to dress varsity, the rest of the team were juniors and seniors; so the reality is that as far wins and losses that year, the most I could claim is that maybe I helped prepare our guys in practices… but then my final three years of high school I stepped into a starting role and was the leading scorer each of those years on a losing team… we not only had more losses than wins, some of the losses were absolute blowouts that would embarrass many. Many times, I even played hurt… BUT I LOVED PLAYING…

I still to this day will often say, “If I lace them (my shoes) up, I’m gonna try to beat you!” I was always happy if we won but was joyful just to get to play. Notice I didn’t say “I will beat you,” I said “I’m gonna try…” My joy was/is found in playing and competing hard, not in scoreboards!

I preach/teach often about the apostle Paul and his wild outlook on life… even from prison chains he penned an entire letter centered on the theme of joy… he often talked of the people in the churches being his joy… he was “competing” for the opportunities to serve and to share and that superseded his freedom… superseded his circumstances… superseded his comforts…

And of course, there is the example of Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…” (Hebrews 12:2)

We are told often to have joy… to rejoice… and these are not commands about circumstances but about opportunities and growth! James 1 tells us to be joyful in even in our trials… It is easy to get caught up in judging God’s goodness, or even questioning His existence, based upon the scoreboard (circumstances) in our life. Which means we have taken our eyes off of the opportunities to serve and to share.

When it gets really hard just remember to “…consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:3