February 26, 2024 - Profit or Loss?

This week I am doing a Game Ready clinic at a Christian school in NC. The content involves both basketball training and also life training (building off our Game Plans for Life platform.) I love getting to teach in both arenas… and desire to help grow/mature the players both on and off the court!

Colossians 1:28-29 - Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect (mature or complete) in Christ Jesus. To this end I also LABOR, STRIVING according to His working which works in me mightily.

Years ago we tabbed the name of our training division as the Total Player Academy… wanting a maturing that, as 2 Timothy 3:17 states, “that the man of God may be complete, THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED for every good work.” We want players that make the right play!

Well part of the warning involves taking an honest inventory of who we are and how we spend our time. (I even have one Game Plan this week titled “Free Time.”)

An honest inventory of who we are begins with a simple question of if one is even on the team. That is then followed with an introspective look at priorities… It seems that every player I have ever worked with claims they want to get better… claim they want to win… etc. Well one simple question I have for players, like those I’m charged with this week, is, “Tell me how you are spending your Free Time this off-season?”

A player that wants to be a better ballhandler or better shooter, will not do so spending Free Time on only video games or parties or whatever… I’ve heard many times in the past that if you look at a man’s bank account you can see where his treasure is by seeing where he spends his money. Well, I’m telling you, I can tell where anyone’s treasure is by seeing how they spend time!!!

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

That is preceded by Jesus telling us to put in the time on things that matter. He stated (verse 19) “Do not lay up…” (NOTE:  this is not a basketball ban to not do lay-ups… the word has the idea of not storing up or spending your time working toward.) He says to not pursue things that don’t matter… but instead reminds that we SHOULD (verse 20) “…lay up for yourselves…” eternal things!

Hoops paraphrase: DO NOT SPEND YOUR FREE TIME ON VIDEO GAMES; INSTEAD SPEND YOUR FREE TIME ON TRAINING!

Now obviously hoops is not everyone’s priority… BUT DON’T TELL ME IT IS YOUR PRIORITY… YOUR TREASURE… IF YOUR “BASKETBALL BANK ACCOUNT” DOESN”T SHOW AN INVESTMENT OF TIME!

Likewise, Believer, I ask what are your priorities? I can answer for you… where you focus your attention and time are your priorities. Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase The Message, shares this Matthew 6 truth this way: “The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

I realize some are taking this to the ultimate degree of “how can I focus on things of God all the time?” (First you need to hear some of our teaching on what a “worthy walk” looks like… in simplicity, all “you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17) HONOR GOD IN WHATEVER YOU ENDEAVOR TO DO!

BOTTOM LINE: Success or failure in life is often the product (profit or loss) of time spent! I realize there are at times extenuating circumstances, and if so, own them and see how you can turn a profit…

(Example: when I was 11 years old, I got tendonitis in my pitching elbow. It was in the midst of the season and I was unable to perform in my usual manner. BUT I didn’t stop performing… I SPENT MY TIME both in practice and games playing left-handed… I wasn’t as successful as play with my strong hand BUT found a product (profit from how I spent my time) of having a much more coordinated and strong left (weak) hand.)

What are your priorities? What gets your attention? There is your answer!

February 19, 2024 - Meal P.R.E.P. | Let's E.A.T.!

I was reading in Nehemiah as Nehemiah decided to make some changes… he had heard that some of his brethren “are there in great distress" and that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and it’s gates are burned with fire.” (Nehemiah 1:3) So Nehemiah purposes to make a change!

Chapter 2 records how he went about making and executing a plan… and a couple little words appeared a couple of times… “I viewed…” Nehemiah took an honest look at the work ahead of them to rebuild the walls… in doing so he was taking inventory of what they would need… and stirring up his brethren to action… he simply pointed out to them to acknowledge the need… he “viewed” and then said to them “you see…” (Nehemiah 2:17) And then in verse 19 there is a consensus… “Let us rise up and build...” (Nehemiah 2:19)

I realize that is a very fast synopsis of that passage, but it hits well with this week’s Game Plan for Life!

I’ve been working on my notes and plans for an upcoming outreach I will be leading at a Christian school. It will involve a basketball/life camp with the theme of being Game Ready. One of the analogies I am using is that of doing meal prep… when one prepares meals ahead of time to be able to quickly/easily access when needed. This is most common when folks see a need for weight loss or muscle gain or… in other words… something that needs to change!

In short, I will be sharing with the students the need to: 

Plan the

Recipe

-and-

Execute the

Plan!

I want them to see that doing this will result in being Game Ready where we can simply say: Let’s EAT!

        Earnings / Enjoyment

      After

      Training!

The meal is product of mixing together the right ingredients… putting them to some heat… etc.

View what is needed for change… and then get busy!

Nehemiah 2:19 ends this way: After stating they would rise up… “Then they set their hands to this good work.”

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; BUT the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”

It’s time for us to do a little “Meal P.R.E.P.” and then “Let’s E.A.T!”

February 12, 2024 - Do What You Know To Do... (LEADING and LETTING)

Currently Team Burden (my wife and I) are at a “timeout” in life where we are listening for instruction from “The Coach”… when players come to a huddle it is with the expectation that the coach will give direction for when they go back out on the floor/field…

As a coach, the goal is not always to call or design a play, but sometimes simply to remind the players what they already know or have been taught. The work of a pastor (coach) is “equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:12)

So, there are times, as a coach, one will allow the team to play free lance… not calling a designed play. But does that mean the players can do whatever they want? Of course not… they still must play according to the rules… they still should play according to the team principles that have been instilled… they still should know, from their training/equipping what are good vs bad shots… they still know to play together as a unit… AND EVEN THOUGH they may not have been assigned a specific spot on the floor to run to, they are trained/equipped to know what kind of spots to run to! I would simply tell a player that wanted direction, “Do what you know to do…”

Therefore, as a coach, sometimes the huddle is for LEADING (specifically designed plays the coach sees will work) and sometimes the huddle is for LETTING (reminding the players to trust what they have been trained/equipped to do whatever the opponent throws at them.)

God, as a sovereign Coach, is fully aware of how the game is being played… and may I suggest here that sometimes God is “LEADING/CALLING” us to run a specific play… but other times is simply “LETTING” us choose where to go on the court, while not forgetting our TRAINING/EQUIPPING.

So as we (Team Burden) pray and ponder things in this “timeout,” what we lean upon is that whether God LEADS or LETS us go somewhere, we will still “do what we know to do!”

CHECK OUT THIS BEAUTIFUL PROMISE:

“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, EVEN there Your hand shall LEAD me, and Your right hand shall HOLD me.” (Psalm 139:9-10)

BOTTOM LINE: Even when God LETS us play free lance… He still LEADS us via His Word!

February 5, 2024 - No Weather Delays (A Buffalo-Mentality)

Yesterday I received an email that was talking about the crowd that showed at one of our partner churches… in spite of a driving, almost sideways, rain. The person sending the message stated that she remembered me preaching at their church about the buffalo…

If you’ve been reading these Game Plans for Life or reading our InBounds Illustrated newsletters when they come out, it is not a new concept to hear about the buffalo. The buffalo is the only mammal in North America that will turn and run into a storm when comes upon them; thus our motto, “We don’t run  from… we run  through!”

Yet the email yesterday was a great reminder that circumstances should not be the guiding factor in what we do: God’s Playbook should be! 1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us we should be “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” There is not a tag line of “weather permitting” or “if you are comfortable.” Kind of crazy, I looked up the word “always” in Greek and it means “at all times.”

In Philippians 3:14 Paul states “I press on to the goal…” And the crazy thing is that in the Greek. “press on” has the idea figuratively of one that is running swiftly in a race to reach the goal…

Paul states in Philippians 4:11 “I have learned that in whatever state I am, to be content…”

I think it is safe to say that we are called to stay disciplined/committed to the plan that is before us. A Buffalo-Mentality” is one that understands that the road to victory requires a daily downpayment of hard work… discipline… commitment. (NOTE: Not talking about the victory of salvation… the work of Jesus paid that in full! This is about the work of our commissioning/calling as believers!)

This isn’t the game of baseball… there are no “weather delays”!