June 10, 2019 - Own The Space

Last week we talked about not being slack… that being “good” is not measured just by what you don’t do wrong… but also by what you do right… if you are making a difference in the game. As I type this I have spent the day planning and preparing, not only for our busy summer, but also for the next local ministry year we commit to (these are plans we make for period of Labor Day to Memorial Day here in our home area); future national outreach; and of course our international outreach (as I just had a Dominican pastor send me a message saying, “I want to tell you that I have started a basketball team with the boys of the church, we want to know if it would be possible for you to train them to preach the Gospel using basketball.”)

Whether it be the term missions, great commission, labor, good works, or whatever… we tend to think very heavily about planning; and I don’t think it is wrong to plan… the Lord planned… He planned good works that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10.) We tend to talk about God’s will for our lives as it pertains to specific times and places we are “called to.” And again, I don’t have a problem with that; at times the Lord does give a specific call to a place and time.

Yet I think we need to be careful with this mentality… the Scripture gives such a warning: James 4:13-16 tells of the danger of dogmatically making plans since we don’t know what tomorrow holds. It doesn’t forbid making plans… just reminds us that the Lord has some things to say in all of it.

What the Scriptures do dogmatically give us is God’s will for any given moment on what attitudes we should have… what lifestyles we should be living… what focus we should have. In other words, it is not just about the scheduled games.

I have spent a lot of my life with scheduling, even serving some years as an athletic director. I have been to a lot of games, a lot of practices, a lot of camps/clinics, etc. But growing up that failed in comparison to how often I simply went out back to my goal… or even up to the outdoor courts at Washington School in the middle of the night… illuminated by the one flood light on the corner of the kitchen. I loved to simply call up my friend Chris and say let’s play hoops. Or maybe it was an impromptu game of Nerf hoops with one of my brothers. Basketball was not just the scheduled part of my life… but truly defined my life… I was always looking for opportunities to play.

So even though I plan mission trips, I remind folks all the time that every believer is on a mission trip that began at the point of salvation! We should be looking for every opportunity we can to “play the game.” I read a really cool thought in a blog from one of the young ladies I used to train (hoops) / teach (Bible)… she is now in college, playing division 1 hoops at Liberty U. Yet she still took time this summer to head overseas to serve in missions. As she was sharing her thoughts, she made this realization:

“We are all running around trying to find our purpose. We worry about it, we overthink it, and we use the strategies of the world to tell us what job or path we’re compatible with.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
The future is not something for us to fear and it isn’t our job to figure out the next step. Be wise, be prepared. But our job is to fear the Lord in all his might, to find peace in the assurance that his purpose prevails, to find joy in His will to “work in us what is pleasing to him.”
My purpose may not be glamorous, and it may not always leave me with a light heart, but it is crazy beautiful! LIGHT up the path God has you on today. It may not be where you want to be and you may be on your way to something else but ask Jesus for the wisdom to be content, to focus whole-heartedly on the path he’s placed you on because the 2 feet of space that you take up is your mission field.” (Jordan “JP” Peters)

I often tell players to “own their space.” I explain that the game is about “owning real estate”; beating the opponent to the spot he wants when playing “D”… or getting to the spot you want when on offense. JP is reminding us that wherever we happen to be… Own the space!

Yes, plans are good… but ultimately your mission field is always the “2 feet of space you take up” in any given moment, not just the scheduled ones!

June 3, 2019 - I Don't Think You Are That Good!

Many years ago, I was playing in a church men’s league basketball game… I had asked one of my dear friends to come along to play and he was excited about getting out on the court. I don’t remember much of anything about the game or the night at all; just going on what my friend would tell me many years later.


Now to share his recollection… (which I will make me sound like a big jerk… like the Simon Cowell of church league basketball.) Apparently, following our win, we were talking in the parking lot when my friend made this remark, “I normally don’t play that good.” In his mind he did some positive things and/or he didn’t do a lot of negative things; to which I supposedly responded, “I didn’t think you were that good.”


Again, I don’t remember this taking place, and if it did, I’m sure my response was made in jest to tease him a bit, (at least I hope so.) The point is a simple one that we sometimes may have a distorted view of our contribution to the team…


I was reminded of that story when my wife shared about a devotion she had just read. In the devo, there was a story of a guy that had retired from a job he had worked for over 20 years… one of the bosses from his former work place saw him and the guy asked the boss, “how did you fill the void when I left?” To which the boss replied, “There wasn’t a void to fill…”


I’ve heard pastors ask the question of their congregations, “If we shut our doors tomorrow, would the community miss us?” I wasn’t to make it more personal. If you, as an individual part of your church be missed if you left?


My fear is that we far too often view being a good teammate in the church as simply filling a seat and/or not doing negative things. There is a mentality of being a good Christian because one goes to church… or being good Christian just because of what one avoids.


With the chance I sound like a jerk, if that is all you think makes you a good Christian, I don’t think you’re that good! I’m not impressed with just not making mistakes… make a difference “on the court!” Make enough “noise” that you will be missed when you are gone… that it will be hard to fill the void!


Hebrews 13:6 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (NKJV)


Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship – a different kind of “sacrifice” – that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets. (The Message)