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Often when guarding an opponent, a defender has to be
aware of screens… and must have a plan on what to do if a screen is set. (For
those that aren’t basketball savvy, a screen is when an opposing player sets up
as a “wall” to block or pick the player off from following the guy he is
guarding.)
Screens are difficult because one typically cannot see
them coming because of being focused on the player he is covering… and thus they
are often called blind screens… demanding that he have teammates that warn him
when a screen is coming! (A vital role of teamwork is communication!)
Once one hears that a screen is coming, he has to
determine if he is going “under” or “over” the screen… based upon if the player
he is guarding being more of a threat to pull up for a jump shot or is more apt
to drive to the basket; yet other times, one’s teammate may call switch and take
over covering his responsibility…
You may be wondering how in the world this pertains to a
weekly devotion? It came to my mind last week while in a chapel service, when
the speaker shared a video clip of the rap artist Flame doing his song “Move.” It
is really a great song with many truths in it… yet the following line jumped
out at me:
“Hey watcha lookin at… get from in front of that screen…
That is so obscene… Jesus died for that very thing”
Obviously, Flame is not discussing avoiding “screens” in
basketball, but I do believe his reference to avoiding video screens does refer
to the enemy’s (opponent’s) desire to create a wall to block or pick us off
from our mission… through the use of “blind screens” such as internet porn… a
seemingly innocent drink at the party… things that can get us knocked off ball…
off mission.
At risk of writing a sermon here, we need to be careful
of anything that can “screen” us off of our mission! We need great “teammates”
to warn us when they see problems ahead, (and need to listen to those warnings.)
We need to be good “teammates” as well and warn others…
We need to take heed of the warnings of Scripture to
avoid works of the flesh… far too often we are as unwise as an alcoholic
sitting at a bar… we are sin-aholics that
think we are strong enough to watch wrong things… to dabble in wrong
things… etc. These are ways the enemy is knocking us off course…
As a coach I would regularly tell players to get around the
screens… as a minister I am telling you the same!
2 Timothy 2:22 Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after
mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and
serious prayer before God. (The Message)
Ephesians 5: 15 See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming
the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore
do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
(NKJV)
Walk circumspectly… be aware of your surroundings… when the “screens”
are coming… and get around those “screens.”
Bottom line is that we are trying to stay on mission by avoiding
things that will pick us off!
Flame goes on to say in his song, “If the Lord tell me move I move,
anything He want me to yeah I do… but if it ain’t of the Lord then I won’t budge.”
I am finally getting to the subject I was planning on
writing about a couple of weeks ago… and realizing due to time and energy that
it needs to be a “30-second timeout” as I am not sure I have a “full-timeout”
available tonight… literally just got in from an 11-day worship tour and this
old man is feeling it…
So straight to the point… do you ever feel like life is
unfair? In the sports world there is always questioning of referees, and in
today’s world of instant replays… reviews… multiple camera angels… etc., it
seems that every game leaves one team complaining they were cheated.
This was evident in the NCAA tourney a couple of weeks
ago… especially in the Auburn and Virginia game. Auburn seemed to have the game
in hand, but Virginia made a great comeback. Auburn fans were infuriated and felt
as though the referees made a couple of mistakes… wondering of the game was
being called by three blind mice???
One of the supposed mistakes was on a foul called on an
Auburn player that allowed a VA player to hit 3 free throws and send the game
to overtime. (Yet that one didn’t have to many lasting complaints as the Auburn
player clearly jumped into the VA shooter, not allowing him his landing space.
Even former Auburn players were admitting it was a foul.)
But then the replays started of a play that led up to that
point where a VA player clearly double-dribbled; it was one where no one seemed
to notice it until the replay… but there was an infraction. But this took place
at a time when it is common for people to say that refs should “let the players”
decide the game and not call it so close (that is until it hurts your team.) And
I am not sure if the refs just missed seeing it or if they were calling it
loosely???
All of this to say that life is full of unfair times and
we are responsible for how we handle it. After the Auburn game, their coach,
Bruce Pearl, was quoted as saying, “The biggest point I want to make, and I'm
sincere in this, I'm not just saying this because it's politically the right
thing to say. There is human error involved in the game. Kids make mistakes,
coaches make mistakes. Yes, officials will make mistakes. That's part of the
game. Get over it… Sometimes they're going to go your way, sometimes they're
not going to go your way. Are we going to give God less glory because we lost
and ... only because we win? Stop. Grow up, this is part of the game.”
Sounds like Coach Pearl was channeling some of the Apostle
Paul’s teaching: “Do all things without complaining and disputing.”
(Philippians 2:14)
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
This week let’s focus on giving God glory in all
circumstances… winning or losing!
Side note about the double dribble: My personal belief is
that the ref simply let it go… because he had just let another call go that
favored Auburn. Auburn was simply trying to slow Virginia down since Auburn had
the lead… yet literally a split second before the no-call on the double dribble,
there is a no-call on holding on the Auburn defender… (I even saved a picture
of the player tugging on the jersey of the Virginia player, which could have
caused the player to lose control of the dribble.) Maybe they simply were
trying to just let the players decide it… And as Pearl stated, the game involves
human error. The game, like life, is not about just individual plays… it is
about the whole the game… 2 points in the first quarter are worth just as much
as 2 points in the last quarter!
