Monday, October 28, 2019
October 28, 2019 - Not Much Left Of Him...
I love teaching the fundamentals of basketball; especially emphasizing the importance of being a complete and balanced player. I’ll explain what I mean by starting with one of my favorite stories to tell (when I am working with older players that can understand it…)
It is the story of a man that was in a terrible car accident. He lost his left arm and left leg…
he’s all right now…
but there’s not much left of him!
Moral of the story, one doesn’t want to be just an “all-right” player with “not much left” in one’s game. It is really easy to guard an “all-right” player!
In my camps / practices we spend a lot of time working on the weak hand of players; it’s not necessarily an easy thing to do but it creates much more complete and balanced players. One way to improve is obviously hard work… yet sometimes it is adversity that brings about growth or change… and adversity can be brought about in a couple of ways.
One is adversity one deserves… such as a player that doesn’t work hard might find himself on the bench; lack of playing time is a great motivator…
And then there is adversity that just happens. When I was 11-yrs-old was when I really started being able to use my left hand better. I already had a basketball coach that made us do lay-ups correctly from either side which helped, but the biggest help was when I pulled tendons in my right elbow during baseball season. I was a pitcher and that meant I was not going to be on the mound the rest of the summer… but I wasn’t through playing; I switched and finished out the summer playing left-handed! Through my injury I became a more complete player…
I’ve seen this happen many times, where players come back stronger from adversity…
Biblically we have a promise from God to take adversity we face and turn it for our good… I do not believe God is responsible for the bad stuff that happens to you and me; but I fully believe He is aware and capable of using it!!!
Romans 8:28 is an oft-quoted verse reminding us of this truth. It promises that “all things work together for good to those who love God…” The chapter goes on and reminds us that we are absolutely secure in God’s love!
I know this is a subject that is talked about a lot but let’s be honest, how is it changing how we live / think? This promise alone should transform how we face each day. If we truly believe this promise, we will view every hardship as a way we are becoming more complete and balanced.
This came to mind yesterday when listening to my friend and pastor Quinton Williams sharing the vision of a new facility our church in Alabama is building… one that is breaking the norms and being structured to be a game changer in the community every day of the week (not a Sunday-only structure.) This is coming about following a bad fire at the facility earlier in the year. It is very exciting, and I loved what Q said… It was something along the lines of “If we had known what was going to be happening now we would have been dancing around that fire!”
Bottom line: We need to trust the outcome in spite of the circumstances!
Monday, October 21, 2019
October 21, 2019 - You're Not A Shooter
As I was prepping for this week’s devotion, I was
reminded of a great scene I witnessed years ago at a high school basketball
open gym… it is one I am almost certain I have mentioned in a past weekly post,
but it is worth repeating. (Have posted well over 900 of these weekly devos,
so I’m sure there have been many repeat stories…)
I was in the gym with my dear friend Coach Mike Gurley; Mike is a GREAT coach that gets the most out of his players! On this particular occasion there was a young man that was a stud football player… strong and fast! He got the ball and used his speed to get to an open lay-up. Gurley applauded and yelled to the young man what a good play it was; then followed it up by reminding the player that he is out there for his speed and defense… that he could shoot lay-ups when they were available… and then reminded him that he was not allowed to shoot outside shots because he simply wasn’t good at them… and if he did he would be benched. I know that some of you are right now thinking that seems harsh and that the kid was probably devastated and would never want to play again…
Yet the reality is that players want to play for Coach Gurley and are faithful to do their jobs within their giftings as the coach sees fit. You see, after telling the player those things, Coach Gurley followed it up with, “But I love you though!” Everyone chuckled a bit, but everyone also trusts that Coach is on their side!
I thought about that story, which happened probably 7 or 8 years ago, because I was thinking about “players” in life being faithful to the task before them. It came up last weekend as we were ministering in Daytona Beach at a church. One our young guys in Next Man Up (our worship team) mentioned how thankful he was to meet John, one of my dear friends at the church where we were serving. He mentioned that he noticed how faithful John was to serve and make things happen. He saw John doing a lot of stuff that wouldn’t show up in the “box score.”
That was followed by this past weekend serving at a church in Tampa, where my wife made note of a young man that reminded her of her dad. This was because she was hearing all the stuff the young man was doing at the church… hearing of his faithfulness to his calling. The young man’s name is Jesse and he and his wife serve leading youth, directing music, taking care of broken stuff, leading/organizing special events, etc. Believe me, when my wife puts someone on par with her daddy, that is BIG!
As I was studying in Romans 12 there is a section about the team... the body… playing one’s role… here are some of the things I was taking note of in that study:
Vs 3 – tells us to think clearly about ourselves and especially the “measure of faith” that was “dealt” to us… the Greek word for faith is Pistis, and is often translated as faith or belief, but also carries the idea of faithfulness, which makes a lot of sense in context with the idea of being faithful to the role the Coach (God) is putting us in…
Vs 4 – states we don’t all have the same function or office… we are given different roles
Vs 5 – reminds us that we have different gifts to help us fulfil those different roles
Bottom line is that God reminds us often that He loves us; in turn let’s be faithful to do our jobs and serve the team (the church)! This section reminding us to be faithful is immediately in context of explaining what is the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (See vs 2)
I was in the gym with my dear friend Coach Mike Gurley; Mike is a GREAT coach that gets the most out of his players! On this particular occasion there was a young man that was a stud football player… strong and fast! He got the ball and used his speed to get to an open lay-up. Gurley applauded and yelled to the young man what a good play it was; then followed it up by reminding the player that he is out there for his speed and defense… that he could shoot lay-ups when they were available… and then reminded him that he was not allowed to shoot outside shots because he simply wasn’t good at them… and if he did he would be benched. I know that some of you are right now thinking that seems harsh and that the kid was probably devastated and would never want to play again…
Yet the reality is that players want to play for Coach Gurley and are faithful to do their jobs within their giftings as the coach sees fit. You see, after telling the player those things, Coach Gurley followed it up with, “But I love you though!” Everyone chuckled a bit, but everyone also trusts that Coach is on their side!
I thought about that story, which happened probably 7 or 8 years ago, because I was thinking about “players” in life being faithful to the task before them. It came up last weekend as we were ministering in Daytona Beach at a church. One our young guys in Next Man Up (our worship team) mentioned how thankful he was to meet John, one of my dear friends at the church where we were serving. He mentioned that he noticed how faithful John was to serve and make things happen. He saw John doing a lot of stuff that wouldn’t show up in the “box score.”
That was followed by this past weekend serving at a church in Tampa, where my wife made note of a young man that reminded her of her dad. This was because she was hearing all the stuff the young man was doing at the church… hearing of his faithfulness to his calling. The young man’s name is Jesse and he and his wife serve leading youth, directing music, taking care of broken stuff, leading/organizing special events, etc. Believe me, when my wife puts someone on par with her daddy, that is BIG!
As I was studying in Romans 12 there is a section about the team... the body… playing one’s role… here are some of the things I was taking note of in that study:
Vs 3 – tells us to think clearly about ourselves and especially the “measure of faith” that was “dealt” to us… the Greek word for faith is Pistis, and is often translated as faith or belief, but also carries the idea of faithfulness, which makes a lot of sense in context with the idea of being faithful to the role the Coach (God) is putting us in…
Vs 4 – states we don’t all have the same function or office… we are given different roles
Vs 5 – reminds us that we have different gifts to help us fulfil those different roles
Bottom line is that God reminds us often that He loves us; in turn let’s be faithful to do our jobs and serve the team (the church)! This section reminding us to be faithful is immediately in context of explaining what is the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (See vs 2)
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