Basketball and Mr. "Fill-in the blank"

I love basketball. Especially play-offs. Not so much NBA, because too often that isn't real basketball to me. It gets so routine at times. Same two-man game on the right hand side of the court for 6 straight possessions just gets to be a bore. As a lifelong Celtic fan, I am not sure I am allowed to say I like the full-court game over the methodical half-court brand but I have to say I am leaning that way. The Suns would likely be my favorite team if I was a youth watching basketball on TV today. That Nash guy is legit and I am glad to see his hair isn't so long anymore. (Man, am I getting old...)

Here at Christ's Church, we have our own play-offs going on. And these are way better because I know the players. And I know their kids and their ups and downs over the past seasons. I know the teams that failed to win a game one season but are in the title game 2 seasons later. And more importantly, I know who some of the players are who are hurting. Not sore knees or arms, but hurting hearts. Not to say there aren’t tons of body aches but those will heal much quicker than the heart pains. After nine weeks of watching games, I can see those that are hurting before they even tell me. And I pray for them. And I want to help. I am no longer blind to the fact those hurting players also have hurting wives at home. And hurting kids. And for some even broken families.

You see, THAT is why I am supposed to be at the games. Not to keep stats. Not to make sure Mr. Smith doesn’t cuss out the refs. But to make relationships. To talk. To listen. To find out who needs a friend. And for those who don't know Christ, I am to reflect His image. I am to let that person see Christ in me. Man, I have a hard enough time keeping the games on track some weeks but I am suppose to be Christ's reflection too? Yup. And you know what? This task I have isn’t a one-man show. If you are a Christian in our league, you should be looking for those hurt people too. And talking to them. And praying for them. And bringing them here because they are lost, not because they have a sweet jumper.

I can only speak for myself when I tell you; I can’t see myself talking someone into a decision of faith. But you know what, I do believe, if we all tried to just do our part, it would happen. If “Mr. Hurting” feels God’s love from one of us in week 1 and from another in week 3 and again week after week, how can any true believer not think this person won’t want to know more? Now that I can see being a part of. That I WANT to be a part of. Will you help me?

On the same team

As some of you may know, David and I are up here at Ridgecrest in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. We are attending a Sports Ministry Summit with other churches across the country. As much as I have grown to dislike being away from my family, David and I needed this trip, more than I think even we realized. We are among 250 or so Sports Ministers/Directors, activity leaders, recreational directors, organizers, etc. There are people here from as far away as California and some here from Egypt! Some churches have less than 100 members and there are churches like Christ's Church of the Valley that have well over 10,000 each Sunday. We have all come to share ideas and to grow our Ministries in a way we can't do on our own.

After talking to only 4 or 5 people, it became evident that God sent us here for an unexpected reason. And as much as we sometimes think we know what He has in store for us, as usual, I really couldn't grasp it. God showed us how amazingly blessed we truly are at Christ's Church. We have so many resources at our fingertips and sometimes God show us by putting people in our paths that do not. For me, the best part has been seeing others facing similar problems and being able to trade ideas. We are all striving for the same goal...to make sports a way to lead people to Christ.

I was blown away when the very first presenter I sat in with talked about making our coaches’ disciple makers. Basically he was talking about how he had to come up with a way to make his coaches more involved with the spiritual growth of the kids and less focused on winning. This is the exact same bridge I crossed last year which led to the Certified Coaches training. He outlined his whole process and where they stood now and I was reenergized. We had broken our process down a layer “deeper” than his by actively recruiting those who had no coaching experience. By being three years into his new training process, he had things to share with me about what might be coming my way as we approach the three year mark. I now had a person to contact along the way who could keep me updated on what our Certified Coaches program might encounter. I was honored when he took several aspects we use that he doesn’t and asked if he could use them! Absolutely. And afterward there were people who came up to me and asked if I would send them our Certified Coaches program and of course I said “yes.” That is what this conference is all about. Encouraging one another and exchanging ideas to better this awesome ministry we are in.

Sacrifice with a price...

Today, I had the pleasure of visiting with a parent who has two children involved with sports here at CC. Regrettably the visit wasn't under the most ideal circumstances; you see this visit happened in the waiting room at Baptist Hospital downtown. Her son was going in for surgery to repair her son's jaw that had been broken in three places. He had metal plates put in under the skin and will soon have his jaw wired shut for 6 weeks. He didn't get in a car accident or fall off his skateboard. No, you see he was beaten up by several guys because he was trying to protect his friend from being beaten up.
What a situation to be in huh? This young man took a far worse beating then than the guy he was trying to protect. What would you do?

Psalm 82:3-4 says this:
³“Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless;
deliver them from the grasp of evil people."

Ultimately, this can be learning tool for a lot of people. Maybe the one who was spared the beating will learn about love and sacrificing for someone else. For those who did the kicking and punching, they might also see what sacrificing for another looks like. The funny thing is, the one laying in a hospital bed today likely stepped in because of his faith. A faith that taught him about another man who stepped in to take a beating for the actions of others. The metal that man received did not go into his jaw however but into his hands and feet.

God's work

Several months ago, our newest satellite campus, Camden County, asked if they could have live preaching instead of the recorded DVD they use now. I, along with 4 others, volunteered to fill those openings. I typed up the email telling them my dates of availability and then I let it sit on my desktop. And then I prayed. And I prayed some more. And I left the email there for the rest of the day. And over the course of the day, every time I closed a computer window and saw the email sitting there, I prayed again. The same anxiousness I had when I first typed those dates had all but disappeared. I was comforted in knowing that God was in control and if this is what He wanted, I would do it.

The same thing holds true when I did my first baptism. I remember standing beside the young lady at the top of stairs that lead into the water and I was very calm. As the time approached for us to enter the water, I began to worry about making a mistake. At that moment, I started shaking. So much so that I imagine the young lady could see it! Then I began to pray and the Holy Spirit told me I was doing God's work. And then I was calm. And then I began focusing on making another mistake and I started to shake again. And I prayed and it went away. I can see now that the Holy Spirit was telling me that if I focus on doing HIS work, He will help me but when I start focusing on ME, I was on my own. How simple can it get? Is that not exactly what we are told through out the Bible?

For those of you up to the challange, this week let's try to focus on letting God work THROUGH us. It might be as simple as an invite or a kind word and that alone could be critical in that person’s life. We all likely had more than one person help lead us to Christ. EVERYTHING we do is a rung in that ladder for the unsaved. This week, don't be scared to be a rung for a lost soul. After all this is God's work we are doing.