Remember my little group of First through Third grade basketball stars? Well, I’ll never forget them. Last night was the coach’s appreciation dinner / season review meeting. I was blessed to eat way more beef brisket, grilled chicken, green beans, yeast rolls, and banana pudding than I will ever need. But, oh it was sooooo good! The company was especially good as well. There are so many really special people willing to work with the kids at the Parkwest Church of God here in Knoxville, and I was blessed to serve alongside them this year. God is so good like that! Anyway, about the team of giants I had.
As the season progressed we were faced with many challenges and changes. Out of the eight players I ended up with - half of them live with only one or the other parent. Sometimes this posed a problem with getting enough players to practice each week since we all know how much harder it is for one person to do all the things two people were designed to do. Many weeks we would end up with just three players at practice (which was only a grand total of one hour per week) and as a result we would end up struggling during the games.
The unity of the team never really reached its potential because of this, yet we ended up with as many games where we outscored the opponent than with those of the opposite kind. I know it’s not a wins and losses thing – it was about the “connection.” I liked that – I liked that a lot! Here’s the really important winning statistic from this season - I made friends with some very, very special little ones that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
D.J. ended up developing a serious medical problem and had to drop out only to return and suit up for the last game. I was never so happy to see a snotty-nosed kid as I was when he rounded the hallway in uniform right before the last game. What a trooper! He needs our prayers as his medical issue continues to come to light and his dad heads off to another round of duty in the middle-east.
The rest of the kids kept doing all they could do on their end to be involved with the team. Some got sick, some went on vacation and never came back, yet some just continued to show up week after week regardless. One of those that never missed a beat was the smallest guy on the team, Jesse. What a great kid. He’s dealing with an attention issue (which we all have to some degree or another) yet his heart is so focused. He even showed up one night when he was too sick to practice and during the devotion time he simply crawled in my lap as we sat Indian style on the cold gym floor talking about family, love, and God’s desire to have a meaningful relationship with us.
During the past year I’ve learned a lot about relationships. I’ve found that I can’t control the future of them, nor can I predict how or when new ones will develop. I’ve learned to appreciate the good in them, and to let go of the bad as quickly as possible. I’ve learned some are only for a season, yet the really special ones are everlasting. I’ve learned the importance of having a healthy relationship with God determines how all other relationships will work out. I’ve learned that regardless if it is a friendship with a First grader or with a senior-citizen a healthy relationship requires honesty and realness, and a lot of time on the practice floor.
I’ve been truly blessed to gain so many friends through this journal writing process, people I would’ve never met other wise. I’ve been encouraged by people all around the globe, and thanked by many others for the words God has given me to share. I’ve had people that care enough about me and their relationship with God that they’ve taken loads of time out of their schedule to write me words of advice and direction. I appreciate every note from everyone. There are far too many to mention here by name, but you know who I’m talking about when I say thank you! We’ve made a pretty good team in my opinion.
I write all of that to say this, after this week’s item I will be changing formats for sharing all this stuff God is giving me. This will be the last “emailed” journal entry. Okay, quit cheering and clapping and get back to reading….. As most of you know already I have a blogpage up and running at http://desharp.blogspot.com/ . If you would like to continue to read these items please copy or save this address and check out the site each week. I already have quite a few of the older ones downloaded, and will continue to add more of them while I’m posting the new ones as well.
Why the change? It’s because I leaving this wonderful job I’ve had for three years now, and will be moving to Alabama to work in whatever capacity God chooses to use me in. Thus, for awhile at least I won’t have the technical ability to email these journal entries to everyone. Right now it takes a considerable amount of time and processing ability to send these out to the thousands they go to, and I simply won’t be able to do this from my new home. I hope that you’ve come to appreciate these writings for what they are and will want to continue to play alongside of me on this team – God’s team.
Oh yeah, speaking of team, where was I? That’s right – the last game of the year. As I said D.J. makes a Willis Reed like appearance (that’s one for you old school basketball fans out there) and as usual we ended up with just enough players to start the game. Jesse, tiny little Jesse was the only player on either team that hadn’t scored a single basket all year long. Despite trying on numerous occasions during the year I wasn’t able to help him get a goal. I talked to the referee and the other coach and we decided we would all work together (as three strands of a cord) to give Jesse every opportunity to make a basket in the game.
Time after time his teammates got the ball to him, and time after time he would loose his dribble, or one of the other kids would forget they weren’t supposed to take the ball away from him, and time after time Jesse’s shot would come up short of the goal. Kind of like my life in a lot of ways. I bet he must have missed fifteen shots throughout the game - and then it happened. Late in the final period he took the ball to his right and then his left and then back to his right (dribbling every now and then) and used his ol’ wind up from the side routine to get up enough momentum to heave the ball up to the eight-foot high basket and it bounced backwards and then forwards off the rim before finally dropping through the net.
The crowd went wild! I went wild! The team went wild! I wish you could’ve been there. Everyone had been cheering for him throughout the game, (Jesse, Jesse, Jesse went the chants) yes, even the parents of the opposing players - which is what we should be doing for each other – right? I ran out onto the court and grabbed him up and gave him a big hug as if he had just hit the winning basket. I mean it was stuff movies are made of. I put him down and got off the court so the game could continue only to watch the amazing sight of him running down the court smiling from ear to ear as he pumped his fists in the air. It was his moment! Jesse, Jesse, Jesse went the chants. There’s never been a more heartfelt celebration on a basketball court anywhere, anytime than there was that day at the First through Third graders 8:30am game at Parkwest Church.
What a team! What a wonderful group of friends! What a wonderful life God has blessed me with.
And on that note I invite you to continue to be my teammate as we begin another season next week. We all know there’ll be a lot of hard practices, lots of fun, lots of silliness, lots of drills designed to improve our discipline and techniques. There’ll most certainly be times when we’ll have to hold each other up with encouragement as this is something teammates do for each other. I suspect, no I know there’ll be moments just like Jesse’s moment when the smallest and the weakest of us will find a way with the help of our team’s leader (God) to get the ball through the basket, and a wild celebration of our hearts will erupt. Here’s to all the Jesses out there that know what its like to truly be a part of a very special team.
In God I trust and depend. My prayer for you today is that you will stay safe in His loving arms until our next practice. Doug
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