Posts tagged “Courage”

Rerun: Number 41

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
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I spend a lot of time on bleachers. My kids’ basketball season started in October, right after football season. It’ll run until sometime in July, overlapping baseball and ending  . . . just in time for football. Having my own heroes play on the sixth and eighth grade teams grants me a new privilege this year I didn’t realize I’d appreciate. 
I get to have new hero on the seventh grade team. 
Number 41.
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Rarely does one see a seventh grade ball player work so hard and show so much heart as my hero Number 41. After a game, while his weary teammates gather their gear to go home, he is still on the court working his shot. Getting ready for the next big game. 
Coach Lindquist calls him into the game for those special moments. Moments that call for the courage that it seems only Number 41 can muster. He takes to the court, and the crowd collectively holds its breath, always waiting, always hoping. 
The fans brace, tense as Number 41 attacks each step, disciplining his wayward legs. He seems able to neither bend nor straighten, only to bounce awkwardly from one foot to the other. The psychedelic colors of his leg braces blur as he battles to thrust himself down court. 
Sometimes, he gets into position before his teammates.
But other times, he falls.
A lot of times, in fact.
But every time he crashes to the ground, Number 41 wrangles himself back up to his feet.
Smiling.
Always smiling.
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Number 41 loves the game. And the game loves him. 
He defies the gravitational pull of a crippling disability and plays man-to-man defense. He fights his troublesome feet to stay in position during a free throw. He forces himself to stay upright and dodge his defender. 
Wide open, he calls for the ball. He’s open! Pass him the ball!
As happens so many nights, Number 41 gets the open shot. The crowd stops breathing. The shot goes up . . . and it’s short. Again. A groan escapes from stands.
But tonight was different. Number 41 got the shot. And he put it up, just the way he’s been training to do. 
The crowd exploded. On both ends of the bleachers. 
He made the shot!
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Number 41 knows his limits. He knows what he can’t do. His legs tell him all day long that he can’t run. He can’t dribble. He can’t play ball.
But he does it anyway.
He could sit in a chair and eat doughnuts and watch t.v. until what function he does have just atrophied away. Who would blame him? Walking to the refrigerator is grueling enough. Who’d expect him to run lines at basketball practice night after night, flashing a devastating grin all the way?
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Number 41 isn’t my hero for nothing. He’s my hero because he has heart. He has courage. He looks his affliction in the eye . . . and he flashes his bright white teeth. 
We could learn a lot from a guy like this.
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This post originally ran in February. I mistakenly thought this one had already been read a fair amount. Turned out my kids accidentally bookmarked this post on their computer instead of the main page so they were gaming my statistics. Since it’s probably only been read 11 times instead of the 237 times my stats show me, I think I can excuse running it again.

The boys are grounded, by the way.

Number 41 is my favorite 7th grade basketball player.  

 

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

basketballI spend a lot of time on bleachers. My kids’ basketball season started in October, right after football season. It’ll run until sometime in July, overlapping baseball and golf and ending  . . . just in time for football. My heroes play on the sixth and eighth grade teams, while their dad coaches the seventh graders. Having an extra team in between grants me an unexpected privilege this year. 

I have new hero on the seventh grade team. 

Number 41.

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2009/05/22 | Categories: My Kids | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Threshing Wheat in a Winepress

Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:11-12)

There are mighty men of valor. And then there are mighty men of valor.

Guys that make warriors melt, wild animals flee, women swoon.

From what I can tell, nobody in their right mind would ever call Gideon a mighty man of valor.

If  I’m an angel of the Lord, descending from the heights to commission my mighty man, one of valor, I am not picking Gideon. I don’t care what my marching orders are.

Might. Valor.

Clerical error. Gideon is not the guy.

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2009/04/28 | Categories: Gideon | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments »

Number 41

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

basketballI spend a lot of time on bleachers. My kids’ basketball season started in October, right after football season. It’ll run until sometime in July, overlapping baseball and golf and ending  . . . just in time for football. My heroes play on the sixth and eighth grade teams, while their dad coaches the seventh graders. Having an extra team in between grants me an unexpected privilege this year. 

I have new hero on the seventh grade team. 

Number 41.

:: (more…)

2009/02/10 | Categories: My Kids | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

A Different Story

“But My servant Caleb – this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows Me passionately. I’ll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it.” (Numbers 14:24, The Message)

 
Here’s the back story.

Caleb has just returned with the contingent of spies sent to check out the land God promised to Israel. They’ve seen the land in all its wonder — it’s everything God said it would be. Flowing with milk and honey, spectacular fruit . . .

It’s all there.

Beyond imagination.

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But there’s this thing about grasshoppers.

They saw themselves and the whole people of Israel as grasshoppers up against the enormous and fierce people already occupying the land. They felt like grasshoppers, and believed they were seen by them as grasshoppers. 

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Amidst all the hand wringing, Caleb stands and tells them to be quiet.

Enough with the grasshoppers.

In Numbers 13:30 he says, “Let’s go up and take the land — now. We can do it.” But the whole community just continues to wail. They go to pieces. They actually pull an all-nighter. They go back to their old “we should have stayed in Egypt” schtick. They’re ready to oust Moses and Aaron, and are about to stone them on the spot. 
 
God steps in.

He too says Enough with the grasshoppers. 

He’s fed up and plans a plague to finish them all off. Moses jumps into the fray and pleads for his peoples’ forgiveness. God, in His mercy, relents. But He does declare that none of these people who think like grasshoppers will see the land. 

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And then He says it. The really big deal.
 
But My servant Caleb — this is a different story.
 
Caleb’s story is utterly and completely different. Not just because he stood up to the crowd, but why he did. “He has a different spirit; he follows Me passionately.”
 
God promised.
 
Caleb believed God. Passionately.

Caleb followed God. Passionately.

Caleb called others to follow God.

Passionately.

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His passion made him a completely different story. He chased after God, and God recognized the huge difference that makes. 
 
Passionately following God changes the story.

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2008/06/20 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »