Clay in the Hands

I don’t know if it’s because I am the pastor or that they are just being nice, but one of our church league basketball teams has allowed me to be part of the squad.  We have had three games so far and they have humored me and allowed me on to the court to see some playing time.

To say I’m a baller from way back would be overstating the situation just a bit.  I played in high school and then was on an intramural team in college each year.  But since getting on the court at Baylor during my doctoral studies and tearing my ACL two years in a row, I have not really played.

But wanting to get to know some guys in a different setting and desperately needing exercise, I signed up to play.  So far, I have managed to stay injury free and other than feeling a bit guilty for taking up a slot that a real player could have had, I am having a blast.

But the experience has taught me a couple of things.

The first is – I am out of shape!  I have not seen a video of myself, but I imagine it looks and sounds something similar to a water buffalo lumbering down the court.

I had a conversation with a person yesterday who talked about body memory – the idea that once we have done things on a regular basis, our bodies remember how to do it without much intensional thought – thus the old saying, “It’s like riding a bike.”  While I agree that my body remembers what to do, the conditioning is not there to actually do it.  Being able to perform well takes conditioning and practice.  At one time, I held the percentage record for free throws in my high school.  Last night I was 0 for 2.  It takes work and while we may know what to do and even remember what it was like to have the ability, if we are not conditioned, then the performance will show it.

The second lesson I learned is that people are not always who they lead us to believe.  When one teammate from the other team has to turn to another teammate to ask what church team he is on, it is a good clue he may not be a part of the church he is representing in the church league.  Don’t get me wrong, the guys were good guys (and extremely good from outside the 3 point line) but their language was not a great presentation of the church they represented.

This experience has shown me of two things:

1.  We represent Jesus and our actions matter.
2. Our conditioning is crucial.

As I have thought about these epiphanies, I am reminded that we are called as believers to represent the one true king.  People are watching.  They know when our actions (and words) don’t line up with what we say we believe.  We must always remember that our actions matter.  And we also need to remember that if we are going to represent Jesus effectively, we must be conditioned.  We must practice.  We must prepare daily to be the example of love and compassion, of hope and peace.  This ability does not happen by accident.  This ability takes work – it takes time – time in God’s word, time in prayer and time spent listening.

God wants to make an impact in this world through you and through me but we have to be ready each day to go out and live what we profess to believe!

Now . . . where is that knee brace?

Be a blessing!