More than Conquerors

After the no more sidelines practice,  and hearing a song, “More than Conquerors,”  I felt good that our basketball team was more than Warriors.  I felt there was a connection between Romans 8:37 (the more than Conquerors verse) and our team because of what we stand for and how we make an effort to make a difference off the court.   However, in reading the context of the verse, it is not what we have done that makes us more than conquerors, but it is “through him who loved us.”

We can be confident in our savior who, in our weakness, has made us more than conquerors, and that nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

No More Sidelines

As a basketball team, we have been blessed to be victorious in many games.   On Tuesday, we had a different type of blessing.  Tuesday, the “No More Sidelines” team, a group of young people with special needs, joined us at practice.  We were blessed to be able to help the group, but as we talked about after, the group also helped us.

We recognized and appreciated how we have been blessed --- Often when we pray before a practice or game, we thank God for the abilities that he has given to us, but we can still take those things for granted.  Working with people who struggle with what we take for granted, helps us to appreciate those things.

We saw and shared in a love and joy of basketball. --- It was great to just see so many smiles.  There was a great joy for every made shot, but also for every high-five even after missed shots.   I hope that half-way through a season, we could gain a renewed energy and appreciation for being able to be together as a team and play.

We experienced a greater joy that can come from serving. ---  At the end, that was one of our best practices, and our goal in the beginning was to make the practice all about the “No More Sidelines” group. 

"For God's Glory" & Siblings Practice

“We talk a lot about glorifying God with the way we play, but what does that mean?”  This question came up during a captains meeting.  It was the question we focused on last week.  It is a question we should continue to focus on every day.

I am blessed to coach a basketball team of players that understands that praising and glorifying God is our purpose in life.  We know that that purpose to bring glory to God encompasses every thing we do including basketball.  So it was at basketball practice, where we request in prayer that we could glorify God, that we talked as a team about what that actually means. 

The guys were given a few days to think, research, or ask a faith mentor what they thought it means to glorify God, or what it means to praise God.   Our team’s discussion allowed each player a chance to say what they thought. 

We had a lot recognizing that they can praise and glorify God by following his commands…Just like honoring our father and mother would mean to obey, we bring glory and honor to God by obeying him.

We had a few others answering that to glorify God is to not accept glory for ourselves, but to recognize God’s hand in all that we are blessed to achieve.

One answer that stuck with me, and led to further discussion was that God is already glorious.  Everything in His creation reveals his glory.  To glorify God we just need to be like nature.

Putting these thoughts together helps us all have a better understanding of what it means to glorify God.   We talked more about who God created us to be, how through obedience we could truly be who God created us to be, and how it is important to react with appropriate praise when our obedience leads to blessings.

After thinking about the definition, we talked of course about how we can glorify God through basketball.  I challenged the boys to recognize that God created them to be more than basketball players, but they were also created to be (and therefore able to glorify God in their roles of), sons, brothers, teammates, classmates, and students. Coach Dugener talked about how he was created to be a father, and guys continued to talk about being leaders, followers, servants, helpers, and encouragers.

SIBLINGS PRACTICE---

I hope that basketball gives guys another avenue for glorifying God (as basketball players, teammates, etc.), and I hope that it can also prepare these young men to glorify God in who they will be called to be later in life (husbands, fathers, bosses, workers, church-leaders, etc.).   I hope that basketball enhances who these guys are as they are called to now be (brothers, classmates, students, etc.)  I fear that sometimes our role on a basketball team can take us away from some of these other roles, so in wanting to enjoy how God called us to be brothers, helpers, and leaders, last Tuesday night we had a siblings practice.  We invited younger siblings and friends from 1^st-8^th grades and the 30 of us enjoyed a night together.