The Madness to Win (NOT MY OWN WORK; Courtesy of Steven James)

The Madness to Win



(Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono)



March Madness made me think a little about my own history with B-ball.

And how it ended up shaping my view of competition.

When I was in high school I was addicted to the game. I practiced three-four hours every day of the summer, sometimes shooting 2000 or more shots in a day. If I missed a day I’d practice six hours-eight hours the next. Nearly every night during those four years I slept with my basketball so that I’d be holding it eight hours a day more than my competitors.  (I should mention that I was never a great player, but our team did manage to win two state championships.)

When I got to college I asked a girl I really liked out on a date. After our meal, I wanted to impress her (hey, I’m a guy!) so I told her all about high school basketball, how hard I’d worked, how much I’d improved, and finally she said, “Steve, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“What was your god in high school?”

The question floored me and was one of the biggest kicks-in-the-butt that led me to eventually become a Christian.

And that’s where the trouble began, because I liked to win and I was willing to work harder than anyone else to do it. But I also realized how easily  basketball could become my god. 

Then, when I really began to study the teachings of Jesus and the authors of the New Testament, I realized that humility mattered more to God than victory. One day it  struck me that all competition has, at its core, self-promotion. After all, the only way for me to win is for you to lose. That means I am honored and you are not.

I was forced to ask myself, “How can I love, serve and honor someone (above myself), while I’m wholeheartedly trying to defeat him?”

Chrysostom, one of the early Church Fathers, said that the cause of all evils was ambition. The New Testament reiterates this idea:

 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” (Philippians 2:3).

Think about it this way. A person from the other team misses the shot that could win the game for him, and my team and my fans cheer. That other player already feels bad, how is cheering over his  failure a way of serving him or valuing him above myself?

Yes, I still play hoops, still love the game, but that question always sticks in my mind. And sorting out where the quest for excellence ends and selfish ambition begins is still just as hard for me as ever.

Courtesy of Steven James

 http://stvjames.blogspot.com/2011/03/madness-to-win.html

Finding God's Will for you

                                                

So many people (just know when I say people, I'm talking about Christians), get so caught up in asking God what he wants for their life, and what they need to do, and what is he saying to him, that they completely miss what God wants for us.

Sometimes I wonder what God does when people are just crying and are like "God, oh please God what do I do?? Please oh please oh please! What do I do God??" And God is just like, "I've already told you. I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU!"

If we really want to know what God has for us, we need to first have a relationship with him. Let me illustrate this:

Let's say I'm coming home, and I'm picking up some McDonald's for my (let's say I'm married) wife. I don't need to call her up and say, "Dear Laura, Thank you for this day. Thank you for family and friends. And Laura? I need you're help...because I'm at McDonald's and I don't know what you want if you want a Mcdouble or a McChicken or a Value meal or an iced tea or a Milkshake or what you want Laura! I'm so lost...Please direct me in what you want to me bring home for you from McDonald's. In your name, Goodbye."

Isn't that how some of our prayers look like? If I am in a intimate relationship with my wife, I DON'T NEED TO ASK HER WHAT SHE WANTS BECAUSE I ALREADY KNOW! I KNOW MY WIFE!

We should know God that way. Now, no one can fully grasp or understand God, but we need to be intimately reading his word, and praying, and consistently doing these things.

But don't get me wrong. God does say cast your cares upon him. If you were to go to your wife with 12 roses and say to her, "Baby, I love you. I don't wanna be with anyone else right now. I don't wanna watch any Miami Heat. It's just you and me tonight." Do you think your wife is going to take the flowers and throw them back in your face and spit on you? Realistically? No she isn't. She is going to except you.

The same goes for God.

If you are delighting in him, RIGHTEOUSLY, delighting in him, do you think he will deny you? No he won't.

Satan is at work...

If I was the devil….Tell you what I’d do:

I would try to DECEIVE you, and get you into ERROR. I would get you off base.

 And if you still stay true, I would try to DISQUALIFY you. I would get you IMMORAL. I would get you where no one would believe what came out of your mouth. I would make you a tabloid! Where nobody believed you.

I would remove your CONFIDENCE, where you were AFRAID to speak, because your life was such a shambles.

 I would get you into SIN.

 I would prowl like a roaring lion, to DEVOUR you morally.

And if I couldn’t do that, I would try to make you SUCCESSFUL, and I would DISTRACT you if I couldn’t DISQUALIFY you.

I would get you BUSY.

I would get you so DISTRACTED and DIS-ATTRACTED from the gospel, that no longer would your prayers be about holiness and souls. They would only be about the bottom line in YOUR BUSINESS.

 I would get you MATERIALISTIC; and no longer concerned about the SPIRITUAL nature of life.

If I couldn’t do that, I would DIVIDE you.

If I couldn’t divide you, I’ve almost lost you…You know what I’d do then?

I would DISCOURAGE you. Then if I couldn’t discourage you, I’d try DEATH. 

I would KILL you.

I would KILL you.  

I would try my best to KILL you.

That’s what I would do to take you out…

"The Greatest Trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist."

~Baudelaire~

Predestination vs. Free-will of man

There is much debate on whether God gave man free will, or has already decided what he has decided.

If we look at the bible, as a whole and not just one portion, it reveals that we really don't have free will. It is a touchy subject, so hopefully I can do a good job of explaining it.

Adam and Eve were the only human beings with the gift of free will. After the fall, we inherited sin and can no longer do any good. Romans 3:10 says this: As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one."

This tells us that we can't do any good. We have a sinful nature and, outside of Christ, we only have the will to do evil.

Saying that we have free will and there is no predestination/predetermination is like saying God isn't in control: We control our destiny. That is blasphemy!

God has complete control and already knows what is going to happen! He MAKES THINGS HAPPEN!

Step back for a minute....

This is a lame attempt to write a poem expressing some of my thought about the way Christians sometimes act:

Step back for a minute man
Check yourself
Be 4 yo RECK
Yo self

We ain't here
Tryin to play the Game
We here Tryna LIVE
Fo da KING

All Ya'll postin' HATE mail
to all the NON
CHRISTIANS
Are acting
Like a couterfeit

Jesus Calls us to be Holy
Just like Him.
Check out the Second Book
Of Corinthians
Chapter 13
Go down to verse five
Then verse 6
Is my attempt to rhyme
killin' ya'll yet?

Let me be real for a minute
I refuse to be fake
If Jesus really died
to satisfy
His Father
'Cus His Father got a
Problem with us

We all born in sin
But Jesus said
"You must be
Born agian."

This entails that
We are a new Creature
Which brings us
Back to the question
If Jesus really died
To satisfy
The Wrath of God
Why we wanna
Rob
Kill
Steal
Lie

Why can't we
Just DIE
And then
Be Alive
In Christ

He gave us life
Just like Him
So we can
Live eternally
with Him

But lemme ask ya'll
If we step back for minute
man
And examine ourselves

Is my life
any different
Then their life?

Jesus Please
Help me
To be Real
For You
Daily
Break me
Down
Then Build Me
Up to be
Who you
Want me
To be