This will be my last post on my book or otherwise until the new year. I am having my second knee replacement in two days and plan to complete the book during my primary recovery period . Below is another encouraging excerpt.
Being Strategic
To grow in spiritual maturity, I think we need to be strategic. In my lates 30’s to 50 I coached a lot of sports. Note at the time of writing I am in my mid 60’s looking back at that time and forward to how I invest the rest of my time.
One sport I coached was basketball, which I did for a decade. During that time period the concept of ‘practice makes perfect’ shifted to ‘practice makes permanent,’ which is more accurate. How you practice is how you will play because in your practice you are inculcating habits. Another key piece is that I used to tell the players, ‘You can get really get at good at doing the wrong things.’ That is, you need to be wise and intentional in your practice. A further important element I used to tell them is strategic, “You can do the right thing at the wrong time.” For example, in basketball you are strategically in error if you are passing when you should be shooting, dribbling when you should be passing, or similar things. In a similar in our lives as believers we can be praying when we should be helping or helping when we should be praying, or talking when we should be listening. We could also be doing any of the above when He has invited us to come and simply sit in His presence.
In writing this I reflect on an NBA game I watched. Team A was up by four points with seconds left in the game, Team B was going to be inbounding the ball. I said to my wife, “If it was me, I would just let them shoot because they can’t win with three.” If team B scored team A would then have possession of the ball and could run out the 2-3 seconds left on the clock and win the game. What happened? Team A committed a foul on the shooter from Team B. A terrible strategic error. The shooter made the three-point shot and then the subsequent foul shot to tie the game. His team, Team B, then easily won the game in overtime because momentum had shifted. All because of either a bad coaching decision or a strategic error on the part of a player.
Now to a different basketball connection. Sometime in 2024 I listened to a basketball related podcast. The host was interviewing the sports psychologist who helped make Kobe Byrant a better basketball player in the middle of his career. The impetus behind his ‘Black Mamba’ phase. The psychologist said that at one point he asked Kobe why he wasn’t working as hard on his family as on his basketball. He said after his challenge that Kobe didn’t speak to him for months, but he must have reflected on it and taken it to heart because he started putting more energy into his family.
I share the examples to highlight the importance of both strategy and strategic priorities. Which leads to a question. As a Christian, we generally know what our priorities should be, however what they actually are can be determined by who gets the best of our time. Is it Jesus, your career/job, your family, or your hobbies?
Scripture encourages us to be like the sons of Issachar and understand what to do when, that is, to be strategic on how we invest our time.
32 of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command; 1 Chronicles 12:32 (NKJV)