"... as for me and my house
we will serve the Lord."
~Joshua 24:15
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Part 3 of 3
WHAT GOES IN IN WHAT COMES OUT
I am continuing today on the topic that I started last week, on the lies that believers (and non-believers) grab onto and what is causing our young (in Christ and in life) to fall away from the Truth. Today’s topic revolves around media. This media is in all forms: books, TV, movies, internet, etc. A sad think about media today is not just the variety that is available (which is wider then any time before us), but the fact that the morals within the stories, shows and movies have continually degraded.
What is even sadder is that many believers have also degraded their morals by what they are feeding themselves (reading and watching). I know that I personally struggle with this at times too. It is so easy to ‘overlook’ the bad parts of tv shows and movies because you get invested in the characters or story lines. You tell yourself you know what is the truth and watching it won’t harm you. Even if you don’t want to admit it, it is harming you too. [...READ MORE...]
Part 2 of 3
THE LIES THEY BELIEVE
 I started this series earlier this morning about Christians (especially young people – high school, college age and just out of college) falling away from the Truth. I spoke about the burden on my heart for people in this age range, but I am beginning to see now that is not just for this age but a burden for the Truth to be shared and taught. I grew up in a strong Christian family where we went to church every Sunday, read our Bible every day (as a family and were encouraged to do it on our own too) and memorized lots of Scriptures. I was taught about the Sovereignty of God, the importance of being rooted and grounded in God’s Word and the power of prayer. We also had drilled into us the importance of having a firm foundation, building our lives on the Rock and learning to set priorities (God, family, then all else follows). I am so thankful for my upbringing (and the prayers of my parents), because I KNOW they helped shape me into who I am today and help me stand firm in the truth!
Sadly I have seen and heard of many young people who were raised in strong Christian families and have bought into the lies of Satan and are struggling to see what the Truth really is. What are the lies that they are falling for and why are they appealing to our youth and young believers? What is drawing them to sink their teeth into the lie and live according to it rather then the Truth? [...READ MORE...]
Part 1 of 3
TURNING FROM AND QUESTIONING WHAT THEY BELIEVED IN
 Recently I have been saddened to see and hear a lot of tragic stories of young people (high school, college age, just out of college) who were raised in Christian homes and have professed faith in Jesus Christ at a young age falling away from the Truth. The stories of their lives have burdened me even more to the ministry that God has been calling my husband and myself (college and young adults). They are stories of believing the lies of modern society, of grabbing onto the false teachings and twisting of the Truth and of not being rooted and grounded in the Word of God. [...READ MORE...]
 Adversity.
What do you think of when you hear that word? Adversity is a noun. It is defined as an adverse or unfortunate event or circumstance. Have you ever been faced with an unfortunate event or circumstance?
As a basketball coach and huge sports fan I can see it in just about every season or game that I watch. What I really look for though is the athlete’s and the team’s response to the adversity. Are they going to wilt or are they going to breakthrough and shine? Adversity (and the response to it) can make or break a game, a team or a person.
Last season I watched as the Buckeyes got down early and large on the road in Wisconsin. And they responded (how as a coach you would want them respond). Save a missed field goal they came all the way back and would have tied the game early in the 4th quarter. They fought back when they were down and out. Yes, they did lose the game. But their response to the adversity they faced shows the leadership on the team and on the sidelines. [...READ MORE...]
 I must apologize if I ramble but there have been things that have been on my heart lately and writing them out helps me to learn and to grow. If you have read my blogs you know that I am a wife, mother AND a basketball coach. Right now it is basketball season, so a lot of my thoughts and “down” time have a decidedly basketball theme (and so will this blog).
I have always loved basketball. From as early as I can remember all I wanted to do was play basketball. I played hoops with boys on the playground, with my uncles in the back yard and with the boys at church. I never thought much of the fact that I was the only girl and I didn’t let the fact that I was a girl stand in my way. I knew I could get better and I worked to get better (even though I never owned a regulation height basketball hoop in my backyard). [...READ MORE...]
Luke 22:24-27 – Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
 How do you define success? Is it accomplishing great feats? Is it making great gains or strides? Is it defeating all foes who stand in your way? Is it making a name for yourself? According to Webster’s Dictionary success is defined as favorable or desired outcome; also the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.
I would say that this is definitely how the world sees success. If you win a majority of your games you are ‘successful’ as a team or coach. If you make a lot of money you are ‘successful’ as an individual. If you become prominent or famous you are a ‘success’ in life. But are you really a true success? Well, it all depends on what you view success is. [...READ MORE...]
 It has been said that not all great players (even if they are leaders on the field) make great coaches. Why is that? Well most of all I feel that it has to do with the different roles that coaches and players (those who are leaders especially) play. It also has to do with skill sets that a lot of times great players don’t have to develop to excel (communication or teaching for instance).
A few weeks ago one of my favorite former NFL players was fired as head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. I had always pulled for Mike Singletary as a player (mostly because of his testimony and profession of faith in Jesus Christ) so of course I wanted him to succeed as a coach. He was always a player that seemed to be able to get those around him to elevate their play, so why couldn’t he do that as head coach? [..READ MORE..]
I recently taught on this topic not too long ago and thought it would make a good post too. I was teaching on Matthew 8: 18-27 and while I struggled to put the entire lesson together in one cohesive message, I found discipleship to be a beaming option. Here is somewhat how it went:
Beginning in verse 18, Jesus has a couple of conversations with people who he was passing on the road. The first person he talked to made the promise that he would follow Jesus wherever he went. Thats a bold statement to make, because Jesus says, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the son of Man has no place to lay his head.” His point here is that there will be much pain and suffering for many, if not all, of those who chose to follow him.
The next person he talks to has a dead or dying father. He wants to go bury him as would be a common thing to do in any day and age. However, it was common in their customs to take up to a year to mourn the loss of a family member. Jesus’ response to this is that of immediacy. While he may have possibly come across as arrogant or rude, he was simply making the point that it was important to put other things aside and make following Him a priority.
After this, Jesus and his disciples climb in a boat and set off to cross the sea. A huge storm rose up (probably not much unlike the one that was just in our area the other day) and was about to roll the boat over. However, Jesus was sleeping down under the deck. The people came running to him seeking help and safety. They were going crazy and losing site of who they had sleeping below deck, the son of God. The lesson that I drew from this story is that many times we are going through life and run into issues. While those issues range from teeny tiny to HUGE, we sometimes fail to see who we have “below deck”. They were not noticing that they had someone right there that could make everything stop. They lost track of their training and what had been engraved in their heads from their infancy and the past time that they had spent with Christ.
I have begun to work on this in my own life. Instead of taking everything myself, I am trying to immediately run below deck and seek the help of my Lord and savior. It becomes much easier that way and life, while its not always peachy, becomes much more rewarding. It is then through these storms that I grow and see who Christ is. It is so awesome to see him magnified and glorified when I see prayer answered, I keep my cool and even my kids notice the difference in how we approach certain issues.
When I was teaching I went on to finish chapter 8, but I think I will leave that for another possible post. It is interesting to see what you can learn from that section if you take a look. But what I want to stress in this post the most is that there are going to be storms in life. Jesus calls us to be immediately his disciple and respond to his call NOW. Again, its awesome to see how God blesses you through storms, to see God glorified in our difficulties and near-sightedness, and then again to allow our kids to see our response and dependence on God.
Let me know if you have any questions/comments about what I posted. I would be excited to see what you have to say!
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled… (Hebrews 12:14-15)
The hymn They Will Know We are Christians is over 30 years old (and was written by Peter Scholtes, a Catholic Priest), but it could have been written this morning and it is a much needed reminder to us as the Body of Christ. I love what it says; that the world will know us to be Christians, not by what we preach, or our politics, or the soundness of our theology, or even what we believe. Instead, they will know we are true followers of Christ by our love! I have attached the lyrics below for you to read over for yourself and I will continue with my thoughts after them. [...CONTINUE READING...]
 It saddened me to hear the news that Coach John Wooden passed away last week. I have never met him, but I have studied him and his coaching style and philosophies, and to me (as well as to many others) Coach Wooden was one of the greatest basketball coaches of all times. I not only respect him for all the great things that he accomplished on the court, but I respect his goals, family life and over all the way that he lived.
As a coach he had only one losing season, that being his very first. He also set records for most consecutive victories in a row (88); NCAA Championships (10, 7 in a row from ’67-’73); consecutive tournament games won (38); plus more. His over-all college record was 664-162, an unbelievable 80.4% winning percentage! You could list many other stats, records, and details to his 40 year coaching career and they all speak to the amazing coach that he was.
But one of the biggest reasons I have studied his coaching methods in the past few years is that I find I think alike in a lot of the things that he emphasized not only as a coach, but as a mentor to youth. He saw himself as more then just a coach, he sought to influence and mentor his players to become all that they could be both on and off the court. His view of success what not about winning at all cost, but about being the best that “you” possibly could be and giving your all towards accomplishing your best! If you do your best you are already successful, no matter the outcome.
He lived his life as an example, not demanding from others what he was not willing to live for himself. For example, I love this quote of his “No written word, no oral plea, can teach our youth what they should be; nor all the books on all the shelves, it’s what the teachers are themselves.” He longed for his faith to shine through in everything that he did and hoped that if he was one day brought to trial for his faith, that he would be convicted. It is easy to see that his faith was the basis on how he defined himself and it was the foundation and everything else was after that, including basketball. It wasn’t about the wins, the trophies, the championships or records; it was about glorifying God with everything that he had. [...READ MORE...]
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