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Jan 12, 2019    |      Comments Off on Priority Check

Priority Check

I just got finished coaching a women’s High School Basketball game. Our girls literally got beat by 1 point from the opponents last second shot that went in with 2 seconds left in the game. Its one of the hardest losses I’ve ever experienced in my 35 out of 48 years of being heavily involved in competitive basketball.

In all those years, I have never blamed a loss on refs…until tonight. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like I was stuck in the Twilight Zone. I’ve never thought that somebody would pay the refs for a win, until tonight. I know the team that won didn’t pay the refs. That’s laughable…but I kid you not it seemed like it. For 3 of the 4 quarters our girls played 5 against 7 on that hardwood court. These two refs had to literally run out of the game at the buzzer, and were escorted out of the gym for protection. It was terrible. All around. The whole thing seemed like such an injustice. Anger was everywhere. Disappointment. Hurt. Screaming. Out of control.

It’s now a couple hours since the game ended. I got home and just couldn’t shake it. Frustrated to no end. Angry. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I did what I could only do. I went outside on this Saturday night, and went over my sermon notes for tomorrow’s message at Christ’s Church of Fountain Hills. As I began to pour over my notes, and think about what I was going to say, a greater emotion came over me and overruled my basketball emotion. I was instantly shaken back into “reality of priority.”

Oh, don’t get me wrong…women’s High School basketball matters. I believe it is great training for real world stuff and life. Teamwork, injustices, practice, hard work, playing against time, having critics and circumstances always fighting our trajectory of up and to the right in life, wins and losses. So tonight’s terrible results and circumstances in the game of basketball do matter…they do have a priority in life. I just talked to our lady athletes yesterday about how basketball and life are a lot alike. Here are my notes from that short talk.

As I started going through my sermon notes and watching the video testimonies we are going to watch at Church, I was settled down by a higher priority. My sermon for tomorrow…It was written by me, FOR ME. I’m still upset at the ridiculousness I experienced in tonight’s basketball game…but I can’t wait for tomorrow. There is no greater priority than the work we do in the lives of people. My sermon tomorrow is going to be freaking awesome for myself and so many others. I believe with everything in me, that people are going to have a lightbulb come on in their lives due to this message. They are going to be better because of the higher priority I am choosing to let motivate my attention and focus.

If you are like me, then you too have had things happen recently that have caused you to get your priorities out of order. If this is true for you, like it is for me, then I ask you to get into God’s Word, watch an inspirational video about life change, focus on Heaven and Hell. Think about the end of your life and then work backwards right to where you are as you read this. Everything in life matters…even basketball. But not everything is of the same value and priority. There will always be something/someone that causes our priorities to become imbalanced. Life is hard. Disappointment waits at every turn in your life. When this happens, I pray that you will practice extreme self discipline by pausing and hitting shuffle on your priority set. Take a deep breath. Don’t allow yourself to be the number one priority in your life. Feel your emotions. Acknowledge the emotions you are feeling. But be careful about obeying those emotions. They will not always tell you the truth…or at least the highest priority truth.

I can’t wait for tomorrow. I can’t wait to preach a message that I am fully confident is going to be a mile marker moment in many people’s lives. I pray that you have something in your life that helps you prioritize with truth and facts…not just emotions. If you don’t have anything in your life that will help you prioritize your life…I hope you will reach out to me and let me walk with you until you get your priorities in the right order. Its very difficult to keep your priorities in order on your own. Contact me. Let’s team together to restructure your priority list. My email address is trent.renner@christschurch.online.

Good God Almighty…I love the game of basketball. I hate what happened tonight. I’m so grateful I had something tonight to help me get prioritized in my thoughts, and help me get out of my feelings. What do you have in your life that can help you do the same? Getting our priorities ordered is arguably the most important thing in your life. Think about it. If I can help you, please ask. Seriously I’d be grateful. I’m finally, after 48 years of wins and losses, getting good at it.

Mar 8, 2016    |       2 comments

March Madness! 7 Ways Basketball is like Life…

elite basketball

I love March Madness!  I love the game of basketball, but you’ll rarely see me taking the time to watch any games unless it’s my kid’s games or it’s officially March Madness!  March Madness is when the phrase “Game On!” truly incarnates into the 10 young men that step on the NCAA basketball floors all over the USA.  It is the time of year when the Elite players gather in 5’s and live out other vital phrases such as, “Give it your all!” — “No Regrets!” — “No Retreat!” — “Bring it!” — “No do-overs!” — “Go Big or Go Home!” — “Do or Die!”.

With that…it seems Basketball and life have a lot of parallels.  Here are 7.  I’m sure there are more.  If you have another one, write it in the comments section!

Here you go…7 things about March Madness Basketball that relate to real life…

1.  I play better relaxed. 

In life, when I’m frustrated, I live horribly. When relaxed I focus on wise and pro-active choices. When frustrated I tend to argue and fight and that just rarely ends in productivity.

2.  The measure between in-bounds and out-of-bounds is the difference between ASSERTIVE and AGGRESSIVE.

Assertive actions are focused on what is necessary towards what you want. Aggression clouds my focus and causes fouls from a heavy hand. Assertive behavior leads to goals achieved. Aggressive behavior causes pain and harm.

3.  Practice does = Permanent.

Work hard and smart because we all know it will be worth it.  Find what works and repeat until it doesn’t work anymore.  Practice…a lot.

4.  Good Self Esteem = Good Performance.  Performance does NOT = Self Esteem. 

5.  It’s a TEAM game. 

You can’t win basketball or life on your own.  Many Christians mistake the passage of Philippians 4:13 as a passage that means you can do everything on your own.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me.”  Most people stop with that verse…but verse 14 says, “yet it was good of you to help me.”  

There’s a lot of arguing going on about this in our culture from prominent people such as Barack Obama, Michael Jordan and others.  Somebody told Michael Jordan that there is no “I” in team…His reply was, “But there is in “Win.”  🙂  Makes me smile, but it’s just not true.  Some have discovered that there is actually an “i” found in the word “team.”  See pic below to figure it out yourself.

The-I-in-Team1

My spiritual gift of immaturity causes me to laugh and shake my head at that pictorial proof that there is on occasion “i” in team.

6.  You have to score to win.

Basketball is like life because it is vital to set goals and be assertive in pursuing them.  It is important to understand that great goal achievement in basketball is at between the 50% – 60% success rate.  And…basketball is like life in the fact…The tougher the shot/goal the more satisfaction there is in attempting it and scoring it! Man…some goals can just make the crowd go crazy!!

7.  You cannot hold on to your mistakes for long…

So…you gave the ball away.  You missed a crucial shot.  You tripped and looked silly in the moment.  LET IT GO!  The game of basketball and life is fast.  It moves on with or without you.  Dropping our heads to pout will only be another error.  The best players in the world miss 50% of their 2 pointers and nearly 70% of their 3 pointers.

Philippians 3:13 says, “But one thing I do…forget (let it go) the past and strain (assertive) to what lies ahead.”  

 

Basketball and Life do have a lot of similarities.  There are others…I’ll leave it up to you to add them to the comments section if you’d like.  We could brainstorm many other parallels with basketball and life… Boundaries. Refs. Coaches. Racing the Clock. Strategic plays. Momentum. There’s always a crowd watching. Retaliators get called for the foul. Locker Room talk. Having the right shoes. Dunking! Having the right players on the team.  Making the Cut. Rest and Recovery. Shirts and Skins…etc. etc.

Let’s get our game on!

 

Nov 5, 2011    |      Comments Off on Laid Back Day in Africa…Saturday

Laid Back Day in Africa…Saturday

What a good day. Very simple. AFter yesterday I needed a mental and emotional break. Today we went back to True Vine Ministry and visitied some of the same kids as we did on Wednesday. I guess we did more than just visit. We played basketball with the kids, the ladies in the group let the girls braid their hair, other guys in the group played soccer and volleyball. Today was just a relational day.

I had a chance to run downtown Torroro and purchased some soccer balls and basketballs to give to the ministry and school we visited. I took a motorcylce ride back. I went with a group of about 8 and we most definately stand out. We where the only white people in town. The Africans call us MUZUNGO…which means White and rich. Its not meant as a slam, just slang. Kinda like Gringo in the Mexican world. So as all 8 of us rode back on separate motorcyles and our drivers all lined up in a single file line people shouted Muzungo Train!

I have never met such a freindly and kind group of people. They actually see it as improper to not greet one another with a “Hello, How are you?” Everybody smiles. Its so refreshing. I think we Americans could work on this a bit. We have a tendency to be so independant and nervous around each other we’ve lost the art of friendliness. I want to challenge you for the rest of the day to say hello and smile to every person you make eye contact with.

One other quick story that is just fun and differnet and it proves that God is the creator of all things and He made everything very similar. So here’s the story. Just outside the front of our hotel is one giant tree that has a whole bunch of yellow birds. You know the kind you see only in cages in America. They are called Yellow Weavers. Beautiful bird. They are all making these round nests. Its seems like you could count 50 or so nests being woven together in this tree. The nests are round and about the size of a large Grapefruit. These Yellow Weavers hang upside down from the bottom of the nest and weave them together. In fact I found out that males are the ones who do all the work weaving these nests. You can watch these passionate men working away trying to make thier womans home just right and see all the energy and effort it takes. They leave a hole in the bottom of the nest and the birds enter the nest by flying up into it and then there is a flat inside the nest that they grab and rest and lay eggs in. Well after all the hard work of making the nest you can watch the male stop his work and sit on a branch close to the nest and he is chirping away with great pride at all his hard work. What happens next is amazing. The female then flies up into the bottom of the nest. She seems to remain inside for about 30 seconds to maybe a minute. If she approves of the nest, she flies out and then lands next to her male mate/husband and they chirp in agreement. If she doesn’t approve of the nest she flies out and lands just at where the Male Yellow weaver attached the nest with a braided string and she snips that string with her beak and the nest falls to the ground and is destroyed. The male looks at his work as it falls…seems to take a sigh…shake his head and then starts all over. Typical Wife….moving the furniture. God really did make all of creation very similar. You can tell there is only one great creative artist!!! LOL

Well, we’re back at the hotel. Its raining again. You can hear the rain coming down and you can actually hear monkeys running across the roof. Not sure what dinner is tonight, but I’m glad I get to blog a little early tonight and therefore get to bed earlier. .

Africa is outstanding. I hope you will plan on going someday. Traveling with Hope4Kids International makes it very simple.

I am so blessed to be here.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll update tomorrow. I’m going to an African Church service tomorrow…I have heard they can go on for many hours.
Gather with your church family tomorrow and celebrate how much God loves you. Don’t just go and attend a show…really give thanks to God. Bring your tithes and offering with you and sing out with all your love for God and take great notes as your preacher shares the Word of God. Then Go out and Be The Church!
The Hope of the World is the power of God working through your hands and feet and heart. Gather with people you love, enjoy the community of it all and keep being the Church! It really is the only hope our world has that lasts.

Love ya…
Trent