Author: Scott

Today I’m going to talk again about basketball. Specifically, about the NBA playoffs. In both of the conference finals, we find the number 8 seeds. The Miami Heat are playing in the Eastern conference finals. The Los Angeles Lakers are playing in the Western Conference finals. What’s interesting about both of these teams, is that they had to play in the play-in tournament to get into the playoffs. They had to play extra games to get where they are today. And I believe this might be the first time ever that teams that had to go through that, made it to their respective conference finals. Pretty incredible.

In order to be in that situation to begin with, these teams did not have the best regular seasons. The Lakers had to come back from being several spots down to even make it into that play-in tournament. Miami kind of floundered around a little bit before they got into that situation. I think they may have actually been a 7 seed right there before the end of the season. Now, what does this have to do with our faith? Actually I think a lot. Getting to the point that they are in right now, means they didn’t quit. It shows that it doesn’t matter where you start, or where you’re find yourself midstream, it’s how you finish that matters. Our lives are just like that. I for one can tell you that I did not start at all where I needed to be. Far from it. And I’ve had many slips as I have moved on in my life. As I aged, there were many times that I was going off course. But now I like to think that I am finishing strong. I’d like to think that I have let God take control. I still have my struggles. But I have a Lord and Savior that’s helping me push forward.

In the Bible, we read how God will continue working on us until the end. He will continue chipping away if we let him. It’s not too late. No matter where you are in life, it’s not too late. Even if you have strayed off the path he paved for us, it is not too late. But it’s up to you to let him in. It’s up to you to let him work in your life. And to let him continue working in your life until Jesus Christ returns. Up to you. So today, I challenge you to look at yourself and do an inventory of where you are. I ask you to be honest with yourself. Truly honest. What is it that’s keeping you from letting Jesus Christ take control? What’s keeping you from letting him work on your heart? What’s stopping you? I promise you this much, if you let him in, truly let him in, your life will change in ways you can never imagine. And then you can finish strong. You can be in the conference finals of your life.

There have been times where I found myself in difficult seasons or moments where I wanted to just sit back and do nothing. I felt like I was exhausted. Exhausted from my day-to-day struggles. Exhausted from one step forward and two steps backwards. Nothing I did seem to be moving me in the right direction. Found myself waking up only wanting to go back to bed. Didn’t have the energy to do anything. Basically, I felt weary. These are all statements that I’m sure some of us have said at some point in our lives. Maybe you are saying them now.

If you catch yourself feeling this way, try to be alert. There’s a good chance that Satan is after you. Trying to keep you down. Doing what he can make you feel worthless. To make your situation to feel hopeless. Let’s remember the snake that he is. He is sneaky like that. That is his specialty. To make you feel unworthy. To make you feel like nothing you do matters. Don’t forget, he does this in the darkness because in the light he is exposed. More importantly, remember that God can get you through. He is the solution.

There is a catch though. There is a caveat we must remember. For God to work in our lives and to get us through, we must act. We must do something first. And that first “act of action” is for us to seek God first. Even when times seem bleak, we must seek him. Turn to him. Not only will you show us the way, he will give us the energy to do so. The strength to face the struggles ahead. The wisdom to discern the best course of action. He will take us step, by step, by step. That will require us to endure the journey. Trusting that he knows what is best. And that is how he will restore us. That is how he will restore you. Step-by-step. Day-by-day. Blessing each action you take in your faith.

Losing a job can be humbling. It can rock you to your core. Losing two jobs can be life altering. It can change the course of your life. It did me. In 2005, I lost a job that I had held for over a decade. It made me feel expendable. And that’s a bad feeling. But, I didn’t dwell on it. I learned from it. I built on it. Our faith based basketball program came out of the whole situation. In 2020, due to budget cuts from the virus, my position with the state was cut. But by this point in my life, I knew there was a reason. God was closing one door as he was opening another. Actually, the floodgates opened. Charlie 22 Outdoors exploded after the state let me go.

We all experience loss at some time in our lives. Loss comes at us in many different forms. There’s death. There’s being let go from our jobs. There is the end of relationships. When we play sports, we will lose at some point. And there are so many other ways that we experience loss. It’s going to happen. Nothing that we can do to prevent it. Being human means we’re going to have to face it. Sometimes what we lose has very little meaning in the big scheme of things. At other times, loss can have long lasting affects on us. Sometimes they can’t be replaced.

Although, what we go through can be very painful, God can use those moments in big ways. In the Bible we read of Ruth. Losing her husband was not her end. She remained faithful. Followed her convictions. She didn’t stay focused on what happened. She didn’t stay focused on her circumstances. Instead, she moved forward as she was feeling sorrow. As she was feeling loss. And because so, God blessed her. And those around her saw it. They learned from it. We can all learn from it. We should all learn that God can restore us if we remain faithful. God can take what seems like the end and make it a beginning. God can take what seems like has been turned upside down and make it righteous. God can restore anything if we let him work. And if you let him work, others will see it. And they will grow as well. And that my friends…is glorious.

Last week or youngest daughter found out that she has been accepted into the Social Work program at Missouri Southern State University. This is such a blessing for her. She’s been struggling trying to figure out which way she wanted to go. She had been accepted into nursing school last year. But she soon realized that was not the path for her. After researching different options in this field, she felt like God was telling her this is where she needs to be. So awesome. Part of the application process included writing an essay. And in that essay she needed to do discuss why it is she wants to be a Social Worker. 

She talked about being lost in her journey, trying to figure out her career path. I don’t blame her. When I was 19, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Then she began talking about praying to God for wisdom. And how he started to show her different things to consider. And then he put it on her heart that Social Work was the way to go. With our family history of medical issues, hospital Social Workers have played an important role in our lives. Anna would be fantastic at that. Then she began to mention praying over and even helping others who have hurt her. People who have done her wrong. Wow! We can all learn from that. Talk about taking a heart that has been broken by those that you trust, and then turning around and helping them anyways. Amazing stuff. Very clearly…this demonstrates how our hearts should be focused on what God has for us.

There’s a lot of brokenness in this world today. A lot of hate. A lot of evil. Every time you turn around, you see someone harming somebody else. Or trying to. Just turn on the evening news at the national level and I bet several stories of the week will be discussing these very things. You see it at the national level of our politicians as well. There’s so many good people there. I like to think that they are doing their jobs the best they can. But, there are also so many people there back biting each other. Just fighting back-and-forth to be fighting back-and-forth. Crazy stuff. The solution to all of these things that we are seeing isn’t treating the results. The solution is to break our hearts. And to let God take control. We let God take over our lives, good things will happen. We let God take over our homes, good things will happen. We let God take over our nation, good things will happen. We let God take over our world, good things will happen. We won’t have to be reacting. God will help us prevent all the ugliness before it takes place.

I don’t think it’s a secret that I am a sports fan. I love all sports. Basketball being my favorite. I just admire what athletes are able to accomplish. Truly incredible. I tell you that to tell you this. There’s a good chance if you were to come visit me any morning of the week, you would find SportsCenter on my TV. Catching up on what happened the day before. This morning it was no different. As I was getting ready, a story came on that caught my attention. It was about Derick Hall. For those of you that don’t know, he is a linebacker who played at Gulfport High School. And went on to Auburn to become 1st Team all SEC. Was drafted recently by the Seattle Seahawks. But what caught my attention is the story about him being born.

His mother went into labor 4 months early. The doctors told her he would be born without a heartbeat. They said he had a 1% chance to live. And if he did live, he most likely would never walk, talk, breathe, anything. They prepared her to let him go. But she refused. Her comment was that she needed to give him a chance. And that God had selected her to be his mother. After five months in the hospital, he went home and began his childhood. It wasn’t without difficulties. But as he grew, he developed into an incredible athlete. And none of this would’ve happened if she had decided to let him go. If she had no hope. A 1% chance grew into an NFL athlete. Simply amazing.

Our spiritual lives can be like this. Some of us feel like we don’t have a chance . We have no hope. We feel like the 1%. Nothing we can do to change that. Nothing we can do can give us hope. And we are right. Because nothing that we can do will change it. Nothing we can do will give us hope. All of that comes from Jesus. Plain and simple. Jesus is our hope. Jesus can change anything. Jesus can take us from 1% to a life full of grace. A life full of hope and love. No matter how dark. No matter how bleak. No matter how life seems hopeless. We always have a chance with Jesus. He can pull us up from the depths that we have put ourselves in. He can bring us out of places that we have found ourselves in because of our choices. He can do all of these things for anyone. And that includes you. If you don’t know Jesus, make today the day to get to know him. Make today of the day that you give yourself a chance by letting Jesus take control. And watch what happens. It will be awesome.

I first picked up a basketball when I was in the 5th grade. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of those plastic rubbery things. Not the greatest. It even warped into egg shape one day when I left it in the sun. Believe me…lesson learned. But regardless of its condition, it was still my ball. It felt good in my hands. There was an instant connection. And I knew I wanted to learn how to play the game. The seed had been planted.

As I grew into my teenage years, I developed a love for the game. I felt drawn to it. I was never satisfied with my ability. Constantly practicing and playing to get better. What’s brilliant about the game is that you can play it alone. It can be the goal, the ball, and you. Beautiful. Basketball was something I could turn to when I needed a release. Or a time to work on me. At any moment I could work and grow. What’s also brilliant about the game is the ability to play on a team. And the lessons we can learn from teamwork. Life lessons. Especially in practice. I loved practice more than the games. The learning that I got during the workouts. Alone or as a team. And the same can be said about my walk with Christ. Yours too.

When we first accept Jesus, the seed is planted. The love relationship begins. We have joined his team. But we have much learning to do. Therefore we must pursue him as he has pursued us. We must become intimate with him. This is how we grow. We learn to practice our faith. Building different skills in it. Strengthening them. Prayer. Love. Patience. Discernment. So many more. All skills we can improve on. We can work on our faith by ourselves and also as part of a team. As we continue to grow we will move towards maximizing our potential. And here is what is awesome about this whole thing. What is awesome about working on our faith. God will show us our greatness. He will bring it out. He will use it for his good. But remember, for this to happen, we need to work on drawing close to him. Seek him. Pursue him. Make him our focus. And he in return will bring it out of us.

One thing that is hard for us to do is to surrender ourselves to something. To turn our desires and goals over to somebody else. We live in a world where “Get Yours” is the motto. Meaning go out it take it. Put yourself above others. You are number one. And so on, and so on, and so on. By being a believer, we are supposed to surrender to his will. We are supposed to put others before ourselves. These are ways that we are showing that we are truly following God. Surrendering.

Now here’s the deal. Surrendering does not mean there is no action. Actually, surrendering is an act. It’s an act of us moving forward following God. It is an act of us seeking his will for us. Following the path that he has paved for us. One day at a time. One step at a time. We must move forward. Even if we don’t know where God is leading us. We must move forward. Even if we don’t know, we must surrender.

If we do this, God will show us where he wants us to be. He will place us there. It might not happen today or tomorrow. It might take longer than we hoped. But, he will show us. Actually, you might be exactly where he wants you to be right now. The other day I had to do some blood work. The nurse and I were talking about this very thing. She said she wasn’t sure what God’s plans were for her. I told her she might be doing them right now. So maybe you are as well. Either way, whatever it is that you’re doing, the Bible tells us to put our heart and soul into every activity. It tells us to do every activity like we are doing it for the Lord himself. If we do that, God will bless it. He will bless us. So today, keep moving forward. Keep serving God. Keep serving him in all that you do. And he will put you where he wants you to be.

When reading the Bible, we cannot avoid learning about Moses. And the things that he was able to accomplish. Pretty incredible things. In Exodus, we read the story of him leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Taking them away from Egyptian slavery. Some 600,000 Israelites. You read that correctly. 600,000. Holy cow. It was on that journey that they came to the Red Sea. I believe you know the rest of the story. How incredible it must have been to watch the waters part. Then there is Mount Sinai. This is where Moses received the 10 Commandments. Also pretty amazing.

But did you know this about Moses? Did you know that he felt inadequate? When God called on him, Moses was hesitant. He didn’t believe he was the man for the job. Didn’t believe he was qualified. God promised Moses he would be with him the entire time. Yet, he did not believe he was good enough. It was to the point that he asked God to send someone else. Even with God assuring him, Moses felt these emotions. You would think that talking to God would have given him the confidence. You would think that he would have felt assured. But he didn’t. Think about that for a moment. Moses, one of the most important leaders in Israelite history, felt unqualified. Ever feel the same way?

Are you in a spot in your life where you feel incapable? Do you not believe in your ability? Maybe you don’t feel like you have the right talents. Or the right gifts. Some of you might even be comparing yourself to other people. Comparing yourself to what they have accomplished. Don’t do that. Nothing wrong with being motivated by what others have done. But if you begin comparing yourself to the point that it affects what you are doing, you are missing the point. Your capabilities are unique to you. Your gifts are unique to you. And God will use those to fulfill his plan. Trust him. When he convicts you to do something, do it. Do it while you trust him. Do it while you know that he loves you. Do it while you know that he is always loves you.

We serve such an amazing God. We really do. He is so amazing that he can use our pain and turn it to good. I know it’s hard to see that sometimes. Especially when it seems like pain keeps coming and coming. Suffering keeps coming and coming. Difficulties keep coming and coming. In our personal lives. Or in the lives of others that we know. Hard times seem to just continue to attack us. There are many stories in the Bible talking about this very topic. Just look at Job. And over and over, we see God using these times to show his glory. I bet some of you can really relate to this. My family can.

Our family has experienced multiple deaths in the past couple years. And it seems like a continuous cycle of health issues amongst our loved ones. Even watching dear friends go through similar things. Just this morning I read of a veteran that I know in the hospital. He’s having breathing problems. No matter what any of us are going through, these are times that we have the opportunity to show others, to show the world, just how awesome and glorious our God is. We can use this for our purpose. We might even find a new purpose. Charlie 22 Outdoors is an example. 

Now…this might seem harder than we think it is. But think about your past. Think about what you are going through right now. Have you had marriage issues that you worked through? Did you have, or do you have now, a teenager that is working through mental health issues? Do you know anyone who battled cancer and won? Do you know anyone who lost? These are all examples of the point we’re trying to make here. These are examples that make us qualified to show others the glory of God. How you handle times like these makes you “uniquely” qualified. Whatever your story is. Whatever your testimony is. God can use your pain. And he will if you let him. You may not know why now. And you may not see the light at the end. But I want you to think about the power behind what it is you will be able to share with others. And then realize this: There is hope in what you are going through.