Pete Carril was the legendary basketball coach for Princeton. Coaching an Ivy League college and trying to make the NCAA D1 Men’s Basketball Tournament is very difficult. Winning a game in that tournament is even more difficult. Pete’s teams achieved both. The offensive scheme that his team ran was brilliant. Just imagine a bunch of players running back door cuts towards the goal. Making layup, after layup, after layup. Driving opponents crazy. Especially those that were superior athletically. Which most teams were compared to Princeton.
Reason I’m bringing him up is because he wrote a book: “The Smart Take From the Strong.” I read his book while I was coaching. And just like his offense, it was brilliant. You can imagine what it’s about simply by reading the title. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel if others have been successful. Why not build off of what they have done. Why not take ideas from them. That to me, is being smart. And today I’m going to do the exact same thing. I’m gonna take something that I learned from Robin Sigars at our men’s Bible study. Robin leads our monthly meeting. In a series of a few months, we went through the book of Hebrews. So many lessons in that book.
During part of it, we talked about being in the desert. The desert does not have to be what you are envisioning it. It does not have to be sand. It doesn’t have to be barren. It does not have to be hot. The desert is a place that we struggle in. And we all are going to be in the “desert” at one time or another. Think about people in the Bible that experienced going through the “desert” during their lifetimes. Paul. Job. Martha. And so many more. Even Jesus spent time there. This is a place that we can build our faith on. If…we choose to do so. We can turn our backs if we want to. Because it’s not an easy place. As a matter of fact, it can be very difficult. And we can find having a strong faith as being something really difficult to do as well. But let me encourage you this way. No matter where we are in the desert. No matter at what point in our lives that we are in the desert. No matter what type of desert it is. Jesus will always there for us. He will always be constant. He will never waver. And he will see us through. But we must keep our focus on him. That part is up to us. And I believe that is the “smart” thing to do. He will keep his promise to us, if we keep our focus on him. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.
