MOVE!

Sometimes situations can collide, creating a perfect storm. I vividly remember an example of this when I was in 4th grade. Being the fabulous role model Sam Dean was, he decided that he would become my Optimist (community league) basketball coach. After all, what better way to serve as a role model, while developing stellar athletes on the Clinton Elementary basketball court? Dad arrived at the first practice with drills prepared, anticipating an eager group of girls ready to tackle the court with passion and skill. He was ready to take on the challenge of coaching a group of girls to the #1 spot. However, we showed up for practice talking about the cute boys, discussing the next sleepover, and most important of all, deciding what outfit would be worn the next day. Who had time for drills, skills, and coaching feedback?  Towards the end of the season, we found ourselves with no wins. And it was bad. Very bad. Despite his best efforts, I remained scared of the ball, running in the opposite direction anytime it came my way.

I remember one particular game where we were losing by approximately 45 points. With a few seconds remaining, Suzie Webber, a member of our team, threw up a last second shot. SWOOSH! It went in and closed the spread to 43 points! Our entire team busted out in loud cheers, jumping hugs, and extreme celebration. After all, who wouldn’t celebrate a last second shot!!?? The perfect storm was created! A mature adult, with serious coaching ambitions, clashed with a group of silly ten year old girls who just wanted to have a good time. And the conflict of goals met with loud crashes of thunder, bright bolts of lightning, damaging winds, and sheets of rain! I’m pretty sure that The Baptist Rabbi lost a bit of his religion at that very moment! He could not fathom our celebration of a last second shot with the existing score. Somehow he managed to maintain his cool in front of the team. However, he was not finished with me. So he put into action a coaching plan for his daughter, which started with learning a new vocabulary word….AGGRESSIVE.

He gave up on our team winning a single game during the season, but he was determined that he was going to teach me how to be respectfully aggressive. My goal during the next game was to not hide behind people on the court, and I had to foul at least one person. During the last game, I finally got in touch with my “inner aggression” and I actually fouled out. As I heard the referee’s whistle blow, signifying the last foul, I saw my Dad clapping and screaming on the sidelines, giving me a standing ovation. I can only imagine what the rest of the audience was thinking! Of course, we lost.  However, Dad considered my foul out to be a success. I moved! I was no longer idle.

Dad has never been one to sit. He couldn’t afford to. While he grew up in a house of love, there was not a great amount of finances to support higher education. He always knew that education would be his key to a better life, but the road would not come easy. Dad had to drop out of ETSU his first semester because he could not find transportation to school each day. This became a pivotal point in his life. He could have easily used this as an excuse to quit. It would have been easy for him to simply say, “It is not meant to be. It must be God’s will for me not to go to college.” However, he did not. He engaged in respectful aggressiveness, and he took action.  He transferred to Tusculum College where he could catch the bus to school. Grocery store wages helped him pay his way.  When he received the call to become a minister, he had some tough decisions to make. He could have easily said, “It is just not meant to be.”  However, he created a respectfully aggressive plan of how he could pay cash for both college and seminary. Amazingly, he graduated with his Masters of Divinity with no school debt. How? He moved. He did not sit idle. He crafted a goal, developed a plan, and executed that plan with extreme precision. He took control of his situation, sacrificed immediate gratifications, implemented some healthy aggression, and fought his way through some tough years - trusting God every step of the way. God certainly provided, but Dad had to work hard for it. There were many bumps on the way and many God-sent people that helped him through. It was not sent down on a cloud from heaven wrapped in a big red bow!

In Dad’s 50 years of ministry, he has seen another perfect storm occur in people’s lives. We often hear Christian's make the comment, "If it is God's will.." At times, we use the comment to give us permission to sit idle and wait passively for His will to occur. We wait for God to do all the work. Then when things don’t improve or get better, we tend to blame it on the “Will of God.” The clash of idleness and the will of God has occurred, and the storm is in full force. God indeed has a will for us, but he has also given us free choice to determine what decisions we will make toward his will. Do we hide when the basketball gets thrown our way? Do we find ourselves as passive recipients of the other team’s decisions and actions?

Dad taught me that God did not put us here to live passively and let the world happen TO us. He placed us here to be active participants in this world. We can only find solace in the storm when we embrace the peace that God has desires for us. However, we have to be willing to get up, follow the call, and work for it. God will pave the walkway for the journey, but we must commit to taking the steps on the road. Sometimes that means being respectfully aggressive, moving out of our comfort zone, and standing up for what is right. God never promised that it would be easy, but He did promise to provide if we listen to His will. So what are we waiting for? God is ready. Let’s get up and MOVE!

Sidenote #1: My Dad, still to this day, says that coaching that basketball team was one of the most frustrating things he has ever done. At the end of that season, he officially retired from Optimist coaching! :)

Sidenote #2: After 2 years of basketball, I only scored 2 points - both foul shots. I also retired from basketball in the name of saving my Dad’s nerves. :)