If you thought that this fan of all things Tar Heel would write about the UNC victory over Duke in basketball last night, you would be incorrect...
HA! Are you kidding??? Of course, I've got to write about it!! So if you despise all things Carolina, just go right ahead and delete this post. I'm apologizing in advance. After all, Duke has beaten the Heels multiple times, and plenty of those losses have been brutal last second victories which have pretty much ripped our Carolina blue hearts out--not that I'm bitter or anything.
Not to mention Duke has won multiple national championships, and Coach K is obviously a great recruiter of freshman phenoms, oops, I mean coach. And let's face it: Duke is gonna beat the Heels many more times, because they're a truly great team. In fact, March 9th will unfortunately be here before we know it, and the Blue Devils will be looking for revenge. They very may well get it, and I'm bracing myself now for it.
The point is, Duke absolutely and deservedly can always hold it's Blue Devil head up high. (I won't comment on that choice of a mascot...but a devil??)
I promise not to gloat...although for the record, just so we know, UNC beat the unbeatable Dookies 88 to 72. (One more disclaimer: I really do apologize to my many dear friends who have gone to Duke and love Duke--there is so much to admire about your outstanding school...and it is modeled after Princeton, so there's also that to love.)
But seriously, I simply wanted to share one little incident that Adam Lucas wrote about in his wonderful article about the game (okay "wonderful" from the perspective of Carolina fans). Luuuuuuuuke Maye (no, fans aren't booing him, they're yelling his name) had just had an incredible game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Lucas pointed out that Maye was the first Tar Heel in 56 years to do that in a Carolina-Duke game. Billy Cunningham is the only other UNC player who ever did that. Not bad company. But here are Lucas' words--
"In the cramped Cameron Indoor Stadium locker room, Maye sought out Shea Rush, a walk-on who was dressed and about to walk outside to see his mother. Maye stopped him.
'Hey, man,' Maye said, before he went and talked to the dozens of cameras who wanted his thoughts, 'thanks for rebounding for me.'
Rush just shook his head. During pregame warmups, instead of getting up his own shots, Rush makes it a point to rebound for Maye, then fire crisp, game-speed passes back to him so Maye can get in a rhythm. Now, here was Luke Maye, after scoring 30 at Duke, taking time to thank Shea Rush for his pregame warmup passes.
No one does that. No one.
Rush just shook his head. 'He's a special guy,' he said of Maye.
The night's superstar shook the hand of the player who never took off his warmup shirt. To watch the interaction was to see two equals, just two members of a team, everyone doing anything they possibly could do to win a game. Luke Maye got 30 and 15. Shea Rush helped, and even if no one else noticed--Luke Maye did."
Such a small thing in the big scheme of things, right? But it's the seemingly insignificant things in life that often reveal the monumental things. Reading that story about said it all for me--because our character--and who we are when we don't think anyone else is watching--is infinitely more important than any accolades we might garner or wins we might enjoy. And the character Luke displayed in that simple little gesture evidenced sweet humility.
Humility is such a beautiful quality, isn't it? G.K. Chesterton once explained that "we become taller when we bow, " and Tim Keller says, "the essence of humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself; it is thinking of myself less."
True humility means knowing it's not all about me or my performance. It's not about my agenda or my success or my plans. It's not about my greatness or glory. It's all about the ways and will, the greatness and glory, of Almighty God. And it's about loving and caring for other people, taking the low place, and seeking to serve rather than to be served.
To develop true humility, we must take the focus off ourselves and instead fix our eyes on Jesus, basking in His beauty, greatness, and splendor. Humility means our aim is life is to glorify God, not ourselves, and to love and serve those the Lord has placed in our paths.
This quality of humility has been in the forefront of my mind recently as our Bible study has recently been studying the life of Paul in the book of Acts. What an example of humility he was. Paul was extraordinarily gifted--brilliant and well-educated--and he was mightily used by God in far-reaching and astounding ways. How easy it would've been for Paul to be proud.
Yet instead, Paul modeled and lived out incredible humility. He surely never got over the utterly undeserved and amazing grace of God in choosing to "save a wretch like me." Because the grizzled old apostle was singularly focused on His Savior and on sharing God’s gift of salvation with the world, he was a humble, self-forgetful man who brought glory to God.
Boy, in our world of instagram and facebook (do we really need to know every single detail of your perfectly presented life?), of spoiled celebrities and overpaid sports stars, of self-promotion and selfishness, of loud-mouthed boasting and vitriol, isn't it beautiful to witness examples of humility? To glimpse folks who walk into a room, and instead of an attitude that says, "Look at me!," they declare, "Look at you!"
How thankful I am for the ultimate example of humility in the Lord Jesus, who "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil.2:6-8) That's humility...and that's the One who came to die the death we deserved, and rose to new life in order to give us the gift of salvation and eternal life.
So, yep, this Carolina fan is mighty thankful for the example of Luke Maye...but I'm infinitely more grateful for the One who relinquished the unimaginable glories of heaven and came down--so far down--in order to save the likes of me...and you. Might we bow down in humble worship and then go out and share His love with others.
To God be the glory.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Friday, February 8, 2019
A few more thoughts on worrying...
A few more thoughts on worry--prompted by this email from the SAT: "Help Peter Stress Less about the SAT!"
Our youngest son recently signed up to take the SAT in March. Ever since then, our inbox has been barraged by daily emails from the SAT about all the varied and multiple ways to prepare for this herculean task of taking the SAT. Emails with advice essentially ranging from "Here's what you have to do--and you better be doing it everyday." Or "Are you taking the multi-hour practice test every week...or better yet everyday?" Or "If your child isn't studying for the SAT at least three hours a day, you might as well kiss college goodbye." Or "Mom--are you sure you took enough pre-natal vitamins when your child was in your womb? Did you read to him every night for at least an hour? Did you make sure he never drank soft drinks or ate junk food? If not, oh well. Too late now. it's time to start stressing and wringing your hands...even though this will be absolutely no help whatsoever."
Okay, I'm slightly exaggerating. And I really appreciate the helpfulness of the SAT...so if anybody out there works for the SAT, thank you very much. Truly...
...but oh my stars! Do these high schoolers not already have enough stress in their lives? If my son wasn't stressed before, he is now. Or at least his mama surely is.
I share all this, because it's such a reminder of why worry is so counterproductive and deadly. Jesus commands us, "Don't worry about your life...Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe the wildflowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you--you of little faith? So don't worry...But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Mt.6:25-34)
Over and over again, Jesus repeats the command--do not worry, do not worry, do not worry...because He well knows that we little dust creatures will worry! Even though worrying does no good. Even though it steals our peace and robs us of joy. Even though it harms our health. Even though it betrays a refusal to trust God.
When we're worrying, we're essentially saying, "I'm gonna trust in my worry rather than in my Almighty God." Seriously. Is our worrying really worthy of such trust? NO!
But if you're like slow-learning like yours truly, you have to be reminded of the truths you know, but forget. Yes, I just wrote about this, but think of this as a little booster shot of encouragement Not. To. Worry!
So for all my fellow amnesiacs, here's our reminder--it's a battle of our minds. Our thoughts! We choose what thoughts we will dwell upon. Yes, fear is inevitable, but dwelling on that fear, churning that fear over and over in our minds in the form of our thoughts, that's our lousy choice. And we can choose differently!
Dallas Willard wrote, "The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we allow our minds to dwell upon. It is in our thoughts that the first movements towards the renovation of the heart occurs. Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change."
Change the meditation of your thoughts and change your heart and your life! Choose to replace worrying thoughts with worshipping thoughts. Anxious thoughts with trusting thoughts. "What if" thoughts with "Then my Almighty God will..." thoughts.
As J.B. Smith says, "God will always have the last word. So instead of worrying I will entrust my life to the good and beautiful and true God who reigns in the strong and unshakable Kingdom."
Yes and Amen! Our all powerful, all wise, all loving, all good, all merciful, all gracious, all forgiving Almighty Lord REIGNS! And we dwell in His strong and unshakable Kingdom. So since He's totally, completely, eternally got it, we can rest and trust in Him.
SAT--no stress from you. Or from wherever source worry is poking it's ugly head into your life right now. Our God reigns. We dwell in His strong and unshakable Kingdom. And we will choose to rejoice and trust in Him.
To God be the glory.
Our youngest son recently signed up to take the SAT in March. Ever since then, our inbox has been barraged by daily emails from the SAT about all the varied and multiple ways to prepare for this herculean task of taking the SAT. Emails with advice essentially ranging from "Here's what you have to do--and you better be doing it everyday." Or "Are you taking the multi-hour practice test every week...or better yet everyday?" Or "If your child isn't studying for the SAT at least three hours a day, you might as well kiss college goodbye." Or "Mom--are you sure you took enough pre-natal vitamins when your child was in your womb? Did you read to him every night for at least an hour? Did you make sure he never drank soft drinks or ate junk food? If not, oh well. Too late now. it's time to start stressing and wringing your hands...even though this will be absolutely no help whatsoever."
Okay, I'm slightly exaggerating. And I really appreciate the helpfulness of the SAT...so if anybody out there works for the SAT, thank you very much. Truly...
...but oh my stars! Do these high schoolers not already have enough stress in their lives? If my son wasn't stressed before, he is now. Or at least his mama surely is.
I share all this, because it's such a reminder of why worry is so counterproductive and deadly. Jesus commands us, "Don't worry about your life...Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe the wildflowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you--you of little faith? So don't worry...But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Mt.6:25-34)
Over and over again, Jesus repeats the command--do not worry, do not worry, do not worry...because He well knows that we little dust creatures will worry! Even though worrying does no good. Even though it steals our peace and robs us of joy. Even though it harms our health. Even though it betrays a refusal to trust God.
When we're worrying, we're essentially saying, "I'm gonna trust in my worry rather than in my Almighty God." Seriously. Is our worrying really worthy of such trust? NO!
But if you're like slow-learning like yours truly, you have to be reminded of the truths you know, but forget. Yes, I just wrote about this, but think of this as a little booster shot of encouragement Not. To. Worry!
So for all my fellow amnesiacs, here's our reminder--it's a battle of our minds. Our thoughts! We choose what thoughts we will dwell upon. Yes, fear is inevitable, but dwelling on that fear, churning that fear over and over in our minds in the form of our thoughts, that's our lousy choice. And we can choose differently!
Dallas Willard wrote, "The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we allow our minds to dwell upon. It is in our thoughts that the first movements towards the renovation of the heart occurs. Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change."
Change the meditation of your thoughts and change your heart and your life! Choose to replace worrying thoughts with worshipping thoughts. Anxious thoughts with trusting thoughts. "What if" thoughts with "Then my Almighty God will..." thoughts.
As J.B. Smith says, "God will always have the last word. So instead of worrying I will entrust my life to the good and beautiful and true God who reigns in the strong and unshakable Kingdom."
Yes and Amen! Our all powerful, all wise, all loving, all good, all merciful, all gracious, all forgiving Almighty Lord REIGNS! And we dwell in His strong and unshakable Kingdom. So since He's totally, completely, eternally got it, we can rest and trust in Him.
SAT--no stress from you. Or from wherever source worry is poking it's ugly head into your life right now. Our God reigns. We dwell in His strong and unshakable Kingdom. And we will choose to rejoice and trust in Him.
To God be the glory.
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