Yesterday afternoon, I spent close to forty five minutes on the phone with Dale Neal, my high school basketball coach back in the small town of York, Nebraska a few short years ago. We covered lots of territory- that's what happens when you haven't had a voice to voice conversation in several decades. Coach- I still can't call him by his first name- came along at the right time and outside of my immediate family was the biggest influence in my life. I would not have played college basketball without him so I doubt I would have have ended up as a basketball coach which has led to my education career branching off into a number of tributaries. It's funny how we are unaware of the magnitude of life altering events at the outset or even when we are in the middle of them. My guess is that it's rare for us to perceive the import of something right as it comes to pass.
What I'm going to say here might not make much sense to anybody but me but I'm the one on the keyboard. As a high school sophomore, I suited up a couple of times for varsity basketball games but never actually played. That doesn't mean I didn't play a lot that year; I started for both our JV and sophomore teams but no action in the big boy contests. I was excited though as I knew I had a good chance to play as a junior. During the spring after my 10th grade season, our varsity coach became athletic director and the school hired a new coach- Dale Neal. I knew who he was. He had starred in both basketball and baseball at York College when it was still a junior college and Dad used to took us to the games. He had transferred and finished at Harding University, before moving to coach in Iowa. Now, he was coming back to coach us. I was excited but did not know what to expect of the change.
I was working at the Jack And Jill grocery store early that summer when Coach Neal walked in. Apparently, he and his wife, Kathy, and their little daughter had just moved to York. I instantly recognized him; after all, I had watched him play many games and his picture had been in the paper with the hiring. But there was no way he would know who I was. After all, there was no reason he would have known me when he had been a student-athlete at YC and the last time he would possibly have seen me was when I was in fifth grade. Eleventh grade Steve and his fifth grade version did not resemble each other in the least. And yet, Coach Neal walked up to me at the check out line, called me by name, and engaged me in some basketball conversation. I'm sure he doesn't remember it but my life changed right then.
I always tell my students the most important word in the English language is your name. If your parents named you, Jerry, then it's Jerry. If they christened you Lisa, then Lisa it is. I consciously try to use each student's name out loud each day in class because, if someone calls you by name, they know who you are. (I also think it helps the kids learn each other's names!) The best Bible example that illustrates this is the colliding of the world of Jesus with the tax collector, Zacchaeus. There is no indication they'd met before but the Savior invited himself to dinner with the most hated man in Jericho. Jesus didn't yell, "Hey, you! Up in the tree!" He called him by name, leaving no doubt who He was referring to, to the chagrin of the parade goers! How did Jesus know who this sinner was? The easy explanation was He's Jesus but still He made it personal and Zacchaeus' life was never the same! Maybe he slid back but at least some poor people were helped by his public declarations. I hope I'm not overreaching on this but there's a great case to be made for simply recognizing another person as an individual. Let me fast forward a few decades. We had a Heisman Trophy winner coach our WCS football squads for five years. Shortly after he arrived, Charlie Ward passed by me and called me by my name. I didn't jump out of a tree and I don't think anybody got angry like they did with Zacchaeus. But it mattered to me. Imagine what it means to people who get little affirmation. Jesus knew. Maybe Coach Neal did as well.
Applicable quote of the day:
It is not reported how Zacchaeus got out of the sycamore, but the chances are good that he fell out in pure astonishment. Frederick Buechner
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org
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