Several nights ago, I wrote about how much I love the bunch of girls who make up my middle school basketball team this year. That does not mean we have no issues. In fact, I stopped practice on Wednesday because of two words which kept being repeated on the court:
"Sorry, Coach!"
At least five of the ten girls on our team have the tendency to utter those two words each time they miss a shot in a layup drill or dribble the ball off their foot or have a pass skip off their hands. It was almost like this:
"Sorry, Coach!"
"Sorry, Coach!"
"Sorry, Coach!"
We huddled up and I explained that we don't have to apologize every time we make a mistake, that the nature of sports is that we will mess up. One of the things I appreciate so much about this group is that they do try to do the right thing but maturing as athletes means they have to get to the point where they can shake stuff off. We aren't quite there yet. But, you know you are a blessed coach when the biggest headache is kids trying to be too perfect!
All of us know adults who live their lives like my girls go through practice, in a constant state of apology. But when the byproduct is a life of non-stop guilt, the stakes are raised. I told my high school classes on Wednesday about practice and offered my opinion that it is often very easy to make girls feel guilty and use that guilt as a way to control them. Many of both genders voted in the affirmative when I asked for a show of hands on how many of the believe their mothers try make them feel guilty. (It doesn't bother boys nearly as much.) When I started coaching girls, I probably used guilt, either intentionally or unintentionally, as a coaching tactic to get the young ladies to play better. In the long run, though, it doesn't make your jump shot more accurate or your weak hand stronger. It just deflates you. Satan uses guilt very effectively on us, doesn't he? And we are guilty in that we all sin. But, what relief for the believer to turn to Romans 8 and verse 1:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
I love those two words in the middle of that verse! We are saved by His blood and if we continue walking in the light, continually cleansed by that same blood. We repent, we praise the Lord, and we don't wallow in shame twenty-four hours a day. And we don't have to say "Sorry, Coach!" every time we shoot a left handed layup with our right hand!
Applicable quote of the day:
“Sorry is hardest to say when it matters most.”
Ebehi Iyoha
Ebehi Iyoha
To hear the song tonight's title was taken from, one of the most depressing ballads ever, click below!
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
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