Saving Face

 

Saving Face

Once when I was in college at Harding University, a student mistook my brother, Scott, for a guy in his hometown of Nashville, Arkansas. The odd thing is the person the student thought Scott was was our first cousin, Jay Chesshir, who I think Scott bears minimal resemblance to.  Have you ever been told you look like somebody? What if you actually could take the appearance of another? The following is from December 1, 2007.

Did you see the news out of France? Doctors there Sunday performed the world's first partial face transplant. The recipient, a 38 year old woman whose face had been horribly disfigured in a dog attack, had been left with very limited speaking and eating capabilities. The new face belonged to a brain dead donor, whose family consented. The medical reports say the danger, as in any transplant, is rejection. I wonder if two women had any resemblance to each other or were close in age. Early indications are the woman's looks will be a hybrid of herself and the donor. The surgery was not a life saving one in the physical sense but perhaps mentally for the dog attack victim, it was. It's believed the first total face transplant will be performed shortly and ethical questions are arising. Some doctors believe there could be psychological trauma for the recipients. Who would be eligible for this extremely expensive procedure? Would donors and recipients be matched by ethnic group or gender? Could you see putting a twenty year old's face on a seventy year old? Could it become vanity surgery for the wealthy who simply want to be more attractive? How about the donors? Would you want someone to have your face? I am an organ donor but there is a difference between donating a heart and giving a stranger your identity. According to my students, it's just 'creepy.'

We identify ourselves by our faces. We look at pictures in yearbooks and say, "That's me," even though it's only a fraction of our bodies. Most of us see flaws in ourselves which others cannot detect. When coaching in Tennessee, I saw one of my basketball players staring at herself in the locker room mirror. "Look at this!" she told me. The young lady, who had a flawless complexion, was obsessing over a blemish so tiny I never saw it and I doubt anyone else did either. It ruined her day. She's not alone. When we had team pictures that were blown up into full size posters to hang on our gym wall, there were anxious moments. Nobody cares about what anyone else looks like- our own profile is the only one that matters. Would you change your face if you could? Who would you want to look like, a movie star or an improved version of yourself? I am comfortable with myself although a nice compliment is uplifting. Last year, I walked into worship service and one of our lovely Christian sisters, Ruth McCoin, stopped me. Ruth is a former teacher at Westbury Christian and one of my favorite people in the world. This was our conversation.
"Steve, I've decided who you look like. You look like that guy in the movies."
That's a loaded statement. It could be anybody but I went along.
"Who's that, Ruth?"Her answer?
"Jean-Claude Van Damme."Now for the uninitiated, Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the baddest dudes around. The Belgium born action movie hero is a box office titan and Ruth's comparison didn't hurt my feelings although others may doubt the accuracy of her eyesight.
My response? "I think you're right, Ruth."

The scriptures don't give much detail about what its characters looked like. We know that Saul was tall, David was ruddy, Samson was strong, Elisha was bald, and there are several more examples but looks seem unimportant to the Lord. The Bible is more apt to speak of a man's heart than his chin or cheekbones. If we knew what Jesus looked like, we would be distracted by those who might resemble him physically rather than spiritually. Let me give you an example. My 8th grade Bible class is watching a video about Jesus. There are many inaccuracies, which is why I show it. The kids love to point out what is wrong with the portrayal. You know the biggest thing some of them get? We think the actor that plays Jesus is in a Geico commercial- you know the one with the cave men who get offended because they have been overlooked as a marketing group? That is more exciting than asking if the actor shows the love for the lost and the concern for the poor that Jesus did. I do have one favorite Bible description of a character. As the martyr, Stephen, was beginning his lecture to the religious leaders that would result in his stoning, Acts tells us 'his face was like the face of an angel.' Stephen-that's the guy I was named after. What an obituary! I might look like Jean-Claude Van Damme (allegedly) but he looked like an angel. I wonder who would win that beauty contest? I still have a very long way to go.


Applicable quote of the day:
"After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies."
Cynthia Ozick


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Fourteen And Counting

 

Fourteen And Counting

Aspen is one of my favorite players ever! This is from March 4, 2018!
Aspen had a good day in practice Thursday, maybe her best day ever in basketball. Let me backtrack a bit. Even though the game playing part of our season is over, we still have a practice time every morning during first period. Much of what we do is competing. We start almost every day with a contest or a mini tournament and we post the results on the locker room door. Amazing what a motivator that is. I've written before  how much I love coaching these seven kids. They have improved tremendously and can be competitive with each other without taking it personally. For example, we are in the middle of a double elimination one on one tournament but there are rules. You have to shoot within eight seconds- games go to eight points or three minutes, whichever comes first- shooting fouls are one shot plus return of the ball- the ball has to go to the coach/passer on each change of possession. The games are very intense and the girls are gassed after each match which is one of the reasons I like it. It's hard to make practices game like but we do the best we can.

Since the calendar has turned over to March, we've started our monthly free throw ladder. Each girl shoots 100 free throws in sets of ten with a partner and Taylore, our student coach, records the scores. One thing we emphasize is streaks- I think it's one of the best things we can do to focus. So, anytime in the middle of the 100 FTS a girl gets to five consecutive makes, everything stops and we cluster around her basket until the streak ends. That brings us back to Aspen. Three days ago, she made fourteen free throws in a row which is phenomenal! In fact, Aspen went through a stretch in which she made 18/20, or a ninety % clip. Factor in that she only made 40% of her free throws in the February ladder and it is amazing, at least to me. She wanted to keep shooting at that basket but I make them rotate through the six baskets in our gym- don't want them getting too comfortable!

Shooting is a funny thing. One day the ball goes in and the next day, it doesn't. Same ball, same basket, same time, same shooting mechanics, same concentration. That is really aggravating to the kids. We've really worked on form the past several weeks, and it has paid off, particularly with Aspen. But one of the other young ladies who tied for first in February finished dead last this week, shockingly going down twenty-four percentage points (while her sister improved thirteen points). I watched her- everything looked identical but the ball just would not go in for her like it did four weeks ago. There is no explanation. That's kind of like life, isn't it? Some days, things break our way and the next day, every path we walk is blocked. I'm in the middle of watching a documentary on Ulysses Grant and even though I taught about him, I'm shocked at how many turns his life took in business and in the military. That a man would consider himself a failure, with many others sharing his view, and yet come back to lead the Union army within a few short years is almost unbelievable. But most of us go through that on a small scale in our less publicized lives. How we handle the daily turn of events says a great deal about us. Do you know who is easy to coach? The player whose behavior and demeanor is consistent, or at least relatively so. Those on the other side of the spectrum? Not so easy! The girl whose shooting percentage fell off the cliff last week? You would never guess by looking at her. That's the way she handles life- that's one reason she is a joy to coach.

Tonight, we sang It Is Well With My Soul in our worship time. If you know it, you probably know it was written out of the deepest sorrow, the loss of four young daughters at sea. And yet Horatio Spafford was able to pen this amazing opening verse to one of the greatest hymns of Christendom:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Of course, his reason for composing was unbearable grief on the scale most of us, hopefully, will never experience. And, of course, it's easier to sing the words than to actually live them out in the vignettes which make up our days/weeks/months/years/lives. Finishing his timeless treasure, Spafford gives the praise and the credit for the ability to overcome to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our lives matter to our Savior- our failures and successes, our triumphs and tragedies, our hits and misses. Living with that assurance makes life bearable, streaks or no streaks. Fourteen in a row for a fourteen year old. Too bad we can't all shoot our age!

Applicable quote of the day:

Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven’t got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure.
Bob Sundvold

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Prayers Of A Third Grade Boy

 

Prayers Of A Third Grade Boy

Tonight's entry is a sequel to last night's devotional. It is from May 8, 2010.
Hopefully, you might recall my entry from one week ago yesterday entitled The Prayers Of Little Children. The subject was an e-mail from Jan Villarreal, one of our WCS third grade teachers, who was going to have her students pray for a specific teacher during the upcoming week and then have the child write us a letter. Yesterday afternoon, a very young man walked into my room and handed me a note. In perfect penmanship, the note said that he had been praying for me and it was signed Javier. We shook hands and I told Javier I would be praying for him, too!

As I think back on the last week, it's been a pretty good stretch of days for me! My classes went well, my lessons were understood, our Honduras/Haiti orphans' project is rolling along, and I think some doors were opened in my life. I can only thank the Lord....and Javier for keeping my name before the Father. We often hear Paul's famous instruction to the brother he mentored in 1 Timothy 4, verse 12:
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.''

Timothy obviously was much older than a third grader but Jesus taught that we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. In that case, we all need, as Paul just stated, an example. I've got my role model- and he even has good penmanship.

Applicable quote of the day:
"God's children should pray. They should cry day and night to Him. God hears every one of your cries in the busy hours of the daytime and in the lonely watches of the night.''

Robert Murray McCheyne

God bless,
Steve

Luke 18:1

The Prayers Of Little Children

 

The Prayers Of Little Children

This is one of my most read by the world blogs. It is from April 30, 2010. The young man who was not named here was Javier. 

Do you know what it's like to teach in a Christian school? Let me give you an inkling. Late this afternoon, I and several of my colleagues received this e-mail from one of our elementary school teachers:

My third grade and I have been talking and learning about the importance of praying for others. You have been chosen to be a part of our prayer week starting Monday morning. You will be prayed for each day, all week, by a particular third grade student, during our silent prayer time.
At the end of the week he/she will write you a note letting you know what a privilege it was praying for you each day. I pray your week goes well just by knowing that someone is lifting your name up to our Father in Heaven.
God Bless,
Mrs. Villarreal

WOW! Mrs. Villarreal, Jan, is the mother of my teacher's aide, Chelsey, and the wife of Odilo, our Director of Alumni Affairs. And now, she's going to have one of her third grade students pray for me everyday next week AND then have them thank me for the opportunity. What did Jesus say about little children? That the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. That we must become like them. That welcoming little children was welcoming the Savior. That things were revealed to little children that had been hidden from the wise. That the angels of little children always see the face of the Father in heaven. And one of these precious souls will be lifting my name up to Almighty God? All I can say is.....YESSS!!! It's going to be a great week!

Applicable quote of the day:
''Children are the keys of Paradise.

They alone are good and wise,

Because their thoughts,

their very lives are prayer.''

R. H. Stoddard, The Children's Prayer

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Case For Authority

 

The Case For Authority

It won't be long until we let our girls referee in practice. It is always interesting! This is from February 8, 2014.

Yesterday, we finished taking notes in all five of my classes about Jesus clearing the temple of those who were, the Savior claimed, turning it into a den of robbers. I made the point that the religious leaders in their accusations did not accuse Jesus of doing anything wrong. I would have to believe the market atmosphere in God's holy house must have made many of these men cringe. Instead, they demanded to know where He got the authority to purify the Court of the Gentiles. There is a big difference. I made the point that I would never go to another teacher's classroom and give a detention to a student who was under the supervision of another adult. I also asked their reaction if I should happen to come to their house for dinner and I ground them for being disrespectful to their parents. They laugh and tell me I don't have the authority to ground them. I ask 'what if I'm right about the disrespect?' The kids reply that it doesn't matter: I still don't have that authority..... and I absolutely agree with them.

The favorite example I used had to do with something most of them are familiar with- referees and umpires. Most youngsters play a sport at some time in their lives and are very aware of the officials in stripes (basketball/football) or blue as in baseball and softball. I ask how many of them hear people in the stands/bleachers officiating free of charge- all of them do. (Undoubtedly included in that group would be some of their moms and dads!) So, I ask them what would be a game be without any officials. They rightly respond, a fight. Then I inquire what would happen if every person entering a basketball game was given a whistle so they could officiate from the bleachers. They laugh as they try to imagine the scene but they correctly surmise that there would be no game under those circumstances. Several officials in charge trump three hundred refs who come with built-in biases and prejudices towards one team or the other. I tell them how hard it is to referee. During the spring, I am going to require all of my middle school girls to officiate one of our three on three games in our morning practices so they will discover the difficulty of trying to control a contest by blowing into a small piece of plastic. The concept I pray that my students ultimately grasp is that someone has to be in charge; we have to cede authority to others in arenas of our lives. By inference, I hope they will come to acknowledge it should be Jesus. And not just if they happen to be in the temple.

Applicable quote of the day:
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."

Bill Shankly

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Steve-Martin

 

Steve-Martin

This is about one of my favorite people,  from February 9, 2014. Emilee now is my financial advisor and a true blessing in my life!

As I was leaving our Sunday night service this evening, I was passing through our courtyard, heading to our adjacent WCS building to finish lesson plans. I spied a fellow congregant heading in the same direction. We had this very short conversation:
"See ya, Martin."
"Bye, Steve."
That, in all likelihood, means nothing to you but it's kind of unique in the orbit of my life. You see, Martin is Emilee, a lovely  and amazing young married woman who once upon a time was a member of the high school basketball team I coached at Westbury Christian School. She is also the only player (or female) I refer to by her last name and the funny thing is, that's not even her last name anymore. When she tied the knot, she took her husband Ryan's last name. But I'm a slow learner. And what is also interesting to me is that Emilee is one of the very few females who played for me who calls me by my first name. To the other 99+%, I remain simply as Coach....and that's not a bad thing!

In case you're wondering, I came to call her Martin, her maiden name, because we had two other players with the same name at that time and we had to differentiate. With me, it just stuck. The very day Emilee graduated from high school, she started calling me Steve and I liked the confidence and audaciousness it exhibited in her. Do you know what's funny? I call our Westbury Christian School chaplain, Dr. Robert Farrar, by his first name and he is eighty-six years old/young. And yet I have yet to call my high school basketball coach, Dale Neal, by his first name to his face...and he was only twenty-five when he had the dubious honor of coaching me. I think it's fascinating that Jesus is rarely called by His name in the Gospels and usually then only by demons or blind men seeking healing. Instead, Jesus is referred to as Rabbi-Teacher-Master-Lord. I have no idea why that is. Maybe it was the culture of the time or the extreme respect afforded Him by His disciples. What we call another speaks volumes about our relationship and our comfort level. Nobody ever called me Stephen except my mother when she was angry and the ladies in my apartment building office. I'm comfortable with Steve and it fits me but if you want to go with Coach, that's good, too. But if we refer to Jesus by one of the titles listed above, it carries a caveat. In Jesus' own words, in Luke 6:46, He poses this question:“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"Like I mentioned before, how we address others defines in some sense our relationship. I pray mine with Jesus passes the Lord, Lord test! Some days, I just misspeak.

Applicable quote of the day:
Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth.

George Washington Carver

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

The Answer To The Question Is The Blood

 

The Answer To The Question Is The Blood

This is about one of my favorite little ones from one of my favorite families who for the past two seasons has been on mybasketball team!! It is from February 26, 2018.
I always sit behind Koral's family in Sunday AM and PM worship services. She's four and a half and pretty awesome. I see her at school, too, but I'm not sure she has reached the point of understanding  I'm the same person from church. Her dad works with me and her mom is the quintessential volunteer private schools depend on. I've taught her two older sisters and coached her slightly older brother in basketball camp. Several years ago, I wrote a sweet blog about Koral decorating my hand with stickers one night at our evening assembly. Like I said, she is the definition of adorable.

Often, Koral is facing me in service as, like many small ones, she uses the pew bench as a working table. About three weeks ago, she did something that greatly impressed me. We were congregationally singing and she pitched right in with the repeating phrase:
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
I was amazed she knew the line- maybe she was simply repeating what she heard- but I thought it was pretty neat for a child her age. I was always good at memorizing songs we sang in worship but I can't pinpoint when it began. But I love that she loves a song I loved when I was small.

When I was growing up, there were songs I would classify as invitation songs, meaning they were usually sung right after the sermon and the congregation was invited to ask for prayers/confess sins and for those not yet baptized, to be immersed. (I was immersed by Dad in the spring of my seventh grade year- wish I could recall the invitation song that morning!) Three of my favorite hymns of  that nature all had the same theme and as I meditate on them, I realize they all have this in common- they all are questions.
What can wash away my sin? 
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
But the answers to all three are the same, with different phrasing:
Nothing but the blood of  Jesus. 
There's power in the blood. 
The last of the three is an answer worded as a question:
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Those three lines are repeated throughout the hymns. And they should be. The blood of Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice cleanses us from the filth of our sin. The question will always be whether we have chosen to accept this precious gift. The answer is simple; you can even ask a four year old I know.

Applicable quote of the day:
Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us, yet if we withhold ourselves from that blood, we will be unclean forever.
A.W. Tozer

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1