Looking At Ourselves (Dave Hawley)

Again tonight, my entry is by my brother, Dave, who is the nation's winningest high school tennis coach! Prayers for me as I am, Lord willing, in the air on my way back to the US ending my four week mission to Vietnam.

I received an interesting text from one of my tennis players yesterday (let's call him Max) who had just experienced an incredibly negative situation against an opponent whom we know well ... A talented young man from one of our biggest rivals who unfortunately has left consistently bad impressions with our team in his three plus years with his language, his demeanor and his gamesmanship. I have seen these behaviors in action. But Max had an interesting assessment ... He said he would prefer to not play in ANY tourney where that young man is present. That will be a difficult task because we play them in at least at four different tourneys. And it's not just our kids who feel that way- players from other schools have also had confrontations with him. Kind of sad.

But what I find intriguing is I'll bet this kid does not think of himself as a pain. I'll bet that like most of us , if he TRULY knew how he was perceived, he might change. It's easy for all of us to see his flaws... Maybe not so easy for himself.

But that's kind of true with all of us. My wife and I were discussing someone the other night that seems to repel people with constant frequency, and Sally said, "he probably is the last one to see how he really is", to which I readily agreed. But THEN she said " I worry that people might feel the same way about you, in terms of whether you are responsible or not." WHOA!!! Hold on a minute.... I can explain (excuse) all of my bad behaviors/ choices/ attitudes very easily (great rationalizer) but her point really made me stop and ask.... How DO other people see me? Am I the last to come face to face with my flaws? But the biggest questions for Christians.... Is the way people see me damaging my ability to be an effective witness?

I think we are called to keep the areas that, with God's blessings, we do well at, but really work to be honest about those things about us that we are the last to see that are harmful, and work to rid ourselves of those items.

Blessings to you today!

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com