“Layup…” (by Mel McGuire)

While doing pre-marital counseling with young couples, I was reminded of a practice many sports teams use when they believe they are on the verge of winning a championship. They go out and find some “veteran leadership” to help get a talented young team to the next level, to that winning or championship level.

In basketball, I think of someone like Grant Hill. The veteran comes in and can still play, but not at the same level or with the same intensity as when they were younger. But they add wisdom and provide valuable insight for younger players about what to expect, and what it takes to win, and be a winner.

They demonstrate professionalism, and teach the younger more talented players things like how to practice, how to take care of their body, how to mentally prepare for each opponent, and how to deal with outside distractions.

It helps if the young players watch, listen, and learn. They give secrets and tips on how to be effective and productive even when they do not have their “A” game. They show them that defense, rebounding, making free throws, and even layups win games.

I mention layups because today’s young stars love to dunk. In fact many of them have been dunking for so long, they sometimes struggle with the layup. The layup becomes important when you have to score and cannot go over or through an opponent.

Now when Grant Hill came into the league, he was a very talented player with explosive leaping ability. He routinely dunked the ball. Years later, as age and injuries took their toll on his explosive leaping ability, he can still score inside, because he has mastered the layup.

While not as exciting or intimidating as the dunk, veterans know that each basket counts the same…two points. The advantage of the layup is that there is a better opportunity for a foul and potential three point play. Veterans know how to “play through contact” and make the layup.

Layups do not require as much leaping ability, but they do require more skill. We encourage our young couples to find some veteran leadership to help them prepare for what is coming in their lives as a couple. Experienced married couples that can teach them how to conduct themselves while dating and engaged, how to mentally prepare, how to take care of themselves (and each other), and how to deal with outside distractions.

People who can teach them how to “play through contact”, and be a winner in the game of life. Like the fundamental scoring play, the layup, experienced couples have learned that the grand gesture and elaborate displays only count the same as simple gestures, performed consistently and thoughtfully, or private displays performed with sincerity and spontaneity.

And while slam dunks are great if you can do them, mastering the layup will carry you further and provide longevity as a general rule. As time catches up to us, we must learn to do other things to keep our value and bring value to our relationships.

Patience, grace, forgiveness, humility, reliability, honesty, and love are all relationship fundamentals that should not be overlooked or neglected. Pay attention to the veterans on your team. If you don’t have any, get some. They know what it takes to win, and winning is more important to them than individual glory or stats. They are about “team”, and they have mastered the layup. Watch, listen, learn…work on your layups.

“Highlights…” (by Mel McGuire)

Every night I spend a few minutes watching sports highlights on television. I like them because you get a sense of what happened without having to sit through an entire game. The other side of that coin however, is that you don’t get a feel for the ebb and flow, momentum changes, and rhythm of the actual event. You just watch what someone else has decided is worth showing. Sometimes the highlights are more focused on the losing team…they had more exciting plays, but lost the game.

As a result of this phenomenon, we have a generation of people who focus on the spectacular catch, in your face dunk, or big hit…the knockout punch, the acrobatic goal, or the longest fight (hockey fans, you know who you are).

Of course as I watched the same highlights for the third time one night (am I the only one?), the Lord “interrupted my regularly scheduled programming”. He reminded me that the highlights, while entertaining and addictive, do not tell the whole or even true story of an athletic event.

The fundamentals, the basics, the routine…they that perform those the best, with the least amount of errors, usually win the game. Has our Christianity become like the late night highlight show? Have we become so enamored with the latest sermon, the miracle, the testimony or praise report that we forget the importance of the fundamentals of our faith? Prayer, obedience, holiness, forgiveness, and giving…the basics that determine outcomes far more than the spectacular move of God.

In our walk with Christ we need to make the routine play, the things that happen all the time more so than preparing for the spectacular, the highlight play. Pray for obedience and humility, pray for our leaders and for your family. Make the routine play. Do what you know the Word says for you to do. If you don’t, it’s like an error, or a turnover. Don’t mine the word for some new deep revelation if you aren’t even trying to walk in holiness or forgiveness. Make the routine play.

Highlights come from mastering the basics and rising (sometimes literally) to some extraordinary occasion. But if you lose the game, what is the ultimate value of the spectacular event? Make the routine play, eliminate errors and turnovers, master the mundane and see if your greatest highlight isn’t victory in the end, when it matters.

When God replays the highlights of your life, will the final frame be you lifting the ultimate prize, bowing to receive the gold medal (your crown of glory)? Or will you live a spectacular but error filled life, full of mishaps and missteps that leave you defeated and downcast (cast down?)? A Gatorade shower will not extinguish the flames of hell. Play to win the game.