Lebron James Hopefully, everyone knows of the great Lebron James. If you don’t, just ask any healthy all American, red blooded male between the ages of 2 years and death. With unsurpassed recall these same guys can quote you Lebron’s rebound, assist, and three point stats as well as his free throw average without as much as blinking an eye. These are the same guys who can’t remember your anniversary or what you were wearing on your first date. Girls, we just know Lebron makes a lot of money!! As a side note, Pastor Sam knows nothing about those stats so he remembers exactly what I was wearing on our first date, he’s the man!! My son is no exception when it comes to being a Lebron James fan. I found this out while back-to-school shopping last fall. When it came time to purchase the tennis shoes, my jaws dropped at the price he paid for his Lebrons. For you girls, they are like the Jimmy Choos of athletic footwear. Sometimes it’s hard to be a pastor’s kid. (Now there’s a great seg). This year was especially difficult as Easter Sunday fell smack in the middle of spring break which meant we had to stay close to home while the other kids were headed south to warmer climate. Trying to keep the kids excited about their sunless vacation, I searched for fun things to do in Chicago, a short car ride away. The highlight of the entire trip would be Thursday night. The Bulls were playing the Cavaliers at home. This was going to be the big one. The one that made all the bitterness of a boring spring break fly right out the window. I got online and found the best seats I could find - fourth row, right by the visitor’s tunnel, smack dab in front of the visitor’s bench. If Lebron broke a sweat, Nathan was gonna get wet. That’s how close they were. The cost was, to quote the commercial – priceless - but sacrificial just the same. Thursday night comes with much anticipation. Nathan bought a Cavs shirt to wear that night and he brought his trusty black Sharpie – ready to whip off one of his Lebrons in a flash should LBJ start autographing anything. Nathan hung by that tunnel awaiting his basketball hero when all of a sudden, here he comes, dressed in a three piece suit. To quote fb lingo “wwwwwwhhhhhhhaaaaaatttt?” It seems it was right before the playoffs and the coach decided that it was too risky for the big man to actually play. Apparently the Cavs already had their “whatever” title sewn up so they didn’t need this win. The disappointment in my son’s face, even Sarah and Sam were devastated. We had sacrificed our time to come, we bought special clothes, and the tickets, what about the cost of the tickets? But there he sat, not even on the bench but behind the bench, all night long. No autographs, nothing, he just walked through the tunnel and sat down. As disappointed as I was, I have to admit I was impressed at the way he encouraged his teammates during the entire game. He wasn’t caught up with the crowd, just the game. The crowd was caught up with him, disappointed he didn’t play. Now, I suppose after all that you are wondering “where in the world is the spiritual application?” Here it is. Something hit me that night, later in the hotel, while I was listening to everybody moaning and groaning about the game. Do we do that as Christians? Are we so caught up with wanting God to perform for us that we forget to simply enjoy His Presence? The Word tells us in Psalm 16:11 that “In His Presence is fullness of joy.” He doesn’t HAVE to perform for us simply because we feel we’ve made a significant investment for him to perform. We are to praise Him for who He is, not for what He does. We thank Him for the miracles as well as the gifts, but if He chooses just to be present, I’m okay with that. Without His presence, we have nothing. Now, before you get all beside yourself, I AM NOT comparing Lebron James to God. I’m just asking you to think about this analogy and to allow the Holy Spirit to have liberty to do whatever He wants to do. We can make demands upon the anointing, but not the God of the anointing. Let Him choose to perform, we need to just simply welcome His Presence and bask in the tender touches that convince us that He is ever with us. By the way, after the game, Lebron high-fived Nathan as he exited through the visitor’s tunnel. Pretty cool, huh? So not worth it. Cya- Brenda
Friday, June 11, 2010
Lebron James Hopefully, everyone knows of the great Lebron James. If you don’t, just ask any healthy all American, red blooded male between the ages of 2 years and death. With unsurpassed recall these same guys can quote you Lebron’s rebound, assist, and three point stats as well as his free throw average without as much as blinking an eye. These are the same guys who can’t remember your anniversary or what you were wearing on your first date. Girls, we just know Lebron makes a lot of money!! As a side note, Pastor Sam knows nothing about those stats so he remembers exactly what I was wearing on our first date, he’s the man!! My son is no exception when it comes to being a Lebron James fan. I found this out while back-to-school shopping last fall. When it came time to purchase the tennis shoes, my jaws dropped at the price he paid for his Lebrons. For you girls, they are like the Jimmy Choos of athletic footwear. Sometimes it’s hard to be a pastor’s kid. (Now there’s a great seg). This year was especially difficult as Easter Sunday fell smack in the middle of spring break which meant we had to stay close to home while the other kids were headed south to warmer climate. Trying to keep the kids excited about their sunless vacation, I searched for fun things to do in Chicago, a short car ride away. The highlight of the entire trip would be Thursday night. The Bulls were playing the Cavaliers at home. This was going to be the big one. The one that made all the bitterness of a boring spring break fly right out the window. I got online and found the best seats I could find - fourth row, right by the visitor’s tunnel, smack dab in front of the visitor’s bench. If Lebron broke a sweat, Nathan was gonna get wet. That’s how close they were. The cost was, to quote the commercial – priceless - but sacrificial just the same. Thursday night comes with much anticipation. Nathan bought a Cavs shirt to wear that night and he brought his trusty black Sharpie – ready to whip off one of his Lebrons in a flash should LBJ start autographing anything. Nathan hung by that tunnel awaiting his basketball hero when all of a sudden, here he comes, dressed in a three piece suit. To quote fb lingo “wwwwwwhhhhhhhaaaaaatttt?” It seems it was right before the playoffs and the coach decided that it was too risky for the big man to actually play. Apparently the Cavs already had their “whatever” title sewn up so they didn’t need this win. The disappointment in my son’s face, even Sarah and Sam were devastated. We had sacrificed our time to come, we bought special clothes, and the tickets, what about the cost of the tickets? But there he sat, not even on the bench but behind the bench, all night long. No autographs, nothing, he just walked through the tunnel and sat down. As disappointed as I was, I have to admit I was impressed at the way he encouraged his teammates during the entire game. He wasn’t caught up with the crowd, just the game. The crowd was caught up with him, disappointed he didn’t play. Now, I suppose after all that you are wondering “where in the world is the spiritual application?” Here it is. Something hit me that night, later in the hotel, while I was listening to everybody moaning and groaning about the game. Do we do that as Christians? Are we so caught up with wanting God to perform for us that we forget to simply enjoy His Presence? The Word tells us in Psalm 16:11 that “In His Presence is fullness of joy.” He doesn’t HAVE to perform for us simply because we feel we’ve made a significant investment for him to perform. We are to praise Him for who He is, not for what He does. We thank Him for the miracles as well as the gifts, but if He chooses just to be present, I’m okay with that. Without His presence, we have nothing. Now, before you get all beside yourself, I AM NOT comparing Lebron James to God. I’m just asking you to think about this analogy and to allow the Holy Spirit to have liberty to do whatever He wants to do. We can make demands upon the anointing, but not the God of the anointing. Let Him choose to perform, we need to just simply welcome His Presence and bask in the tender touches that convince us that He is ever with us. By the way, after the game, Lebron high-fived Nathan as he exited through the visitor’s tunnel. Pretty cool, huh? So not worth it. Cya- Brenda
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