What/who is more Important: First Lesson Learned

As I said in my previous post, God has used this past month to teach or at least remind me of  many valuable lessons.  I will try my best to begin to share those with you here.  As I think back over this time there were 4 main lessons.
1.) God is in control and no matter how much I think I am or wish I was, I AM NOT!
2.)  Trying to make myself more "spiritual" by trying to more and more NEVER works!
3.) There are more important things and people in my life than coaching and myself.
4.)  Coaching IS my ministry.

I don't think I will touch on all of them in this post but will certainly get to them all over the next few.  To be totally honest, this all really started with lesson number 3: There are more important things and people in my life than coaching and myself.  This lesson actually started several months before on December 23, 2012.  The Sunday before Christmas, we were all sitting down around the table after lunch when my mom said she had something to tell us.  We all figured it had to do with her upcoming retirement.  Little did any of us know the devastation that was coming.  I looked across the table into my mother's eyes and knew it wasn't good.  She took a deep breath and trying to hold back the tears told us all she had breast cancer.  My heart leapt into my throat and I thought I would literally throw up right there.   At that point, nothing else mattered in my life except her.  My entire life she had been there for everything.  She was at every ballgame, every school function, every major event in my life.  All of that flashed into my mind at that moment.  She was there when I needed an ear or a shoulder.  She was there for the hurt, she was there for the joy.  Everything that had happened in my life growing up had pretty much happened because of her.  I really don't remember what was said in the conversation of the next several minutes because of all of this going on in my head.  I do know my mom couldn't finish her thoughts and my dad had to take over but I have no idea the words that were said. 

The next thing I do remember was my mom finally getting her composer and saying, "I am good with things.  I am going to be just fine and am at peace and know God is in control."  With that there was some silence and the the conversation turned to other things.  I just looked at her and let her words sink in "at peace."  How could she be at peace with this?  Did she know that she could die form this?  Did she know what this could do to her?  Then I heard a voice say, "I got this.  She's mine.  Just have PEACE."  I took a deep breath, smiled, and joined in the conversation again.  It wasn't until I laid down in bed that night that I realized, I too was at PEACE.

Needless to say, that Christmas took on a whole new meaning.  It was GREAT.  I realized then just how important time with my family really is.  Just as a side note, my mom had surgery and is now cancer free.  No treatments needed except a pill she must take everyday for the next 5 years.  Praise GOD !!I'll take that!

The next game after that was an away game.  It was about a 2 hour drive on New Year's Eve Day but the pouring rain made it seem much longer.  I took the time to think about the past week.  I realized coaching was going to much different, the pink ribbon that would always be on my lapel and the pink "STRENGTH" bracelet around my wrist would remind my of that.  That was the foundation for my lesson that there were more important things than coaching and more important people than myself.  The Scripture God used for this lesson was, " Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too." Philippians 2:4

I instantly began to see the need of others around me, especially my players.  I had contact with them almost daily and because of my position, I had a great influence and impact on their lives.  God began to show me that they were more important then myself and my coaching.  He made me realize that their well being; physical, emotional and spiritual was more important than the sport of basketball and my coaching them in it.  They were the reason I coached but HE was who I was coaching for.  He took this seed He planted that day and carefully watered it, gave in light, and allowed it to slowly grow over the next few months until the right time came for Him to harvest it through the ultimate lesson.

Roller Coaster Ride

I feel like I have been on a roller coaster ride lately.  for the record....I HATE ROLLER COASTERS.  Never been a fan of them.  I have been on one small one and one big one in my life and if I NEVER get on another it will be too soon.  I think i was brainwashed to get on them them.  But, that's beside the point so ... moving on.

AS I was patiently waiting for the summer recruiting to start, I got an unexpected notice that my services would no be needed at the college and it seemed the downhill spiral began.  I must saw I was devastated and that is probably an understatement.  I felt disrespected, depressed, and discarded.  I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die.  For days I walked around in a fog trying to go about my regular routine, but the anger I felt would not go away.  Finally a friend and co-worker asked me what was wrong.  After some struggle I finely said it out loud and suddenly the fog began to clear, extremely slowly.  Somehow, just saying it out loud seemed to begin to put things in perspective.  It was then that God began to use this lowest point in my life to teach me on of the greatest lessons I have learned so far.  It has been a month since I first got that unexpected notice and today I think I finally got off the roller coaster.  God has and still is teaching me so many things about myself and my coaching.  What seems most amazing about it is that I haven't learned these before.  And I know that its not because God wasn't there trying to tell me, its just that I was so caught up in things that I didn't take time to listen.  I think He finally decided to make sure I listened.  Sometimes God has to do things to get our attention so we will just lean on Him and listen.  This was the case from me.  He had to get me to a spot where in order to listen to Him, He had to take away the one thing that I was putting before Him.  I know that's the issue.  I was putting my coaching career before Him and He had had enough.  So He took it away, at least long enough for me to realize which was more important.  He has taught me so much this past month and I will share more of that later.  But for now I need to continue to seek Him as I get of this roller coaster and allow my feet to get replanted on the "Solid Rock"!