March Madness is not a new virus that is seeking to destroy mankind. Rather, it is the term used for the frenzy that accompanies the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and Championship. This year's tournament is highlighted by teams like Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA, Texas, and Tennessee. One of these, or one of the other lower ranked teams in the tournament, all have a shot at being the 2008 Champion. They would join a list of some great teams from the past like UCLA, with its tremendous number of championships under Coach John Wooden; Duke, with its consistent return to the tournament year after year under Coach K; or a surprise team like North Carolina State in 1983 under Coach Jimmy Valvano.
Virginia, with two-time player of the year Ralph Samson, North Carolina, with All-Americans Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins, Georgetown, with All-American Patrick Ewing, and Houston, with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, all had the better claims to be the best in 1983. But North Carolina State played at an inspired level and ended the tournament as the Champion.
Jimmy Valvano, also known as Jimmy V, was the coach of the North Carolina State men's basketball team that won the 1983 NCAA Championship. He died in 1993 after a bout with cancer. It was during his battle with cancer that his name and legacy increased beyond the basketball arena. He spoke often to groups and individuals about life and about never giving up. His love for family, his zest for life, and his faith stand out in his speeches.
In 1993 he was awarded The Arthur Ashe Award at the Annual EPSY Awards. His speech is contained in this video. It is a word of encouragement to us today whether we fight a battle of physical or emotional health or live a life that is filled with struggles and stressful challenges. Basketball is an exciting game to watch. The 1983 NCAA Championship Game is still one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament. But Jimmy V's words offer encouragement that will last well past March Madness.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
After the Big Day
As a Christian, Easter Sunday is a "Big Day" for me. While Christians live daily with the hope and promise that comes with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter Sunday is a focused day commemorating the anniversary of Jesus' Resurrection and celebrating all that it means in the lives of Christian believers.
But like all "Big Days," midnight comes and a new day begins. The focus, not the reality, changes. The truth of the Resurrection remains the next day and for all days thereafter, but the "Tyranny of the Urgent" (as Stephen Covey refers to it in his 7 Habits) becomes the focus. Important things, and some not-so-important things, call for immediate attention. Alarm clocks, drives to work, meetings, email, calls, and decisions quickly fill the day and one's mind.
Wouldn't it be great if we could hold on to the celebration and realization of the significance of the "Big Days" while having to deal with the urgent? Wouldn't it greatly influence the people around us if we could we keep the power and the goodness of the "Big Day" present and touching the people we work with, those we call friends, and our own families?
Somehow I know that tomorrow will be different than I would wish for it to be, but maybe this time I will be less overwhelmed by the urgent and stay more in touch with the truly significant. I wonder if anyone else has these kinds of thoughts.
But like all "Big Days," midnight comes and a new day begins. The focus, not the reality, changes. The truth of the Resurrection remains the next day and for all days thereafter, but the "Tyranny of the Urgent" (as Stephen Covey refers to it in his 7 Habits) becomes the focus. Important things, and some not-so-important things, call for immediate attention. Alarm clocks, drives to work, meetings, email, calls, and decisions quickly fill the day and one's mind.
Wouldn't it be great if we could hold on to the celebration and realization of the significance of the "Big Days" while having to deal with the urgent? Wouldn't it greatly influence the people around us if we could we keep the power and the goodness of the "Big Day" present and touching the people we work with, those we call friends, and our own families?
Somehow I know that tomorrow will be different than I would wish for it to be, but maybe this time I will be less overwhelmed by the urgent and stay more in touch with the truly significant. I wonder if anyone else has these kinds of thoughts.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Emotions of Change
Over the years I have heard many people make observations, tell jokes, or share their personal experiences of "going through the change of life." While I know that our bodies are created in such a way that we do go through various physical changes (yes, both men and women), and that those changes can have a great impact upon one's emotions, I am discovering that life can bring a whole series of changes at once that greatly impact both our physical and our emotional aspects of life.
In my life there are 5 specific changes that are in process that will all reach their apex by June of this year. Some of these bring great, positive blessing to my life. A couple of them are troubling at this point in time. Combined, they send my emotional stability into a roller coaster ride that requires a constant awareness that the God who created me is still in control rather than the roller coaster being in control.
A co-worker and good friend has been in either the hospital or a rehab facility since the end of January working hard to recover from a severe case of encephalitis. At the end of March, I will complete a preaching interim of a little over a year. In May our son and his wife will give birth to their second child and our fourth grandchild. In early June my wife will retire with 31 years of teaching in the public schools of Texas. Finally, in late June our daughter and her career military husband and their two children will leave for their next assignment in Belgium. And that doesn't even include that we had a new house built and just moved into it in January.
Now, I did not list those things for any readers to respond with either "poor thing" or "how exciting." The truth is that life is like that for most of us all the time. As a result, we experience stress, withdrawal, excitement, celebration, elation, depression, laughter, and tears. And yet, we make it through.
How do we make it through? We do it by love of family, encouragement and help of friends, words of information from a variety of sources, personal prayer, and an abiding faith in the same God who created us. To give each of these helps a good opportunity to function properly, I am going to take a few days of vacation to allow the physical side of life to catch up with the emotional side or maybe it is the other way around. Regardless, I want to be living in such a way that my body and my emotions are functioning properly, healthy and strong. I know what that takes for me. Do you know what it takes for you?
In my life there are 5 specific changes that are in process that will all reach their apex by June of this year. Some of these bring great, positive blessing to my life. A couple of them are troubling at this point in time. Combined, they send my emotional stability into a roller coaster ride that requires a constant awareness that the God who created me is still in control rather than the roller coaster being in control.
A co-worker and good friend has been in either the hospital or a rehab facility since the end of January working hard to recover from a severe case of encephalitis. At the end of March, I will complete a preaching interim of a little over a year. In May our son and his wife will give birth to their second child and our fourth grandchild. In early June my wife will retire with 31 years of teaching in the public schools of Texas. Finally, in late June our daughter and her career military husband and their two children will leave for their next assignment in Belgium. And that doesn't even include that we had a new house built and just moved into it in January.
Now, I did not list those things for any readers to respond with either "poor thing" or "how exciting." The truth is that life is like that for most of us all the time. As a result, we experience stress, withdrawal, excitement, celebration, elation, depression, laughter, and tears. And yet, we make it through.
How do we make it through? We do it by love of family, encouragement and help of friends, words of information from a variety of sources, personal prayer, and an abiding faith in the same God who created us. To give each of these helps a good opportunity to function properly, I am going to take a few days of vacation to allow the physical side of life to catch up with the emotional side or maybe it is the other way around. Regardless, I want to be living in such a way that my body and my emotions are functioning properly, healthy and strong. I know what that takes for me. Do you know what it takes for you?
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Weather in Texas
I live in Texas. That's not bragging, it is just plain fact. One of the chief topics of discussion in Texas (except for the Presdential Primary Election which is today March 4 in our state) is the weather. In Texas we say things like: "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a minute and it will change." We say things like that because they are true.
On Sunday, March 2, 2008, the temperature was between 75 and 80 degrees depending on your specific location in Texas. Sunday night and Monday morning it stormed with large amounts of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. Monday night it snowed. And now Tuesday morning is highlighted by sunshine and warming temperatures.
I wonder if when God created the world, He determined that He would like to have a labratory to use for weather experimentation. If that was part of His plan, I believe that He chose Texas as that lab. Now, realize that other than observation I have no factual information to substantiate this claim. But then most of us don't really need facts to tie down our opinions or even beliefs.
The emails that arrive in our inboxes everyday that we in turn send to others who send them to others who send them to others (spam is so appropriately named - no offense intended to the lovers or makers of Spam) come with no pretense of verifiable information but they often supply their own verification so that we won't check for ourselves. If we saw it on TV, got it off the internet, received it in an email, or read it at the checkout lane at the grocery store, it must be true. (Anyone need a Brooklyn Bridge? Get them while their hot. Only a few more remain. Today they are only $19.95. If you act in the next hour, you will get a second one free. This may also come with a set of knives used to chop down trees and slice tomatoes)
It disturbs me that we buy into lies so easily and yet we reject the truth just as quickly. I wonder how much truth I may be rejecting. I also wonder how much truth you may be rejecting (actually I wonder about you more than me).
The weather in Texas does keep changing a lot. Maybe it is a sign of God's gift of variety to us. Truth stays consistent. A person telling the truth can repeat his account multiple times without hesistation because there are no changes to create in the truth. Lies continually change because the teller cannot keep up with the story consistently because it did not happen the way he tells it. Today is an election day in Texas (and some other states as well). I hope the voters are sorting out truth from lies and voting for the candidates that best exemplify the truth.
On Sunday, March 2, 2008, the temperature was between 75 and 80 degrees depending on your specific location in Texas. Sunday night and Monday morning it stormed with large amounts of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. Monday night it snowed. And now Tuesday morning is highlighted by sunshine and warming temperatures.
I wonder if when God created the world, He determined that He would like to have a labratory to use for weather experimentation. If that was part of His plan, I believe that He chose Texas as that lab. Now, realize that other than observation I have no factual information to substantiate this claim. But then most of us don't really need facts to tie down our opinions or even beliefs.
The emails that arrive in our inboxes everyday that we in turn send to others who send them to others who send them to others (spam is so appropriately named - no offense intended to the lovers or makers of Spam) come with no pretense of verifiable information but they often supply their own verification so that we won't check for ourselves. If we saw it on TV, got it off the internet, received it in an email, or read it at the checkout lane at the grocery store, it must be true. (Anyone need a Brooklyn Bridge? Get them while their hot. Only a few more remain. Today they are only $19.95. If you act in the next hour, you will get a second one free. This may also come with a set of knives used to chop down trees and slice tomatoes)
It disturbs me that we buy into lies so easily and yet we reject the truth just as quickly. I wonder how much truth I may be rejecting. I also wonder how much truth you may be rejecting (actually I wonder about you more than me).
The weather in Texas does keep changing a lot. Maybe it is a sign of God's gift of variety to us. Truth stays consistent. A person telling the truth can repeat his account multiple times without hesistation because there are no changes to create in the truth. Lies continually change because the teller cannot keep up with the story consistently because it did not happen the way he tells it. Today is an election day in Texas (and some other states as well). I hope the voters are sorting out truth from lies and voting for the candidates that best exemplify the truth.
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