Are you ready?

This summer I decided to lace my basketball shoes back up for a summer league that takes place here in Omaha. I am officially done with ultra competitive basketball and am now just out there for the opportunity to practice what it means to “Do Sports God’s Way” while taking in a little exercise. This experience has given me the chance to make a very interesting observation.

The league itself is made up of former college and professional players along with current college and professional players. As I watch the current players it dawns on me from time to time that this is their job for the stage of life that they are in right now. Knowing that, I see some drastic differences between the ways that guys go about there training. John Turek is a former teammate of mine from the University of Nebraska and I watch him play in the games like it is the last one he will ever play. I ask him what he does during the day and he rattles off a very exhaustive list of things that he does in order for him to continue preparing for the upcoming season for overseas professional basketball. On the other side I see guys that are also professional players who walk up and down the court and obviously have allowed themselves to become terribly out of shape during their off season. The result of this behavior will be obvious when these guys check back into their respective teams for preseason workouts. John will be ready while those other guys will not.

It reminds me of how many of us approach life in our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says in II Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.”

When faced with temptations, struggles, successes, etc. will you be ready to check into the workout called life? If we aren’t in constant preparation to know God’s Word then the answer is no, we won’t be ready. If we want to compete God’s way and live God’s way then we have to know God’s Word and we must be ready to preach it with our words and actions at a moments notice.

Brian Conklin
Omaha Metro FCA