Learning from the Golden State Warriors
Basketball and discipleship mixed well on Black Saturday
Don Nelson and his apprentice Keith Smart, a one-time PBA import, where he played for San Miguel Beer in the late 1980s
While everyone’s anticipating the meteoric ascent of Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers to the top of the NBA with their red-hot regular season run, the Golden State Warriors, a team in search of identity this season, was showing some signs of what it is capable of doing come the 2009-2010 NBA season.
Golden State coach Don Nelson sat at the team’s bench during the Warriors’ 118-108 destruction of the disoriented Utah Jazz, giving his apprentice and current assistant coach Keith Smart the free hand to call the shots for the injury-depleted Warriors.
Smart, who only had seven healthy players to show, drew the best from his bunch of no-name bench players, pulling off a career-best 21 points from seldom-used rookie Robert Kurz in a game that humiliated Utah stars like Deron Williams and Andrei Kirlenko.
And for the 68-year-old Nelson, Golden State’s victory was a small triumph to his early 2009-2010 NBA season preparation. Already out of playoff contention with their pathetic 29-51 win-loss card, Nelson has said months back that the rebuilding process of the Warriors already started.
For much part of the second half of the season, Nelson has given little exposure to his stars like Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Corey Maggette and Andres Biedrins so that youngsters like Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph and even second-year guard CJ Watson could get the confidence needed for future NBA competition.
The youngsters may commit turnovers that could cost them the game, but Nelson stood pat with his decision, believing that that is the only way to progress and maturity.
Interestingly, Nelson also gave Smart the opportunity to coach the Warriors even though he could only cough out a woeful 9-31 win-loss record as interim coach of the Cavaliers during the remainder of the 2002 season.
Similarly, discipleship can be likened to Nelson’s approach– giving new and upcoming or potential disciple-makers the opportunity to do 1-2-1 with someone or give him a chance to handle a small group meeting.
This brings confidence and boosts their maturity level, thus, breaking the myth of maturity. If you’re just a few days or weeks old Christian, you can still disciple someone, be it your classmate, your officemate or your brother.
There’s no such thing as “I’m-still-waiting-for-my-time-to-be-mature”, because reality is, that will never happen.
Tiny Giants
Spud Webb. Muggsy Bogues & Earl Boykins. Three certified former NBA players who stomped their small basketball feet in the world’s league of giants.
Webb, the third shortest NBA player in history at 5’6”, was the NBA’s slamdunk champion in 1986, out dueling his then Atlanta Hawks teammate and defending champion Dominique Wilkins that year.
On the other hand, Bogues holds the distinction of being the shortest NBA player to ever play pro ball, seeing action during his first two seasons with the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) in 1987 to 1988.
His best years though happened with the Charlotte Hornets (now New Orleans), where he played 10 seasons, teaming up with Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson in bringing respectability to the team.
Finally, Boykins, listed at 5’5”, was the Denver Nuggets’ starting point guard, playing for the franchise in 2003-2007.
Boykins was best remembered for scoring 32 points on November 11, 2004, in the Nuggets’ a 117-109 home win over the Detroit Pistons, making him the shortest player in NBA history to score 30 or more points during a game.
Webb, Bogues and Boykins, in the natural, weren’t supposed to be playing in a league where players standing above 6’7” and up are a natural sight to see and seven-footers are regular fixtures of the game.
All three bravely faced the of the game, but more importantly, overcame the giant of doubt, giant of fear, giant of failure, giant of despair, etc.
If you read their respective stories on how they made it to the NBA, they didn’t get their million buck deals on a silver platter.
Each day, they had to make a decision to face their giants and overcome.
In life, we do have our own giants, giants that stare down at us. Giants that will always try to intimidate us. Giants that will try to pound us into submission as they roar through our thoughts and imaginations.
Israel’s David, then a shepherd boy, literally faced his own giant named Goliath. No one in Israel’s army had the guts to trade swords with the Philistine champion for the last 40 days.
As the Israelite soldiers and even King Saul looked at all the giant’s advantages, David looked at the advantage of having God on his side.
And win, David did. With a sling containing one smooth stone, Goliath’s piece of exposed flesh (his forehead) became David’s bull’s eye.
The giant went down with a loud thud. Israel went on to win that battle against the Philistines, but more importantly, David’s decision to face the giant created an impact that to this day continues.
What’s your giant today? Is it pestering your day, your week, your month or maybe for your whole life? Maybe it’s time to face your giant, not with your strength, but with God’s.
Alive and Giving Life
On Holy Wednesday, Ava and I were browsing on some late-night TV programs when we chanced upon a special feature by TV 5 with a topic on the Lenten Season.
Footages of people numbering to several hundreds converging inside the Baclaran church and Quiapo church were shown for a few moments, as the host explained the various reasons why Filipinos flock into various religious sanctuaries during this season.
The host cited reasons like: calling for God’s mercy and help in times of crisis (certainly, a lot of people do that nowadays because of the prevailing economic downturn as of the moment); religious tradition (two vendors from Quiapo said the practice of going to church has been passed down to them by their ancestors); seeking blessing while others say, for God to forgive them of their many sins.
The Lenten Season is usually one of the most anticipated religious seasons in the Philippines.
People go to the extent of flogging themselves with sharpened tip of a whip as they believe that doing such would make God forgive them.
Others sing the traditional “Pasion”, like the ones we now hear here in our neighborhood in Mandaluyong, while still others observe the “no-meat-no-play” tradition because Jesus is dead on Good Friday.
As I pondered on these things, I thanked the Lord once again for what He has accomplished on the cross more than two thousand years ago.
This verse in Mark 16:6 gives us the reason to celebrate, “Don’t be alarmed,” he (the angel) said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Yes! Jesus isn’t dead! He has risen! He’s alive! We don’t have to put on a somber face during the Lent. No need for self-flagellation. No one can top what Jesus did in Calvary. All we need to do is embrace His gift of salvation and His undying love for us.
This Lent, is a good reminder for you and me, that Jesus rewrote mankind’s history by dying on the cross, rising from the dead and giving all of us an opportunity to have a fresh and new start.
Expert Builder
My wife and I had been talking about child rearing the past two nights.
And during my devotional time with God, I was reading on one of Paul’s letters, the 1st Corinthians. I was struck by 1 Cor. 3:10 where Paul said, 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul was one of the Bible characters I truly admired. He was a man of great faith, persevering till the end and really a man of great passion for God and compassion for the lost.
With such character built upon him through the years he served Christ in the mission field, Paul described himself as an expert builder.
Paul was an expert by his own right, consciously building the churches around Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) under one solid foundation—Jesus Christ.
As I pondered on this verse, I zeroed in on two things—expert builder and laying down the right foundation.
In building a family, it requires “expertise”. My wife and I need to be experts in raising our kids—communicating the Biblical values and principles each day. Instead of just laying down the do’s and don’ts, we ought to communicate to Bea (for now since David is still a baby) with love while explaining to her why we discipline her at times.
An expert reaches his “expert” status not by chance, but by cultivating an attitude of learning.
The Apostle Paul was an expert builder in the mission field because he hung around with fellow believers like Barnabas and spent considerable time with the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27-28) as a new believer.
As a father, I need to continue learning by reading and meditating on God’s word daily, seek godly advice and draw out deep from the wealth of experience of my parents, godparents and even pastors, as well as read books related to family and raising kids.
Of course, the Apostle Paul acknowledged that, “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Foundation is very important. And the way to building a strong, firm foundation for the future of my kids is by building on the principles and values laid down by Jesus from the Bible, not solely based on traditions and practices handed down by my ancestors.
"Hope Full"
Yesterday, going to the Metro Manila Staff meeting at the Every Nation Building at the Fort, my wife and I were stopped by an MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) traffic enforcer just I was about to turn right at EDSA from a small street near Boni Avenue (Mandaluyong).
And the first thing I realized when the traffic enforcer stopped me was, “Oh no! I forgot to register my car last month!” Yup, the enforcer got me, bingo! (By the way, my car’s plate number ends at 3, and I was supposed to have it registered last March.)
I offered no excuses, I showed to him my car documents, and he charged me with the violation that I deserved.
The favor though I got was, instead of having my car impounded on the spot, the traffic enforcer said he’d just confiscate my driver’s license and I’ll just have to pick it up and pay the fine at the MMDA’s main office in Guadalupe, Makati.
Favorable enough. I got my license back this afternoon (April 2) after waiting for nearly 45 minutes because of a flawed system within the office.
Nevertheless, while inside the MMDA Annex (where hundreds of normal drivers like me are claiming their driver’s license or making certain appeals for having their plate numbers confiscated for violation), I declared a prayer of blessing to the MMDA as I was on my way there.
It’s hard to deal with the government these days, especially with the corruption that has been prevalent everywhere. But as I recall today’s experience at the MMDA, I was reminded of Proverbs 14:34, which states, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to the people.”
We regularly hear news of corruption, lawlessness, etc. in every sphere of our society. However, the things we see, hear and experience isn’t going to be for life, if we come to think again of the verse.
As Filipinos (and as Christians), we are in a position to pray for our nation, declare God’s righteousness over our government and serve as good examples as citizens of this country.
We can see change in our nation! The answer isn’t good government. It isn’t good leadership (though it’s also important). But the answer lies in our faith in God as we pray.
Instead of cursing our government and nation, why not say a prayer of blessing? Our “tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).
A righteous Philippines is on the rise in the future. You and I have a great role to play.
