Noah's Basketball

Noah is playing in the San Marcos Youth Basketball league. His team, the Grizzlies, just kicked off their season!

They have played two games so far: 1-1. You gotta love youth basketball, especially 7th-8th grade. Noah's in 7th grade this year in the "A" division. Here's some pics...

Quote of the week

"I had far rather walk, as I do, in daily terror of eternity, than feel this was only a children's game in which all the contestants would get equally worthless prizes in the end."

T.S. Eliot

Sunday Update

So this weekend we continued our "Jesus Encounter" series with a look at the encounter with Herod. The sermon title "Less like Herod, More like Jesus" helped communicate how we can learn from the aspects of Herod's controlling, domineering, tyrannical life.

We focused on the aspect of control and manipulation in the context of our relationship with God and our relationships with others.

Here are some highlights...

************

"First the battle to get here this morning was huge. Control, yep, that was me this morning w/my husband. I truly needed this service for the Lord's gently flick of my ear to bring me back to the foot of the cross and allow Him to lead!"

"I need help getting off the throne. I also need more compassion for others!!! Just growing up in the LORD!"

"Just this morning I was praying in the shower about how I want my husband to do what I want and how I want it done. But, my issue with control is that I am too much like Herod and I need to relinquish control to God."

"Lord, keep me accountable to be a humble servant leader for you."

"God told me I am becoming the mother He wants me to be...it is a learning process and a journey. I don't have to BE perfect all the time. I need to pray for humility daily."

"Thank you Lord for all the trials and tribulations you have allowed me to encounter in order to trash my pride and increase my humility. Lord thank you for the continuous tranformation you have mind in my heart and mind and i pray you allow me to contue forward in my walk towards you, be by my side and continue to lead me in growth. I am forever yours. Love, your humble servant."

"I want to repent, and ask God for forgiveness for my sins. For hurting the most important people in my life. I want to dedicate myself to Jesus. i want to be a better person and fix the relationships I've damaged."

***************

It was really great to see what the Lord was doing within our family this weekend. Lots of humility and brokenness.

How does one avoid being like Herod? Three ways...

1. Build accountability in your life. James 5:16, Col 3:12-17

2. Balance your life with less thinking and more doing. James 2:14-26

3. Back up and get behind the cross. James 4:1-10

To hear the sermon, visit www.themovement.org/sermons


Thank you Lord for all that you are doing within our church body and through our lives.

Basketball..

So last night Noah and I decide to go down to the gym and play a game of hoops. We show up and find that there are a few people already on the court playing a game of pick up basketball. Coolness. It's pretty fun to play basketball with your son. On one hand, I say "pretty" because it's not always entirely "fun". I think I have a propensity to suck the fun out of the game pretty quickly for a few basic reasons:

1. I'm uber competitive. I don't know where it comes from but I can seriously be the worst player on the court and still feel like I need to dominate like MJ. Problem is, it usually turns out in reverse and good ol' JM shows up. Sans domination.

2. I'm uber involved with Noah's learning of basketball. Reading between the lines: I love playing basketball. I love my son. I love my son playing basketball. Maybe it's overboard when you point out how he can get better every single time we go shoot around. I don't know. Shoot me.. he's my son and it's a whole lot of fun to watch him grow up and play. As long as it's playing well. :)

3. I'm uber. Everything about me is uber. I take things to the next level.. almost no matter what. If I'm going to get after it... I'm getting after it. the way I see it..if I'm playing the game I might as well play hard.

So back to the game...we start playing a simple 4 on 4 game full court. It sounds simple. It's not. I haven't played full court basketball in about, oh, 18 years. You read that right.. 18. I'm the guy that plays halfcourt.. if that, and even that was about 17 years ago. I've played in little pick up games but those are the kind that last about 7 points and everyone is out of breath and reaching for their oxygen masks. Full court basketball in a crowded gym is not, not even close to, the norm for me.

I realized a few things while playing in this particular game, not necessarily in any order:

1- Young guys in their early 20's with the latest Lebron James shoes have no respect for us older gentlemen. They don't slow down for us. They don't pass to us. They don't even look at us. They outrebound us. They outjump us. And they outscore us. I stay away from these types of players. But I do like them on my team. It's a love/hate thing.

2- Old guys like to punish 7th grade boys. It's the only thing I can think of. Watching my son drive to the basket only to get held and then hacked and then knocked down by some crazy 30 year old with two adolescent children stuffed inside his skin suit and promptly weighing 250 lbs. can only lead to one logical thought: 7th grade boys must be punished. Watching this as a dad can make you want to fight someone....sans Jesus.

3- It takes about 1.8 trips up and down the court to look like a tomato.

4- It's still fun to talk a little better than you play. Case in point.. this guy was guarding Noah. And mind you, he's the best player in the gym. He's not exactly Steve Nash but on this day he sure looked like it... cutting, passing, coming off screens, knocking down threes. So I move Noah over to this other guy that's exactly a foot taller than him so I can shut down (see attempt) his game.

It didn't happen. See #1.

Anyway, after turning into a complete rendition of the hot sun. My face, normally the color of the inside of an apple, now looks like it has a fresh cherry-red paint job.

And the paints not dry.

Either way, it was fun and I love playing ball with my son. I spent alot of time on the basketball court growing up. Whether it was in the front yard on the latest hoop my Dad would get for me or on the courts of Grace Community Church when I was 10. Or playing in high school for the league championship or just playing pick up ball in the old gym at Verdugo Park in Burbank with a crew of aspiring actors, comedians, and musicians all trying to kill time in between jobs as a 19-year old. Basketball became an escape of sorts. You could be whoever you wanted on the court, if you were good enough. If you weren't, you watched.

I've done my share of playing and watching. Now I have the privelege, by the grace of God, to play and watch alongside my son. To see him growing, doing well, having successes and experiencing failure. Playing hard and having fun. Well, "pretty" fun. :)

What a thrill. May I never forget the blessings of being a parent, by the grace of God.

Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Jesus Encounters 11.30.08

A couple snipets of what people said this weekend at theMovement. The message covered the Jesus encounter with Satan and was titled "Defeating Temptation Through the Cross"

You can hear the sermon here.

....
"I have been very tempted to leave my wife, thank you for showing me that I was just being tempted. I feel stronger now and view the situation differently. Through the cross."

"Jesus...Thanks for letting me come close, for going through the cross, my eternal faithful redeemer. I praise you. You delivered me from so much."

"My biggest temptation: girls. Lord, I keep searching for the right girl because I want companionship but the more I search the more I realize YOU are what I'm looking for. Help me remember this always and please please draw me closer to you."

"Dear God, one of my personal struggles is overcoming what I went through with my wife some months ago. Holding onto that bitterness and anger in my heart. it is really hard for me not to think about. I have gotten a whole lot better, but the bad thoughts still come up in my head. Help me Father. In Jesus name, amen."

"Today I'm convicted. Thank you. I'm ready to go to the next level with my walk with my God."

"My wife is tempted right now. She wants a divorce and refuses to come to church. I won't give in.."

"I've had alot of temptation lately to go back to an old relationship that I know isn't right...I'm praying for the strength and the faith to know that God will bring the right person into my life at the right time."
.....

Jesus' answer to Satan was quoted directly from Dueteronomy 8:3. In context, the Israelites had just been given the 10 Commandments and given instruction by God to a life of purpose and blessing dependent upon, of course, their obedience to God.

Deut 8:1-18
"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Amen.