It's amazing how life goes........

If we really, really look back into our lives, isn't it amazing? We worry and fret. We want to protect ourselves. We want it all, but................. we're just living.

Has there been any calamity that we weren't able to overcome, with God's help? Did those incredibly scary times actually result in anything that is of lasting significance, in God's eyes? Yes or no?

I have this guilty, uncomfortable feeling that there are some out there that may be thinking; "Yeah, right, Bill, how offensive is that!! You don't know about my ____________ 's suicide or how that drunk driver hit those wonderful people head-on and ________ (result). What do you have to say about that?" I say; "IN GOD's EYES!!"?

Most of our lives are pretty stable. Yeah, we've been anxious and afraid and all, but, look back and see; did our worries and concerns really result in calamity? hummmm?

As most of you know, I have been challenged (to say the least) with my career over the past few years (more like 15 now!!) and I have fretted and frowned and complained and cursed (yes, cursed) more than a few times about my situations and my supervisors and the lack of 'fairness', etc. etc. etc.

But, two Friday's ago........ I was blessed with worldly opportunity to succeed through my own efforts. I was challenged to structure and implement a plan. I have been given the reigns to 'do the right thing' and be responsible and accountable for my portion of the business I am in.

When I look back on the 'gnashing of teeth', the 'wringing of hands' the tears and cursing, were those all bad things? Was that experience for some other reason? Could those challenges and encounters and relationships have been a good thing? IN GOD's EYES!!

Psalm 149

1 Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

We are the people of Israel and Zion because we are the children of Abraham through our faith in God through Jesus Christ!!!! We are the ones the 'Lord takes delight in'. Because of our humility before Him and His plan, He has given us salvation.

Let us, His saints, REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!! in this HONOR and sing for joy on 'our' beds!!!

Let's keep things in perspective, folks. We are so, so, so blessed by Him when we Believe and act like we Believe.

Amen, love you all

Bill/Dad

Sometimes you win.. Sometimes you lose...

(pssstt, those are my snow angels, my grandchildren... hahaha)

Well, I wanted to continue with the Lord's prayer, and I will shortly, but, this week, athletically and professionally, I have witnessed somes losses and some wins, so I wanted to focus on these events from a spiritual perspective, of course.

The Camden County Lady Wildcats' season ended on Tuesday with a loss in their first post season game in Savannah. As Coach Ellis shared with me in an email, "This is disappointing, but not surprizing...." Man, it's disappointing to end the season earlier than you're used to.....

The Cardinal Spellman Lady Cardinals, my daughter Reilly's team, lost their first game of the season after going 17 - 0. The most disappointing thing was that it was to recent archrival, Archbiship Williams to whom they lost in the State tournament last year to end their season. During the post season, they will probably face Archies again down the road; gulp, gulp.

These are very disppointing ocurrences, aren't they? You know you wish and hope and pray that your team will win or that you won't be disppointed, right? But, life is repleat with disappointment...... why?

James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers (sisters), whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he (she) should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (her). 6 But when he (you get it, lol) asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

Man, it's a trial to lose!! I've heard; "I hate losing". Amen!! But, losing is a fact of life in sports and in daily living. "Consider it pure joy??"

"The testing of your FAITH develops PERSEVERENCE (a steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement). Oh oh, we're back to this faith thing again, duh, Faith in God... belief in God, faith in God. Life is all about our faith in God!!!!

So, the trials produce perseverence and "perseverence must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." There is so much more here to focus upon, but in trying to keep this entry at a reasonable length, perseverence when facing trials and 'losses' produces a mature and complete Believer in God!! And continues to prepare us for eternity with Him.

I was sharing with my Mom yesterday that my life should be a book titled, "Persecution". I only shared with her two real incidences out of many of severe persecution in my professional life that resulted in God's will being done; the sharing of the gospel and the caring/love for another person. Those persecutions resulted in God's will being done and my becoming more mature in my faith for the benefit of others in the future and, I'm sure, in my being prepared for my eternity with Him.

Sometimes you win.... Sometimes you lose, but, the losses are really wins if we apply the lessons from above; We're more mature and complete if we persevere. There's always the next game and the next season and the next experience leading to our growth and preparation for eternal life with God.

Amen

Coach Bill

How to Pray?

When I first joined the Lady Wildcats' I was really impressed with their prayer before the game. It is the "Our Father" or the "Lord's Prayer", and is a ritual that the girls conduct just before taking the court for the game. It is wonderful!!

The prayer is brought to us by Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:9-13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=6&version=31#fen-NIV-23296a

Jesus' preface; "This, then, is how you should pray;" is pretty clear and it has become the universal CHRISTIAN prayer by most denominations.

Let's take a look at what this prayer is saying;

1. Before the prayer, Jesus says; "Do not be like the hypocrites." and goes on to explain that the many words of the hypocrites and the way in which they pray; out in the open so as to be seen by others as 'righteous', is not the way that we should pray. In other words, He is saying to be earnest and focused on the prayer you are offering to God; "go into your room, close the door and pray to your father." He is not saying that you can't pray publicly, He is saying to be sincere and focused on the Father.

2. Also, 'do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words'. Do you know what a pagan is? A non-Believer in God. Again, He is saying; Believe in God and pray to Him in earnestness, genuineness, heartfelt and attentive prayer, because; "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

Matthew 5:9-10 'This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'

'Our Father' means just that; Our Father!!!!!!!!!! He made us, He sustains us. When we address Him in this way, we are saying; I BELIEVE YOU and I BELIEVE IN YOU. This is the basis of real FAITH. You can expect NO response from God if you don't BELIEVE in HIM!!!

More tomorrow...

Lady Wildcats; Think of this as you pray on Tuesday before your game. Believe in Him, ask Him for His will to be done during this BIG game on Tuesday. Ask Him to strengthen you, to inspire you, to enliven you and your teammates and for the other team to play their best and to grow in the knowledge of God. If I'm not there with you, I will be praying for you all during the game.

Be warriors, for Him.

Coach Bill

Easy Win.... hmmmm?

Hey All;

The Lady Wildcats did their thing last night and overpowered the visiting team with a win by, mmmm, about 50 points, I think. It was a nice effort with alot of individual play that resulted in 25% from the floor in the first half and about 32% in the second half.

We had a great locker room discussion prompted by Coach Ellis' word for the day; Accountability. I believe his focus is on the remaining games up to the Regional Tournament and, then, into the State Tournament.

What is Accountability? The dictionary definition is; "the state of being accountable, liable or answerable". I defined it as being responsible, but if it's not accomplished, and you were accountable, you would be punished. I like answerable better, lol.

As I thought about that from a Faith and sports perspective, I realized that it might apply to the individual and the team. We are, of course, accountable to God for our Faith and our private lives as well as our decisions and actions. We are accountable to our parents. We are accountable to our studies, our friends and.... our teammates. In basketball, we are accountable to do our job, to be ready to play, to know the system, the schemes, the opposing team and players and to ..... our teammates. Our teammates are accountable to us in the same way.

What does that mean??

Romans 12

Living Sacrifices

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers (sisters), in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (Accountability).

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,

5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

We are all accountable for the gifts given us and how the use of those gifts contribute to the whole of the body of Christ and, in regard to our team effort for the rest of the season, accountable to our teammates to be ready to play and play as a team!!

Amen

Coach Bill

Gettin' Into It Again

Welcome all you who are heavy laden...?

Just kidding, that's just what I thought when I began with 'welcome'...

Welcome, CCHS Wildcat Girls Basketball team!!!! Glad you're joining in now... I'll try to keep it a reasonable length, but there's really going to be some 'meat' on this bone, so I'll be asking you to participate both here and when we meet at the gym, etc.

So, last night was a terrific second half and a very nice win. I think it was 18 points or so, right? What a different team you were in the second half. Coach Ellis told me that was the way you should have been playing all year. Cool!!!

This is what I read to you last night;

Psalm 136

1. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever
2. Give thanks to the God of gods, his love endures forever
3. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, his love endures forever
4. To him alone who does great wonders, his love endures forever

5. Who by his understanding made the heavens, his love endures forever

I said that "God is real"!! This fact is the beginning of life and must be believed in order to understand life. Period!! We're all in various places in our inner lives; Believing in Him, not believing, sorta believing, kinda believing, sceptical, frustrated, angry, critical.... but, it comes down to two things; Believing and Not-Believing. Hopefully if you're on the Non-Believing side you'll give this forum a chance by reading and participating. Go ahead, ask the hard questions and see if we can't stump Coach Bill, lol!!

I talked about the fact that God had you there in that locker room, in that gym, with those girls, in Camden County, playing or sitting on the bench because he meant that to be the case. That is where he wanted you to be at that time. I alluded to the fact that it was Him that ordained your life. It was Him that has blessed us all to be alive and playing basketball and on that Varsity team, etc., etc. This will be the theme of much of my writings and encouragement when I am with you.

The last verse I read was;

Psalm 138

8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands. Amen....

Now, the next verse is incredible relative to all the things I said above................ read it...... by clicking here;

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=139&version=31

Hey, when I see you next, can someone please tell me what the definition of 'character' is?

Love ya.... Go Lady Wildcats. Big game tonight!!!!!! Be ready, in HIM!!!

Coach Bill