And the Winner Is…
“March Madness” is almost over. By the time some of you read this, the field will be down to two teams. The championship game is tonight.
For those who follow college basketball closely, this is an exciting time of the year. After a long
At that (to borrow a phrase) “one shining moment” in their young lives nothing could be better than that experience. Nothing could be more important than the title they worked so long and so hard to earn.
Or–could there be something more important–even to a talented, dedicated, and very good college basketball player?
I would like for you to consider some information about a young man who I consider to be a real winner. He had a stellar college career, but he never got to hold that championship trophy. After his college career, he has played professionally, but never for the NBA. According to the information I have been able to find, he currently plays for a team in Israel. Although he has never been on a college championship team or an NBA championship team, I would suggest that Scottie Reynolds might, in fact, be a champion in what really matters.
I recently came across some material about Scottie that appeared in The Christian Chronicle while he was playing at Villanova. At that time, he was one of their star players and was looking forward to playing professionally. According to the article I read, it seemed that all of that is further down on his list of priorities than his relationship with God and his commitment to the church.
I hope that you find the following quotes from his preacher as interesting as I did:
“Even after late-night, out-of-town games that might tempt less dedicated church members to stay in bed, Reynolds shows up to worship first thing Sunday.”
“He’s very faithful and has even taught our teen class. He attends worship service while the team practices on Sunday mornings. He goes to practice after services…He’s definitely a Christian role model.”
Consider, too, this quote from the author of the article:
According to a Washington Post story, Herndon (Scottie’s high school team, where, by the way, he was a McDonald’s All-American) was playing Maryland’s Potomac High School and losing badly in the first half while Reynolds was at a Wednesday night Bible study. (emphasis mine, J.F.)
But then Reynolds showed up at halftime: He scored 30 points in 16 minutes and brought his team to within 10 points, even though Herndon still lost. Herndon coach Gary Hall told a reporter that Reynolds had done the same thing many times.
‘The doors would open, and it would be like Superman coming into the gym,’ Hall said. ‘He would be pulling of his tie and shirt and sprinting on the court to save us.’
I’d like to ask the parents who read this to do your children (and yourselves) a real favor. Would you please turn your attention away from your child’s achievements on the field or court long enough to make a serious assessment of his or her relationship with the Lord?
Could it be possible
Those who are close to you and who really know you will also know of the regret. They will probably be too kind to tell you of their suspicions about at least one of the reasons for the way things turned out.
They won’t have to. Deep inside, you’ll know — and you’ll know that if you had it to do all over again, you would have done it much differently.
According to The Christian Chronicle article, “(t)he roots of Reynold’s faith can be traced to his adoptive parents, Rick and Pam Reynolds.” The roots of whatever our children deem to be important can be traced to their parents as well.
Parents, please do all you can to make your children real champions! Help them to win the ultimate victory.
And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. (1 Cor. 9:25, ESV)
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
