"Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, move your dominant foot a little closer to the basket, loosen your hips and shoulders, and let it go!" I coached my kids' basketball teams for years and tweaked dozens of kids' jump shots. Nothing is more fun for a coach than watching a kid start to get it. I remember watching one of the girls I coached who couldn't get the ball to the rim with her two-handed shove-shot at the beginning of her first year, hit three-pointers in a game just a couple of years later. That is the ultimate rush for a coach!
The Power of Encouragement
She started her statement casually, “I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times before, but…” and then it came, one of the most encouraging things I had heard in weeks. She shared a thoughtful praise about how our Senior Pastor Greg and I complement each other as preachers. And no, I had never heard the encouragement quite that way before!
If I ask you to think of the most encouraging thing that was shared with you in your high school years you can probably think of that encouragement pretty quickly. Think about the impact that encouragement had on you. Think about how it shaped your life path. Pretty remarkable, right?
For me the encouragement that stands out to me was given to me as an eighteen year old by my Senior Pastor, Roger Barrier. He invited me to dinner and as we scooped spicy Albondigas into our mouths and chomped on Carne Asada burritos he shared that he believed that God would call me to be a senior pastor one day.