5th Grade Champs

5th Grade Basketball Champs

I have been coaching my daughter and her friends in youth basketball  for the last two years and today we were able to win all three of our games at the Pittsford Youth Basketball tourney and in doing so bring home some hardware.  More important than winning the tournament or any of the games today, I was most proud of the great improvement our girls made in the way they played.  We have been working very hard at practice on our fundamentals and defensive execution and today there hard work paid off.  Along with their development as basketball players I have been very impressed with how well they have adapted to the hard working/hustling style of play we have incorporated   These young ladies continue to make great strides in their individual work ethics and their expectations as a team in how hard they expect each other to work.  Sometimes we as parents or adults get so lost in the wins and losses that we forget to recognize the strides young people make in developing some of the more important skills in life.  Sportsmanship, hard work and toughness are three areas in which these girls have made great strides.  If adults can sometimes get out of their own way I think that we could learn a thing or two from some of the hard working young people in our life.  For example today after the each game I had the girls sit in a circle and we talk about the game and things that we learn.  We always end our conversation by going around and having each girl say something positive about someone else on the team.  What makes this group so special is that they will really make a point of recognizing everyone's positive contribution to the team.  I mean we can always pat the leading scorer on the back or talk about how great someone is playing but with this group they will pick out some of the small intangible things that their teammates do and we will all celebrate them together.

Today this group of smiling, fun, energetic, positive young ladies taught me how people with caring hearts can make others feel special and relevant regardless of how great their athletic status might be.

Lord,
Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to coach these young ladies.  Continue to help me be the best coach possible for them.  Lord be with each one of them as they continue to grow in both their development as athletes and more important as young people.

Love in Christ,
Scott

Frustration ~ Not Good

Okay... I am frustrated!!!

It seems that I have spent too much time lately being frustrated.  Here are some of the things that I am frustrated about:

1. I have a blog... but I don't seem to be blogging
2. I have a church... but I don't seem to be going to church.
3. My relationship with God is sometimes no existent
4. WORK
5. Youth teams and youth athletics as a whole
6. Not enough time to get things done around the house that need to be done.
7. Home finances

I will stop there because I seem to be getting frustrated with the amount of things that I am frustrated about.  Wow am I a lost cause or what?  Here is the issue... I spend too much time worrying about things that I don't need to worry about.

Matthew 6:25-27  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

I really need to stop worrying or being anxious about things that I have no control over.  It always seems to revolve around the negative things in my life.  I can't seem to break away from them.  I need to cut off conversations with people when I recognize that topics are moving toward the negative.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

This verse from Colossians is right on the money.  I really need to focus on what is positive in my life.  I have a ton of things to be thankful for.  If I were to focus on those things I don't think I could remove the smile from my face.  The Lord has really blessed me.  I have to admit that at times I wonder where in the world is the Lord?  I at times ask him for help and I am not sure if he is really there.  However my issue is that I spend so much time focusing on the negative parts of my life that I forget to see the way that he truly moves in my life.  

Lord,

Help me this week to be THANKFUL!!!  Help me to see what is great in my life and then lift praise to you for all the amazing things you have done for me.  Give me the courage to stop conversations that are not positive.  Help me to be bold enough to stand for what is right and not allow others (or myself) from participating in gossip.  

 

Bless me Lord!!!

Love in Christ.

Scott