Worship

I got a really good, faithful friend that comes to the school and does work for us every weekend. He’s done landscaping, stained stairs to our portables, painted a hallway, painted some more in the gym and the gym bathrooms. It’s his way of giving back. Every weekend he puts in a few hours. He asks what I need done at the school and he goes up there and works. Nobody knows he does it. He wouldn’t tell you about it. He’s that kind of guy. It’s not about him being recognized. It’s about him doing something for someone else. I think that’s really cool. 

Today I went up to the school to leave a key so he could wash out his brushes. My son rode with me. We cut up in the gym a little while and then Ty wanted to play with some of the blocks that he saw in the PE equipment room. While he was doing that, I thought I would get some shots up. It’s been a long time.

The gym is a special place for me. In high school it was my release. I poured my heart into it, like I do most everything...committed, loyal, all out, reckless might be a better word. Good times and bad in my life, I’ve always felt at home in a gym. The sound of the ball bouncing on the hardwood. The rip of the net. The squeak of the shoes on the floor. My first impulse is always, “Man I love this game.” Probably more than a person should love any game. 

I don’t really know what came over me in that gym today. But I know this, it was sacred. It was holy. My mind was flooded with all the things the game of basketball has done for me. I learned life through it. I learned people. It taught me to give my all, be my best, be a friend, and life ain’t about me. It taught me to deal with uncertainty, chaos, selfishness, difficult people, and so much more. It changed my life. 

And as I continued to shoot that basketball today, I transitioned from a full mind to a full heart. Remembering back over all the relationships that my life has touched through the game of basketball is the greatest blessing that it has ever given me. And as I thought about all those kids, their families, their girlfriends and everyone else in their life that I was blessed to touch...I came to tears. 

I was in my sanctuary. My house of worship. The place the Lord gave me to glorify His name. And I think that’s really cool too. I hope the lives of all those boys are better because they called me “coach.” I pray I left an influence that will touch their hearts and transform their character long after the days where we were on that same hardwood together. I used to say, “I’ll know how good of a coach I was when I see what kind of men you grow up to be.” I hope they know how much I meant that when they were in my sanctuary. 

I miss my sanctuary. I miss my congregation. Life moves us on to different places at different times. They are all a different kind of special. I miss parts of every phase of my life, but mostly just the people from each one. It will be a beautiful reunion in the clouds one day. If I did my job well, that is. 

My heart for you to hear tonight is this...you have a sanctuary. A house of worship. Maybe several. I’m not talking about where you attend a worship service. I’m talking about the places God gives you to touch the hearts of people...for His glory. Paul calls it becoming a living sacrifice. It’s your place of “true and proper worship,” he says in Romans 12:1. It may be a gym or a field, a classroom, heck it may even be a flower shop. It may be a place of business, or where you volunteer time, or just your home. But there is no truer expression of worshipping God, than when you use your gifts for someone else, to His glory. And most of us aren’t doing that inside a church building. 

I pray today for you to be completely at peace in your sanctuary. I pray it changes someone else’s life somehow. There is nothing like that feeling. It comes from God. It is holy. It is special. It is worship. And I pray all of your life, the big and the small, is worship. It’s what you were created for.