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Men of Integrity, Nov/Dec 2001
Something Inside Clicked
Theme for the Week: Vote of Confidence
Friday, November 9
Key Bible Verse: Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body (Proverbs 16:24).
Bonus Reading: Acts 15:30-35
We played "rat ball" in the high school gym before the 8:20 opening bell and during lunch. Fully dressed in our school clothes, we'd go at it, playing full-court games and smelling as sweet as a professional basketball team throughout the rest of the day. Coach Dick Gray, in his thirtieth year of coaching at Benson, enjoyed basketball so much that he came to school early and sat through lunches in the gym just to watch us compete. I watched him from a distance, intrigued by being so close to a legend.
One day right after we'd played in the gym, Coach Gray came up to me and laid his hand briefly on my shoulder. "You stick with it. You might have some potential," he said. To a frail, insecure 15-year-old this was like a reprieve to a death-row inmate. I could possibly have potential—wow!
From then on, I wanted to please him. Suddenly I was no longer in basketball to follow my friends; I was there to follow Coach Gray. I was desperate to make the varsity basketball squad. I wanted to learn, to excel, to become a champion. I had a goal—to make the varsity team, to play Coach Gray's kind of game, to learn from him.
—A. C. Green in Victory
My Response:
I'll look for an occasion to praise one younger person today.
Thought to Apply:
There is no such whetstone to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.
—Roger Ascham (English scholar, 16th century)
Adapted from: Victory (Creation, 1994) with permission.
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
November/December 2001, Vol. 4, No. 6
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Prayer for the Week |
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Lord, move me beyond preoccupation with myself to affirming and bolstering others.
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