4th Quarter

Jeffrey loves basketball… watching it, playing it, talking about it, doing play-by-play. It’s pretty fun to watch him when he gets excited about making a shot (or when Duke wins).

He plays for two different leagues right now, and yesterday he had two games back-to-back. The first game was amazing, particularly the 4th quarter. Our team was down by a few points and Jeffrey decided it was time for him to step up and take the lead. He had such focus, such passion, and he ended up scoring probably 12 points just in that quarter. Fast break after fast break, then a reverse layup that left my jaw dropped open. And he was having a ball. Fun to watch.

During the next game, he got frustrated about a few calls and mad at himself for making a mistake, and he lost focus. I’m sure I’ve mentioned on here before that he’s a perfectionist, so he does not like messing up. He looked like a different player. And he was on the verge of tears. Hard to watch.

I really started thinking about the laser focus he had in the 4th quarter of that first game. He wasn’t thinking about himself or how many shots he could make. Jeffrey was thinking about winning. He wanted his team to win and he was going to do whatever it took to help make that happen. It was just beautiful. In the next game, he was thinking about himself.

I find that in my own life. When I’m looking inward, focused on my own whining 9-year-old it’s-not-fair ways, things don’t work. They are a mess, as am I. But when I’m looking out for others and trying to do my part for the team, that’s when God gives me a laser focus and passion to accomplish what He has planned.

We all need to make sure we’re 4th-quarter-focused. Ready to do whatever we need to do as the individual players of God’s team that we were MADE to be.

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