Full Court Press
Excerpt from “Someone Else’s Diary, Vol. II”
By Ree
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
“Press!” my high school basketball coach would scream, and we 5 girls would immediately spread out in a 3-1-1 formation. The opposing team would attempt to inbound the ball to one of their guards, who would immediately dribble to one side of the court or the other. I always played on the left side of the court in one of the three positions. The middle position, usually Marion, would force the ball handler towards me, or Gwen on the right, where we would “trap” the guard by boxing her against the sideline. My foot would be on the sideline, Marion would square to me, and the guard would be forced to pass the ball to a team mate. Gwen would cut from the other side of the court and pick off the pass, or, if the ball was thrown over my reach, Erica, who would play mid-court, would attempt to pick off the lob pass. If she missed, we still had Jayne in the final position in the back court position to stop any breakaways. This didn’t happen very often, though. If the guard was trapped, we usually forced the turnover. It was a great full court press…very effective. And it took all of us.
The trouble with pressing, though, is the vulnerability of the back court player. If we did not execute and pressure the ball aggressively, the chances of giving up a goal were high. Often, if the press wasn’t working, we would drop back into our man to man defense. The key was knowing when and how to press, and when to fall back.
I’d been engaged in a spiritual full court press. My devotional life had deepened, and I found myself spending more time journaling, reading, and praying. Prayer requests had been flooding in and I engaged my prayer team in this full court press by passing on the requests to them. Sometimes, though, the enemy gets his breakaway and scores on me…he scored yesterday. He attacked where I am vulnerable…my family. Mom’s voice on the phone, broken and weeping was almost more than I could stand.
I laid awake last night thinking about all the prayer requests, all the hurt, all the frustration…everything that everyone experiences and I realized I could do nothing…absolutely nothing…to help. I began feeling useless, ineffective, and overwhelmed. It was time to drop back from the full court press and protect my heart. I wanted to run, hide, and avoid everyone. I didn’t want to work at this faith walk any more. Full court pressure is too hard to keep up for long. I wanted to sit on the sidelines and rest.
Pressing when the game is hard is vital to victory. Working harder is the only way we grow. It is easy to worship and give glory to God when our lives are wonderful and all is running smoothly. It is easy to run a full court press on a weaker team. I realized these needs and hurts were brought to me to show me that the enemy is right…I AM useless and weak in and of myself. I can do nothing…but for Christ. My game will not improve unless I press on IN HIM. I cannot win without Him. He is the ultimate “Ringer.” He sets the plays, the defensive strategy, the offensive strategy, the rules, and picks my teammates…everything. And I can either choose the full court press…or I can sit on the bench and watch the others play.
I never was much for bench warming….
By Ree
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
“Press!” my high school basketball coach would scream, and we 5 girls would immediately spread out in a 3-1-1 formation. The opposing team would attempt to inbound the ball to one of their guards, who would immediately dribble to one side of the court or the other. I always played on the left side of the court in one of the three positions. The middle position, usually Marion, would force the ball handler towards me, or Gwen on the right, where we would “trap” the guard by boxing her against the sideline. My foot would be on the sideline, Marion would square to me, and the guard would be forced to pass the ball to a team mate. Gwen would cut from the other side of the court and pick off the pass, or, if the ball was thrown over my reach, Erica, who would play mid-court, would attempt to pick off the lob pass. If she missed, we still had Jayne in the final position in the back court position to stop any breakaways. This didn’t happen very often, though. If the guard was trapped, we usually forced the turnover. It was a great full court press…very effective. And it took all of us.
The trouble with pressing, though, is the vulnerability of the back court player. If we did not execute and pressure the ball aggressively, the chances of giving up a goal were high. Often, if the press wasn’t working, we would drop back into our man to man defense. The key was knowing when and how to press, and when to fall back.
I’d been engaged in a spiritual full court press. My devotional life had deepened, and I found myself spending more time journaling, reading, and praying. Prayer requests had been flooding in and I engaged my prayer team in this full court press by passing on the requests to them. Sometimes, though, the enemy gets his breakaway and scores on me…he scored yesterday. He attacked where I am vulnerable…my family. Mom’s voice on the phone, broken and weeping was almost more than I could stand.
I laid awake last night thinking about all the prayer requests, all the hurt, all the frustration…everything that everyone experiences and I realized I could do nothing…absolutely nothing…to help. I began feeling useless, ineffective, and overwhelmed. It was time to drop back from the full court press and protect my heart. I wanted to run, hide, and avoid everyone. I didn’t want to work at this faith walk any more. Full court pressure is too hard to keep up for long. I wanted to sit on the sidelines and rest.
Pressing when the game is hard is vital to victory. Working harder is the only way we grow. It is easy to worship and give glory to God when our lives are wonderful and all is running smoothly. It is easy to run a full court press on a weaker team. I realized these needs and hurts were brought to me to show me that the enemy is right…I AM useless and weak in and of myself. I can do nothing…but for Christ. My game will not improve unless I press on IN HIM. I cannot win without Him. He is the ultimate “Ringer.” He sets the plays, the defensive strategy, the offensive strategy, the rules, and picks my teammates…everything. And I can either choose the full court press…or I can sit on the bench and watch the others play.
I never was much for bench warming….
posted by Ree @ 10:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home