eWell: October 27, 2010

by Luke Loucks

As a competitive person, I have always been very passionate about pretty much everything I have ever attempted to do. I started playing sports at a very young age and haven't really looked back since. As a child and teenager, I had to use every ounce of energy in my body just to keep up with my older brothers shenanigans. It paid off, and I am now playing basketball on scholarship at Florida State.

From the first time I ever laid my hands on a basketball, I can remember my parents telling me "whatever you do, do it for God's glory." Once I started to accomplish more and more, my parents would then say "God has given you a great platform, use it for the good of His Kingdom."

This summer I found out that I played my first two seasons at Florida State with a broken foot. I had to get surgery and have a few screws from Home Depot put in my foot to hold the bone back in place. Needless to say, it was a blast. From May to August, I was stripped of any sort of physical activity besides crutching around campus in the summer heat (which is really a solid workout). I turned into a whole new person, and not for the better. I was depressed, short-tempered, restless, impatient, moody, unkind, ungrateful for what I still had, and downright ungodly. My thoughts were negative, my emotions were a roller coaster, and I was acting like a 13 year old with acne and no friends (we've all been there). All of this ensued after I couldn't do what I loved to do: play basketball.

Taking a step back and looking at it, I think that God was trying to show me two things. 1. I loved basketball more than Him (which is hard to even type). 2. I needed to depend more on God for my satisfaction and less of the things of the world. See, many of us Christians like to say nice things like "whatever you do, do it for God's glory" and "use the platform you have to spread God's word," but how many of us actually do it? A lot of times, we take the things we are good at and turn them into idols. We become engrossed with our earthly aspirations and forget why we are here and who gave us those talents. We spend all of our time and energy and focus on our dreams and goals and claim we are doing it for "God's glory" yet we haven't read our Bible in three weeks, we haven't prayed besides a quickie before dinner in 2 weeks, and some of our best friends barely know anything about our faith besides the fact that we don't like night clubs and drinking water instead of vodka is the way to go. As I'm writing this I wonder, if I was stripped of my Bible for the whole summer, would I have been THAT disappointed?

I think a lot of us need to examine our lives and see if our passions in life line up with what God wants us to be doing. Just imagine how better off we'd be if we devoted half of the time, even a fourth of the time we spend on useless, pointless activities, and devoted that time to God. Girls, spend 10 more minutes reading your Bible every day and try to cut down on facebook stalking from one hour to 50 minutes and see the change of your attitude about the girl who has a cooler default picture than you do. Guys, delete one game of Call of Duty and 5 minutes of watching Sportscenter reruns a day and take that time to pray and see what impact it has on your life.

By all means, don't think I am saying to not be passionate and competitive and don't devote any time to something that you want to excel at. You can't exceed at anything without some hard work (Proverbs 12:14). If you're going to try to be the best at something you have to go all out. I am just saying to use the talents that God has given you, don't let the talents that God has given you use you. Read it again, it will make more sense the second time around. That is my two cents (I never understood why it's a penny for your thoughts, but two cents for mine??) and I hope my rambling didn't lose you. God Bless all of you and may God continue to bless the Well family!!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..." Jeremiah 29:11