Sunday, June 13, 2010

People with Chips


People who have a "chip on the shoulder" annoy me. They're not much fun to hang with. Every encounter seems to be problematic. You can easily spot a person with a chip. They're the ones who are easily offended; hypersensitive; defensive and judgmental.

They seem angry most of the time and they have this certain condescending "air of superiority" attitude over you. A lot of people with chips are obsessed with politics-Left and Right. They bottom feed on the ideological extremes. I know, I know, not all those who are politically involved have chips. I mean, after all, "Some of my best friends are 'political junkies'" on both sides.

I'm talking about folks like "the purveyors of political correctness" now they have big chips. They possess this "vulgar urge" to make moral pronouncements and assign evil intentions to those who disagree with them. I'm also talking about the people with chips in our churches that are quick to moralize and bring condemnation on the "spiritual inferior." For these people, I have nothing but disdain for.

But most people with chips are deeply insecure and they find some meaning from their "chip"-I did. I walked around for years with a chip on my shoulder. I lashed out on a world that I thought had "wronged me." I was angry and had no direction-until I turned 19. That's when a new life began-I accepted Jesus into my life.

I want to say my chip miraculously fell off right then-but it didn't. Something did happen though. I began to see the chip as an open wound that had yet to heal. It appeared the further I walked along my faith journey, God's grace was becoming larger and my chip was becoming smaller. It's not over but there are signs of "chip shrinkage."

One sign is my priorities have changed-like the relevance of politics in my life. I was once a "winger" and politics and my faith became blurred. After a while I began to realize politics was informing my faith and not the other way around. Today one of the best compliments I could receive from someone would be for them to say "I don't know much about his politics, but I know he's a man of God."

When chips become smaller-life becomes larger. There is a certain freedom you feel when your chip is no longer weighing you down.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

A Man of Character: John Wooden R.I.P


October 14, 1910 to June 4, 2010
"They don't make em like Coach Wooden anymore." A giant of a man left the court of life, four months prior to reaching the century mark (October 14, 1910 to June 4, 2010).

God brought him off the bench to play on his starting team. John Wooden-the Wizard of Westwood-built one of the greatest sport dynasty's of our era at UCLA. The UCLA basketball program was the benchmark of excellence.

Considered one of the greatest coaches of any sport and a master tactician of the game, his lasting influence, however, will be felt off the court and in life. He taught us all about character. He once said "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Because your character is really who you are and your reputation is who people think you are." He had a love for the kids he coached. Bill Walton said "he was a friend first and then a coach."

He taught his players to love and respect the game by practicing humility, teamwork and love. We may laugh at such "arcane" values today-especially when we observe the current "sports culture" marked by self indulgence, materialism and vanity. Yet Basketball, as with most of our entertainment today, only mirrors the culture at large.

All is not lost however, because the Wizard of Westwood influenced hundreds of people on and off the basketball court who carry on the culture of character by living a life of humility, teamwork and love. His influence will live on. I think we all can benefit from Coach Wooden's life in his words and his deeds. We will miss the coach but we can be reminded daily by the many truisms he gave such as "Talent is God given; be humble. Fame is man given; be thankful. Conceit is self given; be careful,"

Coach John Wooden R.I.P

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