Archive for the ‘Freedom’ category
March 7, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. March 7, 2016
Yesterday I was blessed to be a part of a congregation that was welcoming back one of its pastors from a three-month sabbatical. Since I retired two months ago I’ve been on a sabbatical…sort of! I recommend it…before retirement!
The pastor focused his message on “rest.” Scripture talks about “sabbath rest”, a concept that we read about with a suspicious eye. One of the points he made that I typed into my iPhone was the fact that after Adam and Eve were created they started their lives with a day of unearned rest.
His point hit me! we view rest as something that is earned after a hard day of work, or a day at the end of a long work week. Rest, however, is like a breath of the grace of God. It comes to us because he loves us, not because we’ve worked hard for it.
Of course, our culture doesn’t think along those lines. We’re not sure if Sunday is the first day of the week to begin a new journey with rest; or the seventh day of the week to rest up after six days of battles and struggles.Most of us talk about Monday as being the start of a new week; Sunday is the end of the weekend!
One of the factors in my deciding to retire was rest, or lack of! Monday, traditionally, was my day off…my day of rest, noticeably at the end of my “pastor week.” On Tuesday when a new week was staring me in the face I wasn’t ready to go at it again. If I was an iPhone being charged I was only back up to fifty percent battery life. I did not rest well, or enough.
That thinking is hard for blue-collar Americans who go at it each Monday morning hard and long for forty plus hours divided over five or six days. To rest is too often seen as a luxury, as opposed to a necessity…or even a gift from God.
I’m now in the midst of that weird period- that time when I’m not required to do anything, but feel guilty if I don’t do something. “Doing something” is an affliction of our culture’s mentality. We connect value and meaning to it. When we rest the question that gets asked often is “how long are you going to rest before you get on with things?” Rest is seen as something we’ll get to do a lot after we die…R-I-P!
Personally, I recognize that I’m in a time of being redefined. People view me differently. I’m no longer “Pastor Bill”, even though it is a huge part of who I am. I’m enjoying this new journey, and yet I’m still a little uncomfortable with it. The book I’m reading that is laying beside me on the coffee counter here at Starbucks is entitled The 12 Week Year: Get More Done In 12 Weeks than Others Do In 12 Months. The pastor’s group I belong to is reading it. It w3ill be interesting to see if it has the effect of pulling me in to the fray once again!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Death, Freedom, Grace, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: Adam and Eve, blue-collar workers, first day of the week, graceful rest, labor, recharging, rest, rest in peace, resting, Retirement, Sabbath rest, Sunday, the end of the week, the rest of God, Work
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March 3, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. March 3, 2016
A recent study out of England has concluded that parental pressure in many cases causes young athletes to resort to doping to enhance their performance level. Daniel Madigan, a PhD student at the University of Kent, writes that these “tiger parents” push their teenaged children to high levels of achievement. The athletes choose to turn to doping in order to meet their parents’ expectations and dreams.
The pressure to perform has been raised to now be a pressure to be perfect. I see it quite often in athletes who are more afraid of not meeting their parent’s expectations than letting their teammates down.
What now seems intolerable is failure! The reality, however, is that every game between two teams has a winner and a loser. The middle school boy’s team I’m currently coaching has won most of it’s games, but the other side of that is there are other teams who lose most of their games. Is that a bad thing? No, losing a game is just as much, and maybe even more so, a teachable moment as winning a game.
How often, though, do we look at falling short as total failure? “Falling short” is the reality of each of our lives. For some of us it surfaces in our athleticism, for others it appears in our school report card, and for others it becomes evident in the falling apart of our marriages or separation between ourselves and those who used to be close to us.
“Falling short” is part of our DNA.
Enter into that a reluctance to failing. Not a “Rocky” kind of perseverance, however, but a pressure to win that causes us to cheat, and fabricate, inject and falsify. Having perfect kids becomes what parents press for, no matter the costs.
Little Johnny gets his own personal trainer who makes a living off “tiger parents.” The parents, however, expect Johnny to make them proud. They will not accept the fact that their son can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Johnny feels the pressure to perform and perfect and looks for that substance that will give him the advantage.
The pressure to be perfect is casting an ugly shadow over our schools and communities. Here’s the thing! Wherever there is some kind of unnatural or “unholy” pressure there will be an unhealthy reaction.
A high school junior gives up the sport he’s been playing since he was four because the pressure to be perfect has made the whole endeavor detestable to him.
A volleyball player suffers a major shoulder injury because she has overused the parts of her body that she spikes the ball with.
A student gets rushed to the ER because he has consumed too many high-caffeine energy drinks in his attempt to study for endless hours and hours in order to receive a 4.0 GPA.
A college student drops out of church, because his parents made him feel guilty all through high school if he missed any kind of church function. He began to think that God loved him only if he had perfect church attendance. Now he rarely goes, as he wrestles with this new thought of a God who is gracious.
The pressure to be perfect happens in just about any area of our culture, and it is often a very unhealthy experience.
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Freedom, Grace, Jesus, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: doping, failure, falling short, helicopter parenting, parental expectations, perfection, performance, pressure, pressure to be perform, Tiger parents, winning, winning and losing
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February 4, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. February 4, 2016
A few years ago a retired Air Force colonel showed me the stack of mail on his dining room table. Colonel Keyte was a staunch conservative Republican who supported various organizations that trumpeted his beliefs. The stack of mail was pleas from foundations, freedom initiatives, gun rights groups, veteran’s causes, and people who sought to make the reader believe that our country was going to hell in a hand basket.
I remember the colonel looking at me and saying, “I’ve got to cut them off!” He had discovered that for every cause he had sent a financial contribution in support of two more heads seemed to appear. His stack was sixty deep.
“I’ve got to cut them off!”
I’ve discovered a similar truth every morning when I check my email. A while back I got on the mailing list of one conservative group, and it seems “that dog has had a litter of puppies.”
Every time I order something on Amazon I get a few follow-up emails suggesting I might now like this additional product. Those of you who know my addiction to books will recognize that disaster loomed.
This morning my “Delete” button eliminated emails for Christian t-shirts, helmet stickers for middle school football helmets, extended health care, affordable life insurance, LED TV’s on sale, lingerie, financial aide for college students, jeans, money management, mortgage relief, and, finally, that two people I know are looking for me!
I began unsubscribing this morning. It’s interesting how some email senders make it so easy to get off the list. Find the “unsubscribe” button, click it, and a message immediately comes up that says you’ve been freed…my interpretation!
Others, however, are like a whining child who won’t stop asking for a cookie. “Are you sure you want to unsubscribe? Do you want to unsubscribe just for a few days? Is there a reason you want to unsubscribe? Please consider not doing it!”
Good Lord! It reminded me when I was pastoring in Michigan and we found out there were two people who were still members of the church, but were dead! They had been dead for years, but were still members!
This morning I hit the right button multiple times! It was awesome! And just in time before the political season really heats up!
Just a thought! Perhaps Best Buy should reassign some of the people who keep sending me emails about sales going on to actually being IN THE STORE! What a concept to have someone in the store who can help you!
Colonel Keyte would be proud of me!
Categories: children, Freedom, Humor, Nation, Story, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Amazon, Best Buy, delete, email ads, email overload, emails, political ads, spam, unsubscribing
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January 27, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 27, 2016
Sunday evening, around 7:00, Carol and I entered the Target store a mile from where we live. We went there to find a certain item, but left with five…none of which qualified to be the one item we were looking for. As we entered the store, squarely in the middle of the aisle was an enormous rack of Denver Broncos t-shirts. Less than three hours after the team’s AFC title game victory Target latched on to a fan frenzy. I doubt that Target stores in the other 31 NFL cities had Broncos shirts front and center on Sunday. Lord knows Boston didn’t!
Target identified a trend…”Bronco-mania”…and made it a part of their store identity, at least for a few weeks. Most assuredly, they will sell hundreds of shirts to people who are drawn to orange and blue color combinations like bugs to a zapper!
Trends are a part of our culture. Remember bell bottom jeans? Remember eight-track tapes? Those of us who are old enough…bought into those trends. Many of us, although we begrudgingly admit it now, had “pet rocks!” Every Sunday morning when I open the newspaper there is a thick pile of advertisements that trumpet what the trends are.
People look for trends and follow. I’m sitting in a Starbucks right now writing this. When I think of coffee I now think of Starbucks, because I’m a “coffee snob.” I walk right past the Folger’s in the supermarket, even though it is much cheaper, and head for the Pike Place. Folger’s is an antiquated trend from my parents’ day.
In essence, trends come and go like the wind. Trends lead us, but also mis-lead us.
How often has the church bought into a trend? Although most churches have bought into the trend of brewing better coffee, I’m not really talking about dark roast, lattes’, and decaf now.
For instance, we bought into the trend of convenience and started having worship services on Saturday night. I’ve got nothing against Saturday night services, but the idea behind them was to give people more choices in order to get them in church. Interestingly enough, despite more options worship attendance has dropped. That is, the typical church member attends less often than he/she did a few years ago. Making it convenient does not necessarily make it a driven need for a person’s life.
Disneyland is seen as being a place that kids become starry-eyed about. A lot of churches bought into that trend and tried to make their children’s ministry a Disneyland with Jesus. I’m sure that there has been some success in various places with that, but there has also been places where kids who come each and every week come out of that time in their life still fairly ignorant of the Bible. As their parents sought meaning in the worship gathering their kids were being entertained and slightly discipled in their age group gatherings.
I sound like a cynic! In some ways I am. From my cold perch it seems that the church has great confusion when it tries to distinguish between a leading of God and a trend of culture. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray he could have been paraphrased with the words “Lead us not into the temptations of being trendy, and deliver us from evil.” Scripture talks quite often about someone being led by the Spirit. Leadings are not always events that lead to happiness either. Jesus was led to the cross by the leading of his Father. Ultimately, that pain became our gain.
I’m wondering if there are more leadings outside of the church rather than inside the church. Let me rephrase that! Could it be that God is leading his people outside the walls more than leading them to do something trendy inside the walls?
Mission has always been grounded in the leadings of the Lord. Programs, however, get joined at the hip with trends.
Perhaps this year…2016…could be a year that we pray for leadings…and stirrings…even a whisper!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Freedom, Humor, Jesus, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: being led by the Spirit, bell bottom jeans, Disneyland, eight-track tapes, Folgers, leadings, leadings of the Lord, Mission, Starbucks, Trends, worship attendance, worship attendance frequency
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January 26, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 25, 2016
“…making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16)
Time has a way of getting away from us. It seems so plentiful and then it suddenly is gone. I’m sure all of us have come to the end of a day and said words like, “Where did this day go?” or, with a sense of frustration, “I had all this time today and I got nothing done!”
I heard a message in worship this past Sunday morning about the grasp that “Chronos time” has on our lives. That is, the kind of time that drives our schedules…tasks to get completed by this afternoon, meetings to attend tonight, places to be early in the morning, a limited amount of time to drive from here to there. “Chronos time” is the calendar I now keep on my cell phone that tells me I have the car to take in for service at 10:00, a granddaughter to pick up at 12:00, and a basketball game to coach at 5:30.
That kind of time isn’t a bad thing. It just is! It becomes a detriment if it squeezes out that other kind of time known as “kairos.”
“Kairos time” isn’t determined by a clock. In fact, it is almost like time is standing still, a moment or a day when the numbers on my watch are inconsequential. It’s that “God moment” that rises to the top of all the events of this day and is remembered for years to come. “Kairos time” is a sunrise that illuminates the front of Pike’s Peak in a few glorious moments. It’s that scripture passage that your mind becomes focused on that burns a new understanding into your soul.
“Chronos time” will always be a major part of our lives. The world revolves around it. But “kairos time” gives us meaning and depth.
I’m in my twenty-sixth day of retirement. The pastor who gave Sunday’s message didn’t realize that it was extremely pertinent to where I am in this leg of my life journey. I realize that most of my life has been focused on schedules and details. This month is the beginning of a unique opportunity to redeem the time.
And yet, it can so easily slip away simply into a new version of “chronos time!” I could become a couch potato and watch episode after episode of “Criminal Minds.” I could hang out at Target (Why???), or play one of the multitude of Play Station 2 games that I have never played. (Yes, I said Play Station 2! I’ve had it for four years and turned the power on twice!)
You would think that being a pastor would mean that “kairos time” dominated my schedule, but it often evaded me as the daily duties invaded me.
This month I’m perhaps just a little more cognizant of the whisper of the Father in the slowing of the pace.
Redeem the time! Listen closely! Let special moments simmer!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Freedom, Jesus, Pastor, Prayer, Story, Teamwork, Uncategorized
Tags: agendas, calendars, Chronos, Kairos, Redeeming the time, rushing, tasks to complete, Time, time management
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January 11, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 11, 2016
This past weekend I officiated eight basketball games (one college, four 5th grade instructional league, and 3 middle school club games), coached one game, and was on the bench for two others.
Here’s what I learned. There are a lot of parents and coaches who lose all perspective. There are very few times that players lose perspective, although a couple of Cincinnati Bengals’ players majorly go against that statement!
The best of the eight games I blew my whistle for was the college game…the game that meant the most! Coaching jobs, school reputations, school pride, recruiting potential new players, conference titles and NCAA post-season berths are all tied into the playing of a college game…and yet, it was the calmest and most enjoyable game to officiate. Players battled hard, coaches coached, fans cheered, and it was fun.
The worst of the games would be a three-way tie between one of the instructional league games where one of the coaches evidently didn’t get the memo about it being INSTRUCTIONAL!!!; one of the club games between two sixth grade girls’ teams, in which one of the coaches and the parents must have “Red Bulled” up before the game; and the JV and Varsity games I was a part of coaching, in which the parents of the visiting team were obnoxious, insulting, and blatantly immature towards the officials.
In those games only a couple of players had attitude problems, and they seemed to take their cues from either the coach or mom and dad in the bleachers.
What is it about a game that makes reasonable people lose all perspective? As a coach I value the opportunity to teach my players not just about the game, but about life…what’s really important and what is the chaff that will burn away? A big part of the teaching is the modeling of consistent beliefs and behavior. Some coaches create players who are “game-long pains” to deal with. They model that kind of behavior and/or condone that kind of behavior.
I hope I’m the other kind of coach that creates players who are able to keep perspective. During the Saturday game I coached, one of my players questioned a call by one of the officials. My response: “Sub!” She came to the bench and I calmly explained to her that asking the officials about a call was my job not hers. Players questioning officials is not to be a part of our DNA.
One brand new high school varsity boy’s basketball coach that I’ve officiated for models consistency and integrity. His team is struggling. He inherited a cupboard that is bare. As an official I’ve offered him encouragement even in the midst of a game. He’s a brand new varsity coach, the kind that our sons and daughters need to be influenced by. If I can say just a few words of encouragement to him to help him keep the right perspective I will do that.
Officials are not the enemy. They are simply the ones given the task of keeping the horses in the corral. Coaches understand that there are good officials, other officials trying to be good, and still other officials that will never be good. Officials are like a school classroom. There are those who excel, some average, and others who struggle.
The sad reality is that the number of officials is declining, and one of the main reasons is the loss of perspective by those who are coaching or watching the game. Officials in any sport can now get an insurance policy that covers death or injury during an athletic contest. Whereas most of those deaths are related to heart attacks, there is the growing concern about officials being attacked by spectators, coaches, or players.
It really comes down to a choice that people involved in athletic contests make. You either choose to keep perspective or you lose it! When people lose perspective everyone loses!
Categories: children, Freedom, Parenting, Story, Teamwork, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: attitude, basketball coach, basketball officiating, coaches, coaching, influencing people, instructional league basketball, modeling behavior, Officiating, perspective, Red Bull, sports
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January 1, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 1, 2015
Today is my first official day as a retired pastor. Coincidentally it meshes with January 1, a day linked with new beginnings. Numerous people have congratulated me and asked me what I will be doing in this new part of my journey. I’ve been thinking a lot about that and have come up with some possible ways to invest my time. Here’s a few:
-Become a gamer! I have a PS2 in my study (currently covered up with books) that I have used about…twice in the past four years since my son-in-law passed it down to me. I bought thirty games for it at a garage sale three years ago for a dollar a game. I could hunker down and strengthen my thumbs.
-Get a job! Actually, I’m applying to substitute teach. But another possibility is being one of those people that puts cheese spread on crackers at Costco for people to sample.
-Watch all the TV shows I currently have on my DVR!
-Cook!
-Start a lawn mowing business! I’m thinking “Pastor to Pasture” Lawn Care!
-Take a class at Pike’s Peak Community College.
-Hang out with the retired guys drinking coffee at McDonald’s.
-Get a personal trainer and become a muscle-bound phenomenon.
-Sit in Starbucks writing Words from WW.
So many options!
My “hope” is to read, reflect, meditate, and write. I have about ten years of Leadership Journal issues, piles of past copies of Time, the daily newspaper, and a lifetime of books. Reading is one of the main ways that influence my reflecting. Something appears on paper that resonates with me and causes me to think about what is and what could be.
Retirement will give me a chance to pause and reflect, sit and ponder, and meditate on scripture.
My ability to write is intimately linked to reading, reflecting, and meditating. The clearer my words get pecked out the more I’ve been able to ponder. January 1 is a great day to say that I will write a blog post each day of the coming year…but also a little unrealistic. But I will think and write, say some things that are taken as profound and most as ordinary.
Ask me how things are going in a couple of months and I may be able to give you a better answer. Right now it is simply dreams of what might be!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Faith, Freedom, Humor, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: blogging, coffee, Leadership Journal, meditating, pondering, reading, reflecting, retired, Retirement, spare time, Time, writing
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November 10, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. November 9, 2015
I never knew my dad’s dad. He was killed in a mining accident when my dad was in his early teen years. When you don’t know someone you miss out on part of the family story. You forget that there was family history before you ever were!
A little more of the family past was revealed to me by my dad when I was visiting him back in Ohio about a month ago. I hadn’t really thought about why my dad had been named “Laurence Hubert Wolfe”. He just was…that’s all! I never knew him by any other name and didn’t question it. It’s like breathing…we don’t think about it just is. For all I knew,
But there is a wonderful story of redemption and grace behind my dad’s first and middle names. His father, Silas Dean Wolfe, had a tendency to drink too much. Alcohol was destroying his life one shot at a time. He was losing his grip on things. My dad never said that my grandfather was an alcoholic, but he had one foot stepping into that problem.
When it seemed that he was a lost cause two Baptist ministers came into his life and walked with him through the struggles. They stayed beside him in the midst of the temptations, and lifted him out of the depths. The names of the two Baptist ministers were “Laurence” and “Hubert.” The impact of their tough love and restorative grace was so profound that my father bears their names as his names.
For many of us, our names are passed down from one generation to the next. My two names comes from a great uncle and my Uncle Dean. Some of us are “Juniors” or “the third!” But my dad’s name…Oh, my! His name is a constant reminder that the depths of a person’s life can still be ascended from. His name reminds him of where his dad had fallen and how he had risen again. His name reminds him of people who come into our loves as messengers of redemption, stand beside the broken, and never leave us!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Freedom, Grace, Grandchildren, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: alcoholics, Baptist ministers, Dad, family history, family story, grace, ministers, pastors, recovery, redemption, restoration, tough love
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August 3, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. August 3, 2015
One of my seminary professors was Dr. David Augsburger, a great teacher and a Mennonite in the midst of our American Baptist seminary. That was 36 years ago and was my first brush with Mennonites. Dr. Augsburger dressed like us and was rumored to even drink wine, a reality that I was beginning to see was normal. In my growing up years I had only encountered wine on neon signs that said either “Wine and Liquor Store” or “Fine Dining and Wine.” My family didn’t go out to restaurants much, but when we did it was Big Boy and, without a doubt, there was no fine wine in the premises.
Over the years I’ve come to know a number of other people who are Mennonites and the men put their pants on the same way I do. I’ve even preached in the Mennonite church here in town three times when we do our pulpit exchange Sunday.
In recent times I’ve noticed hints of Mennonite beliefs in my belief system. The main one that seems to be getting stronger is pacifism. I’m not so pacifistic that I want our military downsized, but this week has made me think a lot about violence. In the newspaper today there were articles on a policeman killed in Memphis, a physician in Pennsylvania accused of killing another lion in Africa, a man charged with the beheading of his wife and pet dogs, an update on the Minnesota dentist who had killed a lion and the people who want him killed. There was also an article and action shot of two professional baseball teams in a brawl, and a listing of the various policies that the Ferguson, Missouri violence has caused.
In other words, how thin would my newspaper be if the articles on violence weren’t there?
I’m not putting a peace sign on my Civic, but it seems that the human condition and tendency is to push the violent key pretty quickly. Here in Colorado Springs a fourteen year old boy was gunned down by the 31 year old uncle whose nephew had accused the fourteen year old of taking his cell phone. Gunned down!
In Denver the James Holmes trial is winding down, the young man who killed twelve and wounded seventy at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. Yesterday bombs exploded within thirty minutes of one another outside two separate Las Cruces, New Mexico churches. Las Cruces!
About six weeks ago nine people were killed in a Charleston, South Carolina church in the midst of a prayer service.
There just seems to be an unhealthy trend going on here! So I’m leaning towards the Mennonites. American Baptists have a strong history of non-violence also, but we’re not quite as committed across the denomination like our Mennonite friends.
Bottom line! There needs to be an immediate increase in the production of “chill pills.”
Peace out!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Death, Freedom, Grace, Jesus, Nation, Pastor, Prayer, Story
Tags: American Baptist, bench-clearing brawl, Charleston Church shooting, chill pill, Desmond Smith, James Holmes, Las Cruces church bombings, Memphis police killed, Mennonite beliefs, Mennonites, Minnesota dentist, shootings, violence
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July 31, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. July 31, 2015
As a high school basketball coach and a middle school football coach I am around adolescent athletes a good bit each week. I love relating to them, seeing them create life-long friendships with teammates, and improving on their skills and understanding of the sport they are competing in.
There is growing concern about a multitude of things related to middle school and high school sports. “Helicopter parents” is a new term that is used to describe parents who are always hovering over their children to make sure that the coaches are seeing that the next Peyton Manning is right there on their football field in a twelve year old body.
We also have the “transfer craze”, where athletes are changing schools because School A has a better team than School B, plus the attached thought process that says, “I’ll have a better chance of getting a college scholarship if I play for School A!”
Helicopter parents spend unbelievable amounts of money to have Johnny play for a club basketball team, go to several basketball camps, and outfit him with gear that an NBA player would wear…because if Johnny is going to play for Kansas, or UConn, or UCLA someday he’d better get started now.
And so grade-school boys are treated like celebrities and middle school girls start walking with swaggers because their lives are consumed with playing a sport…one sport…year-round…too excess, but nothing is too excess in the eyes of their parents.
We cut out the years of their lives where they can just be kids, playing whiffle ball in the backyard with the neighbor kids, catching fireflies at night, and having a sleep-over in the home-made tent in the basement made out of bed sheets and blankets and propped up by chairs. We eliminate the need for kids to just be kids, like it’s a wasted period to be avoided like acne, and we rush them into being grown-ups who haven’t reached puberty yet.
But the tragedy in addition to that is that when you don’t let kids grow into their lives it’s like cutting off a body part that will hinder them in some way at some time. Johnny gets to his junior year in high school and is sick of his sport, and he’s angry with his parents for making him play it excessively. Brenda’s knees ache all the time to the point that Motrin is her best friend. Tim thinks he’s a loser simply because he is very athletic, and his parents have told him he should be with all the money they’ve spent on him over the years. Judy can’t stand being around her dad because all he ever talks to her about is volleyball.
A life rule that we just can’t seem to remember is everything in moderation! Excess does not lead to success! In fact, more often than not, excess is the curb on the road to sadness.
In a few days my wife and I are having a cook-out for all the girls I coached for five years in high school. We will talk about some of the games, and a couple of our opponents, but we will mostly talk about what is going on in their lives now, the meaningful team bonding experiences they had, and the former teammate that passed away a couple of months ago. It will be a gathering of young ladies who have moved on in life and are understanding that the most important things do not have to include a round 28.5 inche basketball!
Categories: children, Freedom, Parenting, Story, Teamwork, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Basketball, club sports, Everything in moderation!, excess, excessive, helicopter parents, high school ports, high school transfers, middle school, middle school sports, moderation, one sport athletes, team, team-bonding, whiffle ball
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Words from WW Blog 