Category: stories

I heard a catchy tune on the radio this morning by a singer named Kris Allen. The name of the song is Gotta Live Like We’re Dying.  A good friend and brother in Christ who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma about a year ago shared a similar message this past weekend.  He described the change of thinking that takes place when you learn you have a fatal disease. Needless to say, unimportant matters become less important and the essentials gain heightened focus.

No one articulated priorities better than Jesus and his apostles, knowing their life was short.  Peter once wrote, “The end of all things is near,” then shared four simple reminders of how to live:

• Keep clear minded so we can pray
• Love others deeply
• Show hospitality
• Use what God gives us to serve others

Of course our enemy will constantly tempt us to:

• Be so busy or unfocused that we don’t pray
• Be so self-absorbed that we fail to love deeply
• Forget to be kind to strangers or to open our homes to guests
• Forget that God has given us gifts to use for his glory

The beautiful truth is that we can heed God’s Word wherever we live on this earth. Some of Karlyn’s Zambian team spent this past weekend in an outlying village. A teenage girl welcomed the foreigners into her modest African home. When the mother met her daughter’s new friends, she went out back and brought a chicken to present to the group. To this family, the gift of a chicken was an act of hospitality. To the Americans, the gift of a chicken was a sign of love. To God, the giving and receiving of a chicken meant his children from different nations were choosing to live in a way that brings him glory. May we do the same. (We have not yet heard what happened to the chicken…)

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised though Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” I Peter 4:7-11

School is well under way this new year and I have come full circle. In 1981, I entered my first year as a math teacher in junior high. After four years I started teaching high school.  This year I have returned to junior high as an algebra and Bible teacher.

Last week I connected with a school visitor during lunch. “Coach Davis, I still remember a math lesson you taught when I was in the seventh grade!” Rob was in one of my pre-algebra classes my first year of teaching. He was also a key member of my first basketball team. I was taller than Rob at first, but by the end of the school year he was several inches taller than me.

“What was the lesson?” I asked. Rob told me it was a lesson about math properties. “No kidding,” I replied, “I am teaching that very lesson in class today. What made it so memorable?” “Well, you were a little frustrated that we were not paying good attention, so you stood on your desk with chalk in one hand and and eraser in the other and loudly proclaimed your properties. At your crescendo, the principal walked in and asked, ‘Mr. Davis, is everything alright?’”

I decided not to re-enact the math properties lesson that afternoon. First, there is no chalk to be found on our campus, and second, I’m not quite as agile as when I was twenty-one.

I watched Rob and his friends grow up and make it to the state championship basketball game their senior year in high school. At 6’8″, Rob went on to play basketball in college, but sadly, he did not major in math.

Do you know what he has majored in for most of his life? With a lovely wife and four beautiful children, Rob leads an organization called YouthReach International that blesses orphans across the world. Most of his work is in Russia and surrounding countries where there are many needs. Rob and his fellow workers train mentors to lead young people throughout the year. The Light of Jesus shines brightly through this ministry.

You never know the plan God has in mind for a junior high kid.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” I Timothy 4:11

“Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” I Timothy 4:7-8

When the kids were younger, they would often be at Chris’ house up the street or Chris would be at ours. He and Taylor roomed a while together in college and have been close friends for seventeen years. So when Chris and his beautiful fiance, Lee Anna, asked me to officiate their wedding set for July, I was quite honored.

I love helping in weddings, knowing God has something special in mind for a man and a woman pledging themselves to one another in his Presence. I always feel God gives a special thought or Scripture for each wedding and Chris and Lee Anna’s was no different.

I was watching nine-year-old John take swimming lessons at an indoor pool in early spring. The instruction had not yet begun when John got my attention. From the water he pointed to a family of Indian descent sitting on a bench. They also were watching a little boy prepare for lessons, but I could not understand why John was wanting me to look at them. He became so animated that I finally walked close to the pool to hear what he was saying. “Dana, go meet that man sitting at the end of the bench… he’s a man of God!” The swimming lesson ensued and I went and sat on the same bench as the Indian family, more than a little confused by John’s declaration.

Every time John had a pause in his lesson he pointed to the young father sitting with a book in his hand watching his son take lessons. I could read John’s lips: “Go talk to him Dana, he’s a man of God!” Realizing I was going to be embarrassed one way or another, I walked in front of the bench and stood next to the father. I got close enough to read the title of his book: Men of God.

I learned that the man’s name is Daniel, as I struck up a conversation that eventually centered on Jesus. The book he was reading was written by Zac Poonen, a pastor who lives in India.

The next week Daniel brought me two books by the same author. One was a wonderful encouragement to look to Jesus as our Source of Life and the other dealt with the Christian family. In one of the chapters in the family book, Mr. Poonen shared advice he gave one of his sons on his wedding day. I knew this was the message for Chris and Lee Anna. Giving credit to Indian Christians in the wedding ceremony, I suggested that three simple statements might provide some of God’s wisdom for us all.

1. Be centered in God and not in yourselves. The hope for us being a great husband or wife or parent or friend is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus — not on one another. God shows us how to love and how to live.

2. Accept one another and don’t wear masks. Jesus accepts us as we are and this is the way we are to accept one another — no masks, no pretense, no hypocrisy.

3. Do things together and you’ll overcome Satan. There is an enemy who wants to destroy all marriages and all godly relationships. But if we live in unity and pray in unity we will see God’s authority and power over darkness and evil.

I’m thankful a little boy introduced me to a man of God.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20

(The three statements are from A Heavenly Home, by Zac Poonen; ©2007; published by Christian Fellowship Church.)

I heard Coach Mike Krzyzewski speak at a banquet in Atlanta many years ago. It was such an incredible speech that I wrote him a letter and sent it to Duke University. I couldn’t believe it when just a couple of weeks later I received a long letter signed by Coach K encouraging me as a high school coach. Our team was in the region tournament at the time, so I told the girls about my good friend Coach K, and read them the letter. They were quite impressed until I shared the greeting that proved we weren’t quite as close as I had boasted: Dear Ms. Davis…

Mike Krzyzewski and Jimmy Valvano were about as different as two people could be. One was from Polish descent; one was Italian. Mike had an army background and the discipline to prove it; Jimmy was a free spirit. Mike was direct, deliberate, and serious; Jimmy was spontaneous, emotional, and fun-loving. As coaching rivals in the same league, Coach K did not like Jimmy V at all. But when Jimmy Valvano was diagnosed with cancer, Mike Krzyzewski went to visit him. As he got to know Jimmy and witnessed how openly and honestly he dealt with a deadly disease, two former opponents became best friends.

In 1993, not long before he died, Coach Valvano was given the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY awards ceremony presented by ESPN. Coach V was very sick that day, but he reluctantly agreed to go to the ceremony. Coach Valvano gave a powerful speech, after which Coach K helped Jimmy down the steps from the stage. Two months later, Coach K was at Jimmy’s bedside when he died.

So why the turnaround? It takes humility to reach out to someone you don’t really like, but great blessings result. Coach K came to realize that his former coaching rival was simply different than he was. He grew to admire a person who was honest about everything and passionate about life. Jimmy V found in Coach K a man who excelled as much in loyalty as he did in coaching basketball. To this day, Coach Krzyzewski continues to promote the good work of The V Foundation for Cancer Research as a member of the foundation’s board.

I have friends (and you do too) who are going through hard times. We are not to shy away from pain. We are not expected to solve all the problems, but we can write a note, or make a call, or hold a hand, or prepare a meal, or simply be a good friend. Humility, loyalty, compassion, kindness, honesty, and love are the qualities we need and Jesus richly supplies.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…” Philippians 2:1-5

Thousands and thousands of basketball fans flocked to Atlanta this past weekend for the Final Four and Monday’s championship game. Louisville defeated Michigan in an exciting contest and recent Hall of Fame inductee Coach Rick Pitino concluded a storybook season.

Perhaps the greatest college basketball finish of all time took place in 1982 as sixth seeded North Carolina State team won a series of close games to reach the finals against tournament favorite Houston. After Lorenzo Charles scored on a dunk at the buzzer, a young coach named Jimmy Valvano ran around the court like an overjoyed kid. As they cut down the nets, each member of the team experienced the result of perseverance and a determination to never give up.

Ten years after that exciting season, Jimmy Valvano was diagnosed with bone cancer and became a spokesman for more important things. He talked constantly about faith and family, and he urged everyone to realize that time is precious. He encouraged people to do three things every day to get the most out of life. “You need to laugh; you need to set aside time to think about what is really important; and you need to move your emotions of joy or sorrow to cry every day.” Though he lived less than a year from his original diagnosis, Jimmy Valvano loudly proclaimed what his 1982 basketball team epitomized: “Don’t give up; don’t ever give up.”

Valvano’s motto is classic, but we all know there is a little problem in reality. Michigan did not give up on Monday night, but they still lost. Jimmy V did not give up in his fight against cancer, but he still died at age forty-seven. God wants us to have a mentality of courage and a willingness to persevere at every turn, but we will not live on this earth forever. So what is the answer for the inevitable?

“It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) With so many things attempting to consume our attention, we cannot forget the critical appointment we each have. Jimmy Valvano and Rick Pitino and you and I and every other person will stand before God and be judged. We will not be judged by a boss or a committee or a council or by any human being. We will be judged by the One who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. Each of us will see clearly His knowledge,  His power, and His love. And each of us will eventually conclude that His judgment is perfect.

So we all need two things: 1) A relationship with the Son of the Judge. 2) An Advocate or Counselor. And the most important advice to prepare us for eternity: 1) Get to know Jesus more and more. 2) Be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Time is precious.”

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10

“Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:18-20

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” II Corinthians 13:14