NYR #2-Move from support to investment
December 30, 2016
Throughout a players career with IWUHoops, they begin to value shared experiences with others more than accumulating possessions for themselves. That is why we have been everywhere from the Bahamas to Puerto Rico to New Zealand to the Dominican Republic. It is why we have hiked the Grand Canyon and gone on a cruise. It is through these experiences that memories are created and the bonds of brotherhood are strengthened, allowing each man in our program to grow closer to his potential.
IWUHoops recently returned from a trip to San Francisco and Hawaii. The experiences from the trip stretched the team to grow in new ways. Go behind the scenes as we count down the days to 2017, and accept the challenge to adopt some of these mentalities the team learned as your 'New Year's Resolution' for the coming year.
Read past New's Years Resolution blogs at the following links: NYR #3 NYR #4 NYR #5 NYR #6
We all come into situations in life with expectations. For some of us, our reality exceeds expectations—and that’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? However, for many of us, we know all too well the feeling of reality not meeting our expectations.
I came into college with great expectations for how my basketball career would pan out. For one reason or another, it hasn’t panned out exactly how I planned it would. We have an extremely talented team this year and we are extremely deep at the guard position.
At first, I became bitter with the fact that we had recruited so many people at my position. It made it especially hard because most of my closest friends on the team are the guys at my position. We all are best friends off the court, but I’d be lying if I said we weren’t fighting to play on the court.
This year, we brought in a freshman Canaan Coffey whom I’ve known since I was young. I’ve known Canaan’s family for a long time and idolized his older brother who played at Taylor a few years ago. Canaan came into this year and began to play extremely well. In fact, he’s been having an incredible season for a freshman in our league. I love Canaan and consider him one of my closest friends at school. We have a lot in common.
Somewhere down the line however, I became content with simply supporting Canaan. I assumed since he was performing so well, he didn’t need me. He was playing well, and so I cheered for him and rooted him on to keep playing well.
Before our trip to Hawaii, I sensed the Holy Spirit firmly placing a word on my heart. It was intentionality. To be intentional means to make a concentrated effort. To be intentional means to invest. Specifically, I felt called to begin investing in my relationship with Canaan.
On the court, Canaan and I have always competed but been extremely supportive of each other. Off of it, he’s encouraged me and invested in me in all areas of life. Our trip to Hawaii seemed like the perfect opportunity to truly begin to invest in Canaan.
As only God can, he specifically designed Canaan and I to love nature, photography, and exploration. Each day on our trip to Hawaii, Canaan and I were able to spend time together just the two of us.
I continued to feel the pull of the Holy Spirit and finally just asked Canaan how he was really doing. Asking him that simple question led to hours of conversation between the two of us that included all kinds of subjects. We laughed, we were serious, and we truly spent time sharpening one another.
Canaan and I left that island closer as friends and teammates than we ever have been before. We’ll always compete on the court, but we also will always have each other’s back no matter what position either of us are in.
This New Years, what if you made a resolution to not only support someone of equal or greater status as you, but to genuinely invest in that person? What would it look like if you made a concentrated effort to build them up when the world around you is telling you to pull them down?
I think Jesus best exemplified this, didn’t he? It started with the fact that he was confident in who God created him to be. He knew what his mission was and what his role in society was. He didn’t need riches, fame, accolades, or attention to perform the task God had set out before him.
Would you choose to love like Jesus loved in 2017? Love with an absence of selfishness. Be confident who God has created you to be and push others to be who God has created them to be as well. You’ll be surprised how you end up receiving everything you could have ever asked for and more.
Micah Davis, Freshman