Where I sit matters to me.
Where you sit matters to you.
We ALL want the best seats!
We want to see everything....clearly!
We want to be in-the-know.
We want the best-of-the-best.
Most times we pay dearly for these kinds of seats...
We ALL want the best seats!
We want to see everything....clearly!
We want to be in-the-know.
We want the best-of-the-best.
Most times we pay dearly for these kinds of seats...
#####
During the years that Bay was playing basketball, I was given tickets to watch him play.
They were great seats.
Right behind the bench.
Not on the floor, but near enough you could see what was happening, smell the sweat, and hear the coach and players in conversation.
By virtue of my seats, I knew what was probably going to happen before it happened.
From time to time, I even had a sense that the coach had everything under control.
I rather felt like I was in the huddle of players, hearing how the life of the game would/should/could unfold.
Family sat in the seats on either side of me, as we were blessed with not just one ticket, but three.
Surrounding me were some of Bay’s biggest cheerleaders (in life and in the game).
As I mentioned, I sat in a great seat.
I didn’t pay for these seats, either.
It was a gift from the Phoenix Suns organization to me, as a player’s wife.
Nevertheless, I paid a costly price to sit there.
“Nerve-racking” - best description.
While I had family next to me, they were not all around me.
All around my seat were “armchair coaches.”
Even though they didn’t know the game as well as they thought they did (even I could tell this was true), they verbally, and as loud as possible, commanded the coaches to make certain decisions.
Then derided them when something went amiss on the floor.
The referees were ignorant, and everyone in the stadium (that seated around 7,000 in those days) could hear what miserable calls occurred down on the floor. Not only were they ignorant, but their eyesight came into question. My community definitely knew better how to call the fouls.
Their verbal barrage didn't just cover coaches and referees, but players, as well.
I remember clearly the night the man behind me yelled at my husband for missing a free throw.
At the top of his lungs, he said, "You'd think for $100,000 a year, you could at least make a free throw!!!!"
I stayed silent, but I wanted to say: "You try making a free throw with people like you in the stands, feeling the pressure of fans, coaches, your teammates, your family, and wanting to please everyone all-the-time."
I just hoped he didn't know who sat in front of him.
Obviously, these people in these seats around me paid the high cost to get this one opportunity...they longed to be heard and this gave them an edge over those seated in the nose-bleed-sections.
Place their pictures next to the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary.
We are like this in life, as well.
We want to control the script.
We want to sit close enough to be heard.
We want to inform the "coach," spur him on to better decisions, give input at the table on how things should unfold here below.
Our thoughts center on just how we can manipulate every situation and keep the "coach" in-the-know as to what is the better play to call...and we judge the rightness and wrongness of all situations.
It's easy to do this as long as we stay seated below...
When we are "seated in the heavenlies," at the King-Table we have the best view, the ear of the "coach," and the KNOW that we don't understand the game of life as well as we thought we did.
We grasp the concept that our heavenly "coach" really is omniscient (all-knowing).
Our eyes are opened to how wrongly we judge Him (as if we have that right).
We comprehend that He's got everything planned out, and nothing will thwart that plan (not even our advice).
His character assures us that, indeed, He, faithfully, watches over and loves His own deeply (our good is always in His heartfelt decisions).
If we fail to "take our seat," we'll live fearful, fretting, anxious, discouraged, and uncertain in the face of life.
It's why the Lord God gifted us with a new seat right next to Him.
As we sit with Him, we get to know His heart.
As we sit with Him, we get a better view of what He's doing below.
As we sit with Him, we trust Him more.
We may not understand everything He's doing, but because we KNOW HIM BETTER, we grasp the truth that nothing ever touches us that is not a part of a bigger, better plan that will be for our good and, more importantly, HIS GLORY---
As we see how He has dealt with the past, we're assured the present and the future are all under His mighty hand---
Most of all, we catch just how much He loves us, and we know that while being seated in His presence, "no trial can disarm us, no sorrow can ever disturb us, no circumstance will cause us to fret."*
Their verbal barrage didn't just cover coaches and referees, but players, as well.
I remember clearly the night the man behind me yelled at my husband for missing a free throw.
At the top of his lungs, he said, "You'd think for $100,000 a year, you could at least make a free throw!!!!"
I stayed silent, but I wanted to say: "You try making a free throw with people like you in the stands, feeling the pressure of fans, coaches, your teammates, your family, and wanting to please everyone all-the-time."
I just hoped he didn't know who sat in front of him.
Obviously, these people in these seats around me paid the high cost to get this one opportunity...they longed to be heard and this gave them an edge over those seated in the nose-bleed-sections.
Place their pictures next to the word "obnoxious" in the dictionary.
#####
We are like this in life, as well.
We want to control the script.
We want to sit close enough to be heard.
We want to inform the "coach," spur him on to better decisions, give input at the table on how things should unfold here below.
Our thoughts center on just how we can manipulate every situation and keep the "coach" in-the-know as to what is the better play to call...and we judge the rightness and wrongness of all situations.
It's easy to do this as long as we stay seated below...
When we are "seated in the heavenlies," at the King-Table we have the best view, the ear of the "coach," and the KNOW that we don't understand the game of life as well as we thought we did.
We grasp the concept that our heavenly "coach" really is omniscient (all-knowing).
Our eyes are opened to how wrongly we judge Him (as if we have that right).
We comprehend that He's got everything planned out, and nothing will thwart that plan (not even our advice).
We see more clearly that what is happening here-in-the-now will all be sorted out in the there-and-the-then.
His character assures us that, indeed, He, faithfully, watches over and loves His own deeply (our good is always in His heartfelt decisions).
If we fail to "take our seat," we'll live fearful, fretting, anxious, discouraged, and uncertain in the face of life.
If our bodies and souls stay seated in the stadium of life, instead of seating our souls in heavenly places, and seeking the mind of Christ, life will be MISERABLE.
It's why the Lord God gifted us with a new seat right next to Him.
As we sit with Him, we get to know His heart.
As we sit with Him, we get a better view of what He's doing below.
As we sit with Him, we trust Him more.
We may not understand everything He's doing, but because we KNOW HIM BETTER, we grasp the truth that nothing ever touches us that is not a part of a bigger, better plan that will be for our good and, more importantly, HIS GLORY---
As we see how He has dealt with the past, we're assured the present and the future are all under His mighty hand---
Most of all, we catch just how much He loves us, and we know that while being seated in His presence, "no trial can disarm us, no sorrow can ever disturb us, no circumstance will cause us to fret."*
We will rest in the Joy of the Lord.
(* I don't know who said this, I can't take credit....but it sure is truth!)
THANK YOU, ONCE MORE, TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED SIT-PLACES HERE ON EARTH THAT MAKE GREAT PLACES TO RISE TO OUR HEAVENLY SEATS.
Happy fall, y'all!
