This picture was taken at the first round of the state tournament at
the University of Utah my senior year of high school. If I could
explain how much this game meant to me...Man it would take days. You
know that dream every sports kid has at becoming a state champion one
day?? Well this was my last shot at it.
Growing up with a dad as my coach, I was use to looking at game film
and dissecting each play to see how I could improve. Honestly, I
wasn't always the best sport about it but it worked so props to my dad
for sticking with it!
So let's have some basketball talk for a moment. Here's me...number 14
on Cedar. If you notice, I'm looking AWAY from the basket. (The basket
is in between the two other players not guarding me) That means I'm
not in a position to shoot the ball which doesn't make me a threat to
score. Now lets say I was looking TOWARDS the basket. I would not only be a
threat to score but I would have seen the little gap #4 and #22 were
leaving me. A clear path to the basket. Pretty obvious to see from the
view of the photographer...just a few feet away. Yet I couldn't see it
because I was too caught up on getting AROUND the two players rather
than go through the STRAIGHT PATH.
This was something my college coaches really helped me see the
importance of. Most players I played against in college were faster
and more athletic than me. So if I tried to get AROUND them...I wasn't
going to win. BUT if I was smarter than they were then I
wouldn't have to be as fast. As coach Visger would say, "make a
straight line to the basket!" The difference if I got to the basket or
not was if I was lazy and went "horizontal" or "vertical".
In my life I've seen myself and others make the same mistake. We are
faced with a problem. It seems too big and daunting to even look at
(like being double teamed) so we waste our time by trying to find a
way around the situation. We often call it "beating around the bush".
But really, if you just attack the situation head on, there's a lot
better outcome. Often times in life it's good to ask ourself the same
question my coach implemented in me...are you going horizontal or
vertical?
3 Nephi 27:33
And it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said
unto his disciples: enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the
gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that
find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death,
and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein
no man can work.
The "broad" way = basically all the court I was looking at. There were a
lot of places I could dribble but none of the ways I was looking at
we're going to help me reach the goal of getting the ball in the
basket.
The "strait" way = the very specific, narrow path that would have lead me
to my end goal.
People that love us, warn us and try to help us get through the
situation. If we are smart we will listen but a lot of times our own
stubbornness gets in the way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the same
way. The steps we need to follow are actually really simple and
STRAIGHT forward:
*Have faith in Jesus Christ
*Repent
*Be baptized by someone holding proper authority
*Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
*Endure to the end
Just as I was given coaches that wanted to see me and our team
succeed...our Heavenly Father wants to see us succeed. We are
given the steps of eternal life, it's up to us to choose which path we
want to take. Do we want to try and find happiness our own way...or
the way God has given us?? In basketball I have learned that my
coaches are a lot more experienced than I am. They know what's best
for me. Same in life. Heavenly Father has A LOT more
experience than us :) Don't make the same mistake as I did in this
picture! I can tell you...the outcome wasn't what I truly wanted. It
may have seemed like the right choice at that time of the game...but I
never got that state championship title i always dreamed of.
Fortunately in God's plan, there isn't just one state champion. As we live the way He has commanded us, we have a promise that we will all experience more joy and happiness than we can imagine...even more than the feeling of being the best basketball team in the state.
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