Coach Andrade (rest in Heaven, old friend) was so mad at me in 6th grade. I shot the basketball, but was afraid to get stuffed, so I contorted left, right, backwards… hoping to avoid embarrassment.

Andrade looked at me and said, “If you don’t go up strong and correctly, you will sit on the bench for the rest of the game.”

I called his bluff. He was not bluffing. My knees still have red spots from where I rested my elbows the entire game.

From that day on it was go big, or go home.

They say we will fail, so do not set your sights too high.

They say:
We cannot keep every kid from doing drugs, so try keeping every kid from doing drugs and driving. You might get closer to succeeding if you are not aiming at the best.
We cannot help every family stay strong together, so try convincing them to stay in it for the kids. You might win one battle in the war.

I am all for being a realist, but I have some essential problems with the idea of setting my goals at an attainable level. Following are two reasons I would rather attempt awesome than mediocre.

1. We will not accomplish something original if we only hope to accomplish something everyone else is doing.

2. If I am going to fall anyway, why not fall from the top. (Or, if I loose 2 feet no matter what, but I start at ten feet, then I will end up at 8 feet – which is where everyone else was when they started falling.)

I think this might have been what Jesus meant in John 8:11 when he told the adulterer to go and sin no more. Shoot the ball, girl! I have the BEST reserved for you, and you are settling for pretty good.

In my professional life, my family life, my spiritual life, I do not want to sit on the bench.

Jesus, You catch me when I fall, thank You. I want to fall because I was going for the slam dunk and missed. I do not want to fall because I fell asleep on the bench.