"WHY ARE YOU HERE THEN?"
FIRST, A DISCLAIMER (OR TWO.) SINCE THE EARLY '80'S, I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF THE BOSTON CELTICS - AND I STILL HAVE A LARRY BIRD ORNAMENT THAT HANGS ON OUR CHRISTMAS TREE EVERY YEAR. ALSO, I HAVE NOT WATCHED THE NBA WITH ANY REGULARITY SINCE I WENT TO COLLEGE AND LIFE INTERVENED (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 2008 & 2010 NBA FINALS WHEN THE CELTICS AND LAKERS PLAYED IN THE FINALS.)
It is definitely one of those, "I remember where I was when I heard the news," moments that hits society most unexpectedly. Logan Bourgeois walked in just before our Trustees meeting and told me that he had just gotten notification that Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash. I was stunned, but couldn't give it much more thought because I was headed into the first of two meetings I had on my plate yesterday afternoon.
When I got home, and especially after we got the kids to bed, I absorbed as much as I could about all of the news concerning the fatal crash that took the lives of eight people and Kobe Bryant. While I did not watch a great deal of the NBA during his career, he still got my attention from time-to-time. His last game, where he scored 60 points on 50 shots, remains the last regular-season NBA game I've watched from beginning to end - and I watched as one who wanted to see history, not one who was a fan of the Lakers or Kobe. There was no doubting his greatness on the court, nor was there any doubt that his legend off the court, while no doubt improving over the years, also has some not-quite-so-perfect clouds.
I looked for those sportswriters I respect as I perused the news last night about Kobe Bryant, and, as expected, I ran across a great piece (Remembering Kobe Bryant: Relentless, curious and infinitely complicated) from ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. Ms. MacMullan brought forth what I found last night to be one of the best pieces about Kobe Bryant in that she addressed the entirety of his legacy. In the later part of this article, she relates the following:
"I could never understand," Bryant once told me, "why winning wasn't the most important thing to everyone. Why are you here then?"
He was exactly right. If you are part of a team, why are you there if not to win? As Herm Edwards once so eloquently put it, "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. HELLO?"
Jackie MacMullan's quote from Kobe Bryant got my attention not because of how it relates to athletics. This quote got my attention because it speaks a truth into the life of the church, and into the life of everyone who professes faith in Christ as Lord.
When Jesus defined the greatest commandment to be for us to love the Lord our God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves, the question is left begging for those who follow Jesus, "If loving the Lord your God with everything you have and your neighbor as yourself is not the most important thing in your life, why are you here?"
Imagine, brothers and sisters, what might be possible if we were as fanatical about our life in Christ as Kobe Bryant was about winning at basketball, doing whatever it takes to be as faithful as possible in thought, word, and deed?
If we are not here to love the Lord our God with everything we have and our neighbor as ourselves, why, indeed, are we here?
Let this question be at the forefront of every day in our lives.
Oh, and what needs to change so that the most important thing in your life is, indeed, loving the Lord your God with everything you have and your neighbor as yourself?
Grace and Peace,
Lamar