When I was a junior in high school, I was a back-up point guard for the varsity basketball team. I had hurt my ankle pretty bad the year before and had missed most of the season. I had a long road ahead of me to work my way back into the rotation. To top things off, I was pretty scared. I went through a lot of pain with my injury and less than a year removed from from that pain I was running, jumping, and playing very cautiously. The fact is, I was scared to death to get hurt again and it was showing.
The starting point guard was a guy named Brad. He was a little guy, but he played much bigger than he was. He was strong, athletic, tough as nails, and he expected a lot out of the rest of the team.
One day after practice, several of us lined up to try to dunk the ball. We had a few guys who could dunk, and several more who could touch the rim (and thus thought each day may be the lucky day that we actually slam one down!) so we lined up like this after practice almost every day. I was near the back of the line, but when it came my turn, I went for a two hand dunk and (like every time before) the slammed the ball hard off the rim, and I was left hanging on the goal trying to make another miss look cool.
That's when Brad had seen enough. He said (clean version) "Trotter, quit jumping like a girl and dunk it already." That kind of upset me because I had one of the highest vertical leaps on the team. I was only 5'10 and I was closer to dunking than most of our big guys. Before I could say anything, Brad grabbed me by the arm and began to teach. "You've got to get lower if you want to get higher... You're legs are like coiled springs... You're not going to hurt yourself you big sissy... get low and explode up." He told me, he showed me, and he gave me a ball. Now the whole team was watching. I tried it his way... kind of. I got a little lower, but I was still protecting myself. I slammed another off the rim. Brad threw me the ball, called me some names and I was at it again. This time I committed to it. I did it full speed, just like he showed me. To my surprise, I jumped so high that I didn't know what to do! I kind of threw the ball at the goal as I jumped way up past it. It rattled into the hoop and I descended back to the ground. Some guys were laughing, some were pumped and ready to try again themselves, and some were just shocked. Brad looked at me and said, "Now that's more like it. You'll be throwing it down clean in no time. You're legs have more in them than you think." He was right. By the time I went home, I was dunking with ease.
You know, God teaches these kinds of lessons to his children every day. I'm not talking about lessons in how to maximize the transfer of energy from your calf muscles. I'm talking about the kind of lessons that remind us we have more in us than we think.
God wants to stretch us. He wants us to live by faith, and to believe what he says. To experience something new. Something different.
Ask God to stretch you. Then follow his direction. He may ask you to teach a class, or host a life group. He may stretch you by prompting you to be a greeter or a prayer warrior. He may ask you to go on a mission trip or to give two or three times more than you've ever given before. He may challenge you to do something your closest friends believe is foolish or impossible.
Let him stretch you. Attempt what other say can't be done. You have more in you than you think. God has put more in you than anyone else sees. Ask God to stretch you, and decide to live by faith. Because without faith it's impossible to please God...
