A while back I posted some information on our Wednesday Night Men's Basketball group. One of the guys who's been playing with us for over a year is moving out of town and I asked him to write about his experience. This is what he wrote: My story: Pick-up basketball is something I had done all through college and a few years after, so it wasn't new to me coming into Cornerstone. However, truly competitive basketball, where players and teams are fairly even, had not been in my life since maybe 2018. All the pick-up I played after 2018 was certainly fun and worthwhile, but I can't say it was fierce by any means. As someone who has a competitive past and comes from a family of people who take sports seriously, I knew that once I started this basketball journey with Cornerstone I would need to make sure old emotions didn't return, since I had left the fierceness behind to truly just have fun. Unfortunately, within the first month or so the emotions came back, and I got in my first argument. Then it turned into frustrating basketball throws, and one basketball kick. Then, I would sometimes just get downright discouraged at who I had to play with. I went through all the emotions I didn't want to feel. I say all of this because at the end of the day I am very grateful for these basketball nights uncovering feelings of competition that I needed to work on. Now not all of them were bad, I think, but enough came out of me to show where I was lacking. These nights pushed me mentally, physically, and spiritually. A trifecta not often found in pick-up. I didn't come in as a perfect person and certainly didn't leave as one, but it was a meaningful experience I will always cherish, and hope to find at my next destination. Leaders, be encouraged! You are making a difference in people's lives and impacting His Kingdom.

Posted by Ben Radant at 2024-08-14 20:20:15 UTC