Low Man Wins
In the game of Basketball there is a belief known as “Low Man Wins”. The player willing to stay in a defensive stance, get lower than their opponent when fighting for leverage on a backside rebound, or be the first to the floor for a loose ball, that player wins in the trenches. A game once known for its finesse, agility, and even grace has become a battlefield of physicality, explosion, and angles.
My love for the game of basketball was born out of the desire to fight back. Raised on the poor side of town I found myself often facing bullies. Two challenges that I faced daily as a kid, I was of thin build and I heard in Sunday School that a good Christian boy would always turn the other cheek. That combination provided a challenge that led me to the one place I was both taught and encouraged to legally and physically fight back.
I came from a lineage of fighters. My Grampa on my dad’s side was an original navy seal, while my mom’s side of the family was basically the Duke’s of Hazard full of stories of never running from a fight, but when mom found Jesus that created a dilemma in that game plan.
Even though I was thin, I loved contact sports. We played tackle football at recess with no pads in kindergarten. However, when I found myself being bullied at school, I thought fighting was wrong, and as a result I took a lot of crap from those bullies. Finally in fifth grade we were able to play organized sports and football was the first sport that gave me the freedom to hit someone legally.
The problem with football was I was young for my age and I was so dang thin. I played both wide receiver/tight end and corner back as a result. I had solid success, but I simply wasn’t made for it.
Enter basketball into my life. A game a skinny tough kid could potentially thrive. Contact is necessary and even encouraged, but with legal limits. Screen, blockout, and dive on the floor. Use your forearms if you don’t have a chest and if you hustle and scrap, then you are loved by your coach.
The more I was bullied off the court, the more that basketball became my best friend. I found myself on the playground day and night. I slept with my basketball. I didn’t need my coach to make me scrap, I finally felt I found my arena that allowed me to be a warrior. I believed and still believe today that I was made for this!
As I started having success in high school, it gave me identity, it pleased my dad, and it even helped me get a girlfriend. My coaches became my heroes and I wanted to someday become them. My dream was birthed and nobody or no amount of work was going to stop me from achieving that dream.
It was somewhere in the struggle to achieve this dream, that I found what I like to call “The secret in the sauce”. The edge my dad was always encouraging me to find. Along my journey when I came up against what seemed like an insurmountable wall in my path, I fought like crazy to overcome it on my own. Nobody would outwork me.
It was then that I discovered the frustrating truth, my best was not always good enough. When there was absolutely nothing left that I could do on my own, I found myself desperately searching for the answer.
It was that same Sunday School that taught me to turn the other cheek, that I found a power that could overcome the highest of mountains and the biggest of giants.
Low man wins!
I found by going low, bowing before my Savior Jesus Christ and casting all my cares, dreams, and fears at His feet, He could do so much more than I. He could even do the impossible. Matter of fact, that is His expertise.
I didn’t choose to be thin or young for my class as a kid, but I sure knew the weakness that came with it. When tackling a stud running back, I had one shot and that was to go low. So going low has never been an issue to me, it has always been the solution in my world.
Choosing small only magnifies the God in you! Realizing you can do all things through Christ Jesus strength is understanding that weakness is thinking you have the power to do it all without Jesus. Jesus desires to shine in and through you, but you have to be willing to go low. You must decrease, so He can increase.
Your flesh is going to want all the fame, glory, and chest pounding self love that it can get. To die to flesh is the first step to a level of victory that only Jesus Christ can give.
Someday every knee will bow! Champions chose to bow daily. They follow Jesus example of becoming the lowest servant by willingly and joyfully washing others feet. Quite simply said, LOW MAN WINS!