February 11
Discovery: Enjoy the Ride!
They caught nothing that night. … Jesus spoke to them: “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?” They answered, “No.” He said, “Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.” They did what he said. All of a sudden, there were so many fish in it they weren’t strong enough to pull it in.
John 21:3-6 (The Message)
My son is teaching me amazing things.
I picked him up from basketball tryouts on Thursday evening. He was unusually quiet, and I could tell something wasn’t quite right, so I asked about it.
“Well, Ryan, how did it go?”
“I’m not going to play.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked out the window. “I need to work on my defense. I’m too slow. I’m holding the other guys back, so I’ve decided not to play this summer.”
“He tipped his head back on the headrest and said, “Can we go home now?”
“Sure….” I started the engine for the short drive home. All the way there I thought of how much Ryan loved basketball—playing on his middle school team and winning a championship, watching the NBA every chance he got, wanting to be like David Robinson or Tim Duncan. Big dreams.
Yeah, I was concerned for Ryan that night, but everything changed the next morning….
As I hunted the kitchen cabinets for a box of cereal, Ryan walked in. He was holding a golf club—a big driver a friend had given him.
“Hey, Dad. What do you think about golf? We need to get out there and practice the old swing.” He said it with a smile, and I realized his heart and mind had moved on—well before mine had even considered the possibility. And then I thought of something. His attitude reminded me of Dr. Jonas Salk, the world-famous inventor of the polio vaccine.
Dr. Salk had failed 200 times before creating a successful vaccine for the crippling disease. When a reporter asked him how it felt to fail 200 times, Dr. Salk replied, “I didn’t fail 200 times; I just discovered 200 ways NOT to make a polio vaccine!”
This seemed to be Ryan’s attitude. He had discovered what wasn’t working and so his quest continued. Ryan didn’t abandon his journey of discovery. He didn’t derail over a lack of success with basketball. No, Ryan’s journey continues. It’s a voyage of self-discovery—showing him how God has and has not gifted him.
Ryan encourages me: enjoy the ride of self-discovery!
Father, thank You for my son, for new challenges, for new discoveries. These are new days for each of us. Bless them, each and every one, as we seek and discover Your good will. Amen.
Discovery: Enjoy the Ride!
They caught nothing that night. … Jesus spoke to them: “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?” They answered, “No.” He said, “Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.” They did what he said. All of a sudden, there were so many fish in it they weren’t strong enough to pull it in.
John 21:3-6 (The Message)
My son is teaching me amazing things.
I picked him up from basketball tryouts on Thursday evening. He was unusually quiet, and I could tell something wasn’t quite right, so I asked about it.
“Well, Ryan, how did it go?”
“I’m not going to play.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked out the window. “I need to work on my defense. I’m too slow. I’m holding the other guys back, so I’ve decided not to play this summer.”
“He tipped his head back on the headrest and said, “Can we go home now?”
“Sure….” I started the engine for the short drive home. All the way there I thought of how much Ryan loved basketball—playing on his middle school team and winning a championship, watching the NBA every chance he got, wanting to be like David Robinson or Tim Duncan. Big dreams.
Yeah, I was concerned for Ryan that night, but everything changed the next morning….
As I hunted the kitchen cabinets for a box of cereal, Ryan walked in. He was holding a golf club—a big driver a friend had given him.
“Hey, Dad. What do you think about golf? We need to get out there and practice the old swing.” He said it with a smile, and I realized his heart and mind had moved on—well before mine had even considered the possibility. And then I thought of something. His attitude reminded me of Dr. Jonas Salk, the world-famous inventor of the polio vaccine.
Dr. Salk had failed 200 times before creating a successful vaccine for the crippling disease. When a reporter asked him how it felt to fail 200 times, Dr. Salk replied, “I didn’t fail 200 times; I just discovered 200 ways NOT to make a polio vaccine!”
This seemed to be Ryan’s attitude. He had discovered what wasn’t working and so his quest continued. Ryan didn’t abandon his journey of discovery. He didn’t derail over a lack of success with basketball. No, Ryan’s journey continues. It’s a voyage of self-discovery—showing him how God has and has not gifted him.
Ryan encourages me: enjoy the ride of self-discovery!
Father, thank You for my son, for new challenges, for new discoveries. These are new days for each of us. Bless them, each and every one, as we seek and discover Your good will. Amen.
posted by Craig Soderquist at 9:56 AM
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