Basics | Week 8 | Sermon

The first thing is is to keep our eyes on the clock is is this this idea of are we paying attention to what I'm doing with the minutes? Am I paying am I mindful of my minutes and aware of my actions? Because I think every one of us including me struggles with this. Our real problem with time.

Because I think a lot of Christians like, I know where he's going with this and he doesn't know my story. I just I don't have time. And it's true. We don't. Because what we're really struggling with is what this quote up here I wanna put up here says. Yes. We're too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.

That's kind of what our real struggle is. The Bible talks about too. This is just a cool way of saying it. I'm pretty sure my grandma used to say this. But what does that mean? We're so busy mopping up the floor, we don't turn off the faucet. We've opened up a faucet that's allowing so many things

and so much stuff and distractions and all that. Then we think that this has to be. It's spilling over and so the work we're doing every day, we're just trying to mop up all the stuff and keep up with what's going that we get so busy mopping we forget we can go turn the faucet off.

And the problem is that's a self fulfilling prophecy. So some of you sitting here going, I know what you're about to say. I agree with you. But there is no way I am mopping all day long.

I'm not talking about adding things. I'm not talking about, hey, you know what you need to do? Turn the faucet on even more to let something else in too. We're talking about how do you adjust the faucet?

How do how do we do that? And the first thing is you keep your eyes on the clock. Ephesians five fifteen and sixteen. Paul's talking about how do you live in the light? How do we live from the love that Jesus already gave us as followers of Christ?

And he's talks about living by the spirit's power in verse fifteen and sixteen. And look what he says, he goes, so be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, because I pity the fool, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly,

but understand what the Lord wants you to do. So he's connecting. Living in light is like living wisely,

and making the most of opportunity means what do you do with your time? And what we need to do with our time is act with thought in order to do what God wants us to do. Meaning you gotta look at your time and put the meaning into your schedule. And you gotta do that first and foremost by realizing

life is a vapor. Life is short. Psalms 90 verse 12. And we only get so many minutes of the day. Everyone gets the same amount of time per day. And and and we gotta pay attention to that and realize that I'm mindful of those minutes and I'm aware of what I need to do.

It's it's it's it's football season. Right? Now my team hasn't figured that out yet but still. Go Cardinals.

But when you watch football, the quarterback position is a critical position. And and a lot of young guys why why are they like they're faster, they have stronger arms, they can do all this stuff. These younger guys, they were awesome in college. Why does so many of them struggle?

Why is the top five leaders in yardage and touchdowns right now all over the age of 32? It's because old guys rule. No. It's because what happens, it doesn't matter how much talent you have. It doesn't matter if your coach has gone up the greatest schematic plan. It doesn't matter if you have the best teammates.

It doesn't matter if you can't get them all lined up, huddled up, know the play, and hike the ball before that little play clock goes to zero. Every quarterback has the same amount of time on that play clock. And most of the time, it doesn't matter what your intentions are, what your skill set is. If you get distracted,

if you can't pull it together and get that pulled off of them, and you know what's funny is they have a huge have you ever seen the angle from the quarterback what he's looking at? Play clock's like this big. I mean, it's it's right in their face. And they're like looking around and all of a sudden, know, the answer is like, we're down to one second. He's still looking over here, looking over there. Finally, the coach has to call a time out. It's like you got distracted.

You didn't get in the game. You didn't hike the ball. And guess now where your life is going? Backwards five yards. And now you're like, well, now I gotta go farther. I don't know about you, but that's what I was doing with time management a lot.

I kept planning it up, scheming it up, talking about it, being in the huddle so long, doing that and thinking about it that I would never just hike the ball and run the play. Could that be you? Because what's distracting you? Because another quote I want to put up here is this, the enemy doesn't need to destroy you.

He can just distract you. He can just distract you. I think if we're honest, God has given us enough time that you can do what he's asked you to do. And if I'm too busy to do what God says this is what's life about, I'm spending time on distractions. And that's what's really hurting me and you. And I have no distractions.

I mean, so many people say it. I'm just mopping up. I'm mopping up. I'm mopping up. Well, what about screen time? You're thinking, those kids and their screen time.

Did some research, five different research sources, major research. Here's what we got. The average day and screen time that I'm talking about is phones, computer, tablets, watching TV or something. It's not this does not count doing work on the computer.

So I think some of us all have more time than this. It's why you're working fifty hours a week because you're probably adding a few hours of screen time when you're supposed to be working. And so here's the reality. Age two to five averages about two and a half to three hours a day of screen time.

Age four to six to 12 is four to six hours a day. Man, all those kids and their stuff. Which by the way, up to about age when you're a teenager up to the teenager years, and that's teens 13 to 18 is seven to nine hours a day. Those ages from two to 18, it literally rewires your brain. It rewires your brain.

And you know what it teaches you? To have a very short attention span. You need dopamine hits all the time. You can never be bored. And the problem is boredom is the engine of ingenuity in our world. That's why there's no good ideas half the time.

And and and and so it rewires your brain. But then adults are like, yeah, all those punk kids, six to seven hours a day. Six to seven hours a day. And older adults, sixty five plus eight hours a day, it says that's mostly TV. And it's sad because most of them is because they're they don't have relationships

or they can't get out. But the truth is what the studies show of the effects of all of this, it's what screen time does that's different than doing other things,

is it affects your sleep. You have reduced REM sleep. If you don't have that rapid eye movement sleep, your sleep is not good. It doesn't get to that level of truly restorative. You become less creative. You're groggy. You're more tired. You do things slower so it's even harder to mop the floor. It also gives

disrupts your melatonin, all that stuff. Mental health, it causes higher anxiety, depression, comparison stress for the kid. The brain development, it gives you lower language plus emotional regulation skills as well.

And and so it's kind of a catch 22. Kids can't talk where they have a hard time regulating their emotions. They're they're they're antsy all the time. They're wired up. They can't focus. And the only answer to get them to calm down is to let them have screen time. It's a trap. It's an Admiral Akbar. It's a trap. Good

Star Wars reference for you nerds out there. Attention it reduces our attention and focus. It reduces deep work. Meaning you can't really get that deep thinking kind of work done. So you're always at the surface level, which is a lot of why a lot of us work more hours.

That constantly ties into the studies on the perfect work hours when you're effective. If you're always tired and you're wrapped up and now your brain won't even function at the deep level, you're really inefficient,

that could be the reason why you need to work fifty to fifty five hours a week or more. They've actually proven. They said when you get someone that's focused that doesn't have all these issues, you are the most effective and get the most done in thirty eight hours a week of work.

And you're like, why would never make any money? That's the problem. It's a catch 22. We're slower at mopping. We're tired. We're exhausted. We can't think it is deep of a level because we're being distracted. So then it takes us fifty five hours to try to get and they study said over 50, you get even less effective. And over 55, it goes off of a cliff and you're actually going backwards.

Like when you work fifty five hours a week, you don't even get done what you'd what did in fifty.

And then you're in a trap because then we get so used to it. We're like, I barely get my job done in fifty five hours a week. So we think we're trapped. If we were to learn to get rid of the distractions, get rid of the depression, get rid of the brain, allow our REM sleep to come back, get some exercise,

allow ourselves to get I guarantee you will make more money, do better, and go faster even if it's your own business if you only work thirty eight to forty hours a week. And a lot of us like, I don't believe it. You know why? Because we're trapped. The rest of the world does it.

It's Americans that do this. Because you know what we do? We're Americans. If some is good, ultimate supersizing it is even better.

If thirty eight hours a week got me this much, what would fifty hours a week, sixty hours a week, seventy hours a week? Japan was the only people that were worse than us. They routinely work sixty, seventy hours a week. They have an incredible crisis right now of productivity and people getting old. Because you know what? They didn't stopped having kids.

And now they're all getting old and no one can work. That's what happens with this biggest distraction. And it doesn't just affect that. It affects our physical health. Higher obesity, insulin resistant risks, so that even makes it work harder to work.

And social and relational, we have less in person connection and we stop having empathy, especially in teens and young adults. We don't know how to have relationships.

Seven hours a day. And you know what? This is a big enough room that statistically speaking, the average in this room is seven hours a day. But man, even if it was half, four hours a day, what could you do with four hours a day? I could exercise. I could read my Bible. I could serve at my church.

I could get to know my kids' names.

All those things.

I think our real issue is not that we're too busy. We have too many junk minutes. We have chips and salsa calendars. I've talked about chips and salsa, man. They're so good, aren't they? They make you feel good immediately, but you never get full. You're like, when's enough? When the restaurant runs out or I die?

And you know what you get at the end of that? Diabetes. And that's what this study said that you get the end of all the screen time. Lower insulin resistance means you're getting diabetes. And so what do we do? Realize that.

Keep our eyes on the clock and understand that I gotta be mindful of the minutes and the aware of what my actions actually produce. Does it really get me what I want? And and all that screen time does not, especially, you know, social media does the exact opposite of what you're using it for.

It doesn't keep you connected. It cause comparison stress. It actually makes you feel falsely connected when you're not, and it causes you to have cortisol level, stress level, comparison stress level that stresses you out more than working nine hours of hard labor. It's not relaxing you. It's doing the opposite.

The very opposite. So keep your eyes on the clock. And the second one over to James chapter four, keep your eyes on the prize.

What does that mean? It means I align my minutes with the meaning. In James four, he's talking about drawing close to God. How do we know grow go? And he right at the end he starts warning them about stuff and and he starts worrying about judging others and he's all is is coming from pride. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He's saying, hey, pride here is not like, You

can be you can hate yourself and be filled with pride. Pride means in this tenses, I'm gonna trust me not what God's word says. When you would when you just won't trust God and and follow his word, you're prideful. And so he's saying that's the root of judging others. Why would be pride be the root of judging others?

Because if I know I can't do what God wants me to do in the way it really should, rather than look at that and admit it, I look for people that are worse off than me and say, oh, I'm doing better than them. That makes me feel not as bad about me.

There you go. It's simple. Man, you didn't know that God had actually practical things to say to us in the Word of God.

But in the last part of this chapter he gives a warning about this this this what he calls this false self confidence. Confidence in the wrong thing. And he says, look here you who say today or tomorrow we're gonna go to a certain town and we'll stay there a year. We will do business and we'll make a profit. How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog. It's here a little while then it's gone. What you ought to say is if the Lord wants us to we will do this or do that. Otherwise, you're boasting about your own pretentious plans

and all such boasting is evil. Not just a bad idea, evil. And then he throws in right at the end because James is a master throat puncher. It just says, remember, it's sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. Mic drop, walk away.

What he's saying is he's warning us because he goes, you're not gonna find what you're looking for. And when we ignore God's word and say, you know, I believe this part, but I don't wanna believe that. That's pretentiousness.

Now don't hear what he's not saying. When you heard you shouldn't do planning is evil to say he didn't say planning is evil. Every one of you super spontaneous doesn't wanna actually ever kinda have a plan people. Yeah. You know, it's it's not that. What he says is planning

making your plans and planning God out of them is the problem.

I'm gonna go do this. I'm gonna do that. And all your plans involve everything that you know you want. I'm gonna go make profit. I'll make money. I'll be happy. I'll do that. I'll be this. And then, well, what about God? Well, I like God and all because he's talking to Christians here. But you know what? It can't interfere with these plans.

And the reason that's evil and it hurts us is we think that when we talk about time, what God's asked us to do with our time, our money, our like, you know, he's asked us to know him personally, and we've talked about that public worship and private practice. Some of us have made our plans that that you are seasonal church attenders.

You think if you're here one or twice once or twice a month, you are super clued in. And then there's reading the Bible and praying on our own. I don't know. Have you planned that out of your schedule? There's growing in community. I mean, being in a life group is a couple hours a week.

We're spending this false community time on social media hours and hours a day. You could actually, if you just cut out one day a week of social media, you could be in a small group. The day that you're gonna have small group, just don't get on your phone. There. You got all that time back.

And then we need to go live intentionally with our time. But we feel trapped because we've made plans that have planned God right out of it. See, we we we need to keep our eyes on the clock, but then keep our eyes on the prize.

Meaning, I need to go back to my schedule and I align my schedule around Jesus. I don't try to add Jesus to the schedule.

And that's where when you hear a talk like this about time, lot of us we get stuck because you're like, hey, my job has to be this many hours. I gotta do this. And and and and and then we look at it and and we think, okay, but I feel guilty. I feel you're right. I'm gonna add this.

You're like, he's right. I don't serve in my church. I'm gonna go out to that expo. I'll find a place to sign up and I'll serve. That's not what it's saying. You know what that's called? That's called being voluntold. Anybody have someone in their life? My dad was good at voluntolding me stuff.

You know, when you got voluntold to do something, what was your attitude like while you did it?

And did you change anything? Did you remove stuff from your schedule? No. You said, I'm gonna do that as fast as I can and try to cram it in. Well, the problem is when the faucet's already spilling over too much, you can cram it in for only so long, then you're even more tired and you're more exhausted

because you just try to add it, then you start getting flaky, then you feel guilty about that, then you back off and quit. And then if I say something like this, like, I tried that before. It's hard. You don't understand where I'm coming from. And we get upset. This sermon is not about being voluntold

to what to do with your time. It's about the heart of volunteering.

I'm gonna volunteer to spend time with God. I'm gonna volunteer to be in communion with others. I'm gonna volunteer to take my time. And next week, we'll talk about what we focus on without our gifts because

the Bible says really clearly, if you know Jesus you have a supernaturally empowered at least one spiritual gift from the Lord, from the Holy Spirit that is meant to be used to serve your church. And as James said, if you know what you ought to do and you don't do it,

that's not an optional thing. But some of you just heard that, oh, he's threatening me. No. It's not optional because if you don't do it, you're not gonna experience the peace, the joy, the power, the the purpose.

I mean, guys, man, I'm a guy, so this applies to you ladies too, but I'm just talking to the guys and you get to listen in. Guys, serving, sharing your faith, using that gift,

that's the peace that all those hours you're working, all the money you're trying to make, the man you're trying to just provide for your family because you think it's stuff and stuff and stuff, the way you think you're gonna be the hero in the home, the way you think it's gonna make you feel,

and it's not really getting there and you just think it's because I needed to get to this level, we need to get this done, or once this happens, and then it's always that mirage. It's that water that you see in the distance in the desert when you're driving. You never quite get there. You know why? It's because finding out your gifts and using them for the glory of the God, that's what he built you for. That's the thing you're feeling.

That's what will scratch that itch in your life. It will. Same for you ladies. I just knew that the guys really we have a tough time with this.

But we need to be willing to do it because realize time management is really priority management.

Are you one of those people that is a great list maker every day when you get up with all the things you need to do? Any all the one that when you do something that wasn't on your list, you go back to your list and you write it so you can check it off? We have counselors.

Here's the question. I've met a lot of list makers, and my wife was one of them for a long time, that do it this way. It's train of thought. You get up and you just start writing everything you think you gotta do, and then what do you do? You start at the top of the list and work your way down. That's not time management.

That's just project management. Do you ever sit there and look at the order your list is in and go, which ones are the really the most significant ones? I didn't just say urgent, significant.

And order your list in that order, that is what the Bible says time management is. It's not task management, it's priority management. So what are your commitments? Because when we say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. You're saying no to something else.

And with that so voluntold is I'm gonna add my time to what I'm already doing. And I'm gonna so my serving, my time is gonna be crammed in around my already schedule. But what if you truly volunteer? Because volunteer is serving that shapes your schedule around Jesus and what He's asked us to do.

How could that change our lives and give us the things we're longing for that we keep thinking all these distractions are gonna give us? And they never will. See, the question isn't if you're spending your time. The question is what story your time is telling.

What story does your calendar tell about you?

And here's the struggle when I said the the devil doesn't the enemy doesn't need to destroy us, just distract us. Here's how he does it. He takes a truth and gives it a little twist. All you golfers out there, if you can only hit a ball 75 or a 100 yards, you can be 3%, 5%, 10%,

even more off center and you're still gonna be on the fairway. But what happens if you take that same percentage of off and hit it 300 yards? You're out of bounds.

See, he wants to get us to twist enough that as you start going, hey, I'm still good. I'm still good. And then by the time you realize it you're way out in the desert somewhere lost. And it's here's the hard thing. Here's where he gets us. Here's the twist.

We sit here thinking, I'm not doing that. I'm just I'm being a good father. I'm being a good husband. I'm being a good and we go after things that are right to go after. We mean well, but we buy into the twist of what it means.

One example I'll give, like you say, all those sports, you know, all the all the all the screen time, that's right. That's why my kids are into sports. How into sports? Is your schedule with your kids sports cause you to go, I'm not at church half the time, especially during certain times of the year?

Does you spend so much money on it? It's like it's why I can't honor God with my tithe?

See, I'm not I'm not trying to make you feel good. I'm just saying it's a distraction. So you took a good thing because I don't hear what I'm all my kids play sports. I play sports. I'm talking like a coach right now. My last story is a coaching illustration.

I think sports are good for you. I think all the reasons you play sports and you I agree with every one of them. That's twist. The devil says, take this good thing and make it more of a God level thing. And here's what that does.

You did it because you love your kids. You did it because it gets them out. It gives it because it teaches teamwork. You give it because it's good. You might even do it because they they really love it and they're good at it, maybe it'll help them go to college. All those reasons are not wrong.

But when all of those reasons add up to worry, now I'm not doing what God asked me to do, you're out of bounds. And here's what you taught your kids, to be selfish and that life's about them, and that needs to be always doing something that makes me feel good even if it means not listening to God.

And it comes back and kicks you in the butt when they become a young adult, and all they've done is learned what you taught them.

And that's a struggle. I know somebody like, well, my kid's good and might have a future.

And if they were to tell the coach they're leaving practice earlier, they can't practice on Wednesday nights because it's youth group night, he won't put them in the game. Can I tell you something from somebody played at a high level and has coached at the varsity level? If your kid's good, they're gonna play anyways.

Your problem might not so if they are good enough that there could be a future in it, you don't have to worry about that. And if they're always if they're gonna not play because they didn't show up, they're probably barely gonna play anyways.

You get to set the schedule. You get to determine where it goes. It's a it's and here's what I get. It feels right when you're doing this. But if something that feels right makes you act and teach your kids that this comes before God, you're setting a horrible, horrible trajectory that just bleeds on into adulthood.

We need to keep our eyes on the clock. Realize you're never gonna be able the idea that when I get more time, you're never gonna get that. It's we need to consciously understand that I put the meaning into the minutes. And I do that by keeping my eyes on the prize. What is really the goal? What's more important?

What would it look like if I went out to that sneak peek Volunteer Expo and jumped in? And how do I do it? Is I invest my time, don't just spend it, that's what I'm saying. And then secondly, to keep my eyes on the prize, to choose to live with eternity in mind.

I think that's what gets us off. When we start looking at the moment, hey, this is great. My kids love sport. They do this. You get in all these activities. It's awesome. It's family time. It's all these things. And it just suddenly starts shifting the focus, and we stop forgetting about eternity,

we start just thinking about how this works in the moment. And we get stuck in that one moment, and we become when and then thinkers.

And then we start doing when and then, because when and then can make us go to church and feel okay about ignoring what God's asked us to do, and missing out on what he wants to give us in doing it. That's the enemy. The enemy just wants to discourage us. He wants us to not really trust God because he knows if we do, we'll find those things we long for.

And so when and then says, you know what? I get it. When and some of you are when and theners right now. I'm gonna be Karnak the great, and can and you're gonna be, how did he know that? Is your sitting here go, I have agreed with everything he just said, but my situation's unique. And I am committed to this.

And when this calms down, then I'll do that. When I get this, then I'll do that. When we just get to hear, then I'm gonna do it. When and theners never really get to it.

When and then is the twist of the devil. It's this little whisper saying, you're unique. You don't have to listen to this. You don't need to trust that. You'll get there. You'll get there. You're never gonna get there because that's what I used to do. That's the quarterback looking around. The only thing you're gonna do is

play clock is gonna run out, and you're moving back five yards. When and then always is when, then I'll do. When this, then I'll do. What God is challenging us to do is to say, be then and ours. Then and ours says, if Jesus died for me then, and Jesus declares when he's coming back and where this is all heading then.

And Jesus declares, here's what glory and what's then. We're gonna be like Jesus and he's taking us down this road to there and that's then. Based on where we know what's happening then, what should I do right now in the light of then?

Then and now thinking changes your life. It helps you have faith in God. You will align your schedule, your money, your relationships, your time around the mission and the purpose of his love. And that is what transforms us.

And that's what makes us feel different, look different, and act different than just people that act like we're better than other people because we go to church twice a month. It transforms us as a disciple. It gives us what we're really longing for. So ask yourself, am I living for what matters most

or just for what matters most in this moment because it makes me feel best? Because that's that other little twist. The enemy's got us to believe these twists by saying, you know what really matters? Your feelings. And feelings are real. They're just not often right. They're indicator lights. They're not the GPS.

And if I start making decisions based on how I feel, and usually what that means is what will make me feel good quickest? What will make me stop feeling bad quickest?

That is exactly what Paul meant when he says, live wisely, act thoughtfully. Did he say, act feelfully? Did he say, do you in the moment? Did he say, if it feels good, do it? Did he say, act with your heart? He never said that. He says, your mind determines where your heart goes and your and your actions

actually take your heart somewhere.

Our culture teaches exactly the opposite of that, and that's the problem with all the screen time. Even those of us that are adults, well, I don't get on social media. You scroll through news articles and all the things you're digging, and you're hearing all the perspective of the world, and we start applying our political ideology to our theology. We start looking at the world through this lens, and it's all about I feel this. I feel this. I feel that. It it it it it it inundates

us.

And we buy the lie because we don't choose to live with eternity in mind. What would happen if we just did this? This week, replace one commitment that breaks you down with one that builds you up. Maybe you need to be more consistent in church, read your Bible. Maybe it's time to find a life group.

Or for many of us, maybe that moment is to commit to serving. And the commitment would be, I'm gonna change my schedule around. I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna find a place to serve. What would happen if you did that? We have a phrase around here that we say we can do anything, but we can't do everything.

That's how we make decisions in leading. Because we got a great church, great stuff. If there's any one thing we wanted to do, we could do it. But every time we do that, that means there's something we can't do. That's how we should all live our lives when we look at our calendar.

And and to come back and close this down as a coach again, I've seen this in real life of how we think more is better, but focused actually gives you more time and you accomplish more. I'm gonna give a sports analogy.

I used to coach at Higley High. I was the fresh varsity assistant coach with pitchers and for the first three years. But the fourth year, they decided, finally got a big enough school that they're gonna add a freshman team. Because the first three years we just had a, you know, JV which was all freshmen and and and people that were juniors or down that couldn't make varsity.

And then we had varsity. And the reason we did it is because the amount of players we had. We also had that first year, we had seven freshmen on varsity. Now by the third year, there were still five freshmen that were good enough to make our varsity squad.

So we had a JV team, but then we started a freshman team. Well, by then, the JV team, if you were a good freshman, most of the the the JV team was a bunch of freshmen too. So if you were a good freshman, if you're already good at baseball, you were not on the freshman team. They asked me to coach that team that year.

It was like the Bad News Bears. I was like, have these people even played baseball? No. They're better than that, but they were the they were the leftovers. And honestly, I'm looking at them and go, hey, at this level now, the way these kids are playing, this is probably the last year they're gonna play baseball.

And and and so I go, you know what? I'm gonna keep the team small. I'm gonna keep it focused so everyone gets to play, and I'm gonna say, let's play let's practice hard but have fun.

And I learned a principle on how to practice from my dad. He used to come to me, and if I was out there, I'd I'd pitching a net and I'd throw, he'd see me out there exhausted. I've probably thrown 300 pitches on like, I look like a knuckleballer now, and and I just keep throwing. He goes, you need to stop.

And I'm like, no. Practice makes perfect. And my dad goes, that is the dumbest thing in the history of dumb statements that has ever been stated in this world.

I'm like, what? He goes, you're not practicing to make perfect, you're practicing to be poor. And I go, what are you talking to me? He goes, I've watched you. Your last 150 pitches, you've done horrible mechanics because you're exhausted.

The only sport that you keep pushing when you're exhausted like that is an endurance sport. Baseball's a skill sport.

There's football is a skill sport. There's all these sports that yeah. You gotta build some endurance, but for the most part, it's skill and just practice and practice and practice does not. My dad goes perfect practice makes perfect. When you practice exhausted, you're teaching yourself bad habits. You're reinforcing

bad things. And and he goes, you know, they say it takes ten thousand hours to be a master of any skill. 10,000 reps. Some people think, oh, so once I get to 10,000 a master, I'll do a thousand a day for the next ten days, and I'm an expert.

No. You can't do it that way. Because if you do it that way, you became an expert at being bad at something.

You're never gonna be good. So I had to approach that with my coaching. So I grabbed these freshmen. I told them, here's what we're gonna do, it's particularly with hitting. I said, our practices aren't gonna go as long. You're freshmen, you're tired, you have all this other stuff to do. I want you to give me this little shorter amount of time and focused. And when we hit, here's what we're gonna do. There's four ways you can hit at practice. There's hitting off a tee, there's soft toss, there's throwing in a little in a batting cage, and then there's hitting live on the field.

And I said, split them into pairs. They each had a team, put my coaches at different spots. I walked around, and we managed it. And I said, you're gonna do 25 swings at each of those, and then practice is over. And that went. But I said, here's what I want out of those swings. I don't want you screwing around just half

blanking it. I want you to focus.

Every swing needs to get your body set like you're in the box, Get your body, your balance right. Get your hands where they should be. Think about what. Keep eye contact in the ball. Think about what you're doing with your hands, your heads, your hips. Taught them how to swing, and I said, I want you to walk through each phase of that and just think about it and just give me a good swing.

Concentrate, and we're gonna have to take less swings than you normally do. I get on them about focus on their swings, not the amount of swings. Our practices would end an hour, hour and a half sooner than the JV and the varsity.

Matter of fact, they'd look at us like, what did they they got away with something. They're getting all, like, grumpy about it. And then and then I had the leftovers. Right? Mid season, I we challenged the JV team to an inner squad game, and guess who won?

Near the end of the year, we challenged the varsity. We didn't win, but it was only we only lost by one run. Should have worked with our pitchers a little more.

Three years later, I get a call from one of these kids that was on that team. He goes, hey, coach, I'm going to the school you went to. I need a pastoral reference and you were my coach and a pastor. Would you give me one? I go, sure.

He goes, how are you gonna I go, how are you gonna wanna get it to me? He goes, well, if you're not doing anything tomorrow, can come watch the game.

I go, oh, the game? Where are you? He goes, I'm I'm on the varsity team at Higley. I'm playing tomorrow. You are? And he goes and then he stops. He goes, the the rest of the guys would love to see you too. I mean, the rest of the guys? What are you talking about? He goes, we're all the starters.

They were the starting varsity team. They beat out every other freshman that was ahead of them by spending less time but focusing it.

I go to the game. They were good. They all gathered around me. They thanked me. They said, thanks for making us practice less but practice right. Thanks for making it serious but fun. We all talked that was the best year of baseball. We all thought we were never playing again.

And he says, six of us are going to college to play baseball.

They thanked me because I made them focus on the swing,

not on trying to do everything.

That's what the Bible is saying we're supposed to do with our time.

What if you looked at your schedule and then picked that thing and you got your heart ready, you got your posture right, you get your hands in place, you take that step, and you just take one good swing. What would happen then? Amen.

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