“Going Pro”

I’ll admit right up front: most of you won’t care about the subject I use for my illustration. Yes, it’s sports. In fact, more to the point, it’s Oklahoma State basketball. Don’t stop reading! Let me just give you the background. OSU has a freshman basketball player, Marcus Smart, whom many people assumed would leave school after his freshman season and go to the NBA. He was projected to be a top five pick in the draft and rake in a guaranteed $7-9 million over the next two years. Wednesday he announced his decision to return to OSU for his sophomore season! He stayed in school! He passed (for now) on millions of dollars! This is a quote from Berry Tramel, columnist for the Oklahoma City newspaper. “Smart is not starting a revolution. This won't turn back the tide in college hoops’ favor. For every Smart, there still will be 10 Ben McLemores headed for the lottery and 50 Amath M'Bayes headed overseas. But when it happens, when a 19-year-old kid in the materialistic 21st century makes a decision based not on financial bonanza, he should be celebrated.”

Why do I share this? To celebrate Oklahoma State basketball? Well, ok, yes – just a little. But…mainly to celebrate a decision made by a young man. We have ten high school seniors who, in a few weeks, will enter a brave new world. No more will some of them call Mom and Dad’s house “home.” No more will Dad text them at 10:30 to remind them to be home in 30 minutes. Mom may not be there to make sure they get out of bed on time. As the song says, “Times, they are a-changin’.” For the parents of these seniors, I offer my sympathies – and my congratulations. It HAS to be sad! I’m two years away and it makes me sad. But, I know most of these kids at least fairly well. Believe me, these are young men and women of which we can be very proud. My congratulations to the parents who have invested time and energy into shaping and molding these kids into respectable, honorable young adults. Will these kids go off and always make the right decision? Almost certainly not. However, we can all trust these young people have been raised with a healthy dose of Prov 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (NKJV). This does not mean these “children” will remain faithful or that they’ll all be absolute model citizens. But, it does mean they have a foundation upon which to build their physical and spiritual lives as long as they cling to it. As their church family, what can we do to help these grads and their families?

1)    Pray for them. In 1 Thess 1:2, Paul writes, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers…”

2)    Encourage them in their faith as often as you can. Again in 1 Thess, Paul says, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (2:19-20). Let our kids know this.

The NCAA has a public service ad running which says, “Someday we’ll all be going pro in something.” Whether it’s going on to college, starting a trade school, or going to work, these kids of “ours” are going pro. Pray these young men and women make their choices, not based on financial reward or status or peer pressure. Pray all our children will choose their directions based on God’s Word and the teachings they have grown up absorbing. Encourage them to keep God #1 in every aspect of their lives, and they’ll all make the smart decisions. Congratulations Seniors 2013!