This weekend was a bittersweet one in the Bunnell house. This weekend we said goodbye to one of the greatest coaches of all time and a great disciple. John Wooden, the long-time UCLA Basketball coach is unquestionably one of the greatest men to ever be involved with Hoops in all of history.
More than that though, John Wooden was a disciple. He loved God and he loved other people. He loved his wife, he loved his players, and he loved and cared for anyone who crossed his path. He was known for being a man of compassion, grace, and integrity. He lived out Blest2Bless everyday for 99 years of his life.
The stories are legendary and you can read about them in many other articles, but John Wooden stood for all the great old-fashioned values. He believed in hard work, man-on-man full-court press, integrity and character. He was always about players and life over winning, and then he won a lot.
I don’t have many heroes of late. It turns out that many of the people that I chose as heroes seemed to have large character flaws. They had trouble with putting their hands in the till, telling the truth, staying faithful to their spouse, or just mean-spirited arrogance. It is such a relief when we read about someone who is the real deal, a man who preaches integrity and lives it as well.
Certainly John Wooden was a flawed human being, just like the rest of us. But he died a man of character. He loved his wife, still writing a letter every month to her even after she died. He was respected by all of his players, even the ones he cut. He is respected by the world for being a man of his word and a man of real compassion.
Certainly Coach Wooden is not the only one on that list. Many of the great disciples don’t get near the press that he does. But when we read about him, we realize what a real disciple looks like. John Wooden is an inspiration and a model of what it means to love God, love others, and live out your faith where God has placed you. We are blessed as a church to have a number of John Woodens in our congregation, people who are living out God’s love in real and tangible ways.
So the world is sad, but John Wooden is not. He is where he has longed to be for years. He is with the one who loves him more than all his fans put together. And I am left with one less hero in this world, and one more reason to look forward to Jesus’ return and resurrection. Maybe in the next world after praising Jesus for a couple eons, I will get to meet the “wizard of Westwood.”
Thank you Coach Wooden, for giving us all a vision of what a real disciple looks like.
In His Full-Court Press,
Doug Bunnell
Pastor – FPC
Dates
One Service Summer Sundays begin on June 27th – at the end of the month
Blest2Bless Opportunities
Housing – The INN continues to look for people to house interns – if you have an extra bedroom this is an easy way to serve the kingdom.
Roofing – Our friends and church members, the Renes, are in need of a new roof. Their missionary salary does not allow for this expense, so we are coming together to help out. Al Hunter has a group to do the roofing, they just need the materials, this Sunday we will have a chance to give money to raise the roof for the Rene family.
Planting – on Aug. 1 FPC will hold a farmer’s market. Please plant, harvest, and grow up a mess of produce for our farmer’s Market. Donations will go to Childcare Worldwide.
Prayers
For the many expecting families in our midst.
