John Wooden was perhaps the greatest basketball coach of all time. He was the head coach of UCLA and he won him 10 national championships in 12 years, and during that period, he even won 88 straight games. A few years ago, John Wooden was asked to give his opinion of the former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight in a critical way.
Now if you don’t know anything about Bobby Knight, he was equally as great as John Wooden, but much more volatile. Here’s what Coach Wooden said of Bobby Knight. I believe Bob Knight to be an outstanding teacher of the game of basketball. I don’t approve of his methods, but I’m not a judge and I’m not judging Bobby Knight.
There’s so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us. It hardly behooves me to talk about the rest of us. In the book of Proverbs, they say it like this. Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sort, but wisely spoken words can heal. The Apostle James says these true words. If he does not control his tongue, his religion is worthless and he deceives himself self.
The words of Coach Wooden are true. There’s so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us. It hardly behooves me to talk about the rest of us.
This has been everyday miracles by hope, mindfulness, and prayer.
In the year 1818, a 26-year-old Catholic priest by the name of Joseph Moore was preparing for the Christmas Eve service at his church in the Austrian Alps. And while cleaning up the church in preparation, he found out that his organ had broken. This was not good. I mean, here’s this young guy that is probably new to this church.
If you’ve ever gone through art history class, you’re probably familiar with a painting called The Light of the World. It was painted by the British artist Holman Hunt, and hangs in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It’s one of the most iconic religious paintings in history. The painting depicts Jesus standing outside of a small, dilapidated cottage.
I was recently listening to the U2 album, all that you Can’t Leave Behind, and I came across a song called Grace. The lyrics say this, grace takes the blame, covers the shame, removes the stain, but once was hurt, but once was friction. What left a mark? No longer stings because grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
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