The Parable of The Basketball Coach

(Photo by Curt Mills)

My brother-in-law Curt takes some amazing photos. He has told me his favorite pics are the ones that actually tell a story all by themselves. Like this one. This is one of those amazing photographs and I'll tell you why.

First, I'd like you to take a look at this picture and tell me what YOU see. Do you see as many things as I do? Can you figure out what's going on?

Besides the obvious clues that the picture presents there is also something else going on.

A parable. Or perhaps even two!

These are the things I noticed:

1. The coach is teaching. He's telling the girls how to play basketball.
2. Maybe someone wasn't doing something right. He could be correcting them.
3. The coach could also be encouraging his players Why do I think that? Look at his wife (hand on back). She is supporting her husband. Or maybe the kids are just too darn cute.
4. The little girl in the pink shirt. She's not on the team but wishes she was. My guess is that the coach is her dad but I have no way of knowing.
5. Look at the team. They are all listening to their coach. They want to do exactly what he says, otherwise see #2 above.
6. All the girls on the team are different shapes and sizes. They have differing hair color and each one is numbered to set them apart from one another.
7. Look at the people in the background. Two are oblivious to what is going on but look at the two people in the middle. They are watching the coach and the girls.

And now for the parable(s) because there ARE two of them here. First the coach is someone we can view as spreading the Gospel. He knows it! The people he is telling it to are interested in hearing it. Even the little girl. HIs wife is supporting him. Why? Because she knows it too. Her husband would be supporting her if their roles were reversed. And people observing this spreading of the Gospel seem interested in it as well. But not all of them.

The second story I see in this picture is that of Jesus and His disciples. Jesus speaks and they listen. Not everyone who hears the Gospel will accept it. It's possible that several of these girls will not listen to what their coach says, If that is the case, the team will not do well. And what if the people in the background were Roman soldiers or the Pharisees? Things will not go well because of that.

So that is my story to go along with the picture. It's a good reminder of what we should be doing in our daily lives. Share the Gospel with others. Don't worry about converting someone or "saving" someone. That's not our job. We are to be seed planters. That's it. God's Holy Spirit will do the rest. It is God that softens heart, not us. But we can train up a child, we can spread the good news and we can make disciples. May each of us be the coach in this picture. That is our command, given to us by God.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6

"19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20