FreeTruth

Most Embarrassing Moment #4

I was an 18 year old college freshman on the starting line up of my basketball team. It was my first college game weekend. Our season opening weekend included a Friday night away game about five hours from school and then a Saturday night home game. I was starting out on what would be a fairly decent college basketball career that would be marked (I include with a little bit of probably sinful pride) with quite a few high points and high honors. But apparently it was meant to start off pretty embarrassingly.

I arrived at the away game all filled with excitement. As game time approached we went into the locker room and I began the process of changing into my uniform. Shorts, jersey, socks. It was time for the sneakers. Reaching into my classic Adidas duffle bag I pulled out my size twelve footwear and saw to my utter dismay that I had brought two left foot sneakers. Back at school--five hours away--under my desk were a matching pair of right foot sneaks.

It was near game time and there was nothing to do but panic. In an amazing display of thoughtlessness, no one else had been careful enough to have size twelve feet and to make sure to bring along an extra pair of sneakers in case the brainless rookie forgot his. So I had no choice but to wear two left sneakers to play my first college game.

Not only did it feel weird, it was weird. And it wasn't missed by the fans. During the game as I'm sitting on the bench at one point I had a fan tap me on the shoulder, with a few more looking over his, and ask me, "Do you have two left sneakers on?" What could I say--as they laughed at my expense. I did have the last laugh as it turns out, as I scored 22 points in my debut and we beat those who scoffed at my feet.

I wonder: my wife giggles nearly every time I grab hold of her randomly at home to spend a moment or two dancing with my beloved. It's clear to me that she does not giggle out of romantic glee. She giggles because as a dancer, I have two left feet. Perhaps my freshman college B-ball experience left a permanent mark.

Back to my debut weekend. You'd think with that experience the night before I would have been a bit more careful the following night. Turns out I got it even worse.

The starting line up was introduced and it was time for me to take off my warm up sweats. Being that I played for a Bible college, we always prayed before our games to ask the Lord to keep us safe and godly during the game. Just as the prayer began one of my team members tapped me on the shoulder with a huge laughing grin on his face and said--with others looking on--"Hey Tim, your jersey is on backwards!" And so it was.

Picture it folks. Hundreds of fans. Big, cool, manly, super athlete. Jersey on backwards. I mean really: picture it! The high back of the jersey choking my neck; the low front revealing half my back.

What's a man to do? One thing is for sure, he is to seize the time of prayer when everyone's eyes are closed in spiritual humility and devotion, to take off his jersey and put it on right. Do it before too much damage is done.

I decided to forego being spiritual to preserve my ego. And I admit it, if I had it to do over again, given the same circumstances, I'd do the same thing.

Weird how life is. God has a way of letting us blunder just to help us maintain at least a little humility. Here I was pretty full of myself. Big man on campus. Starting freshman b-ball player. Time to strut and feel good about myself. And God decides to let me play the fool. It was good for me; such moments always are.

Don't be surprised folks: if you think of yourself a bit too highly, God will love you enough to let you do something to look really foolish. This isn't cruel; it's kind. Just when we think we have it all figured out, and we've arrived and we're the big man on the block, God will remind us that we can't even put our sneaks and shirts on right without His grace guiding our brains.

So today, as you tie your shoes, change your clothes, breathe a breath, lift a finger--remember: it is all by grace that He supplies. And if God should use you to make a difference in someone's life for His glory and kingdom, make sure to let God know that you know it was He and not you who did it.

Have a good and humble day.

Labels: Humility, Laughter

I was asked recently to think about some of the more embarrassing moments in my life. It should perhaps trouble me that I had zero difficulty thinking of several. What is really disturbing is the knowledge that I have almost certainly suppressed the memory of countless really embarrassing episodes, which others may remember well.

Anyway, let me share five of these over the next few days so I can have the chance to learn humility through laughing at myself with others looking in.

Most Embarrassing Moment #5:

I was in the second grade. Yes, as in 7 years old. Early signs of precociousness were much in evidence: soaring intellect, superb athleticism, endearing charm, astonishing oratorical abilities. Actually I was an average 7 year old in most ways, but definitely not average in one thing: I liked girls.

The fact is that I had a sharp, ever active eye for female beauty and charm. In fact I compiled a list of my top ten favorite girls in school. This helped me keep my life and priorities in order. I told you a day or two ago that I'm all about living an ordered life, so there you have it. I decided to start early. There's no good in having all these females around if I'm not going to be organized in how I evaluate them. Either that or I just had a weird and troubling seven year old fascination with girl cuteness.

The list was meant to be a very private thing of course. And so it was until one of my siblings got hold of it. And thus began an early-in-life embarrassing moment, one which my siblings have never let me forget. Do the math, there’s been 43 years of laughing at my expense over my girl-crazy early childhood.

It was bad enough that they discovered the list. What made it worse was the little game they decided to play with it in hand. When the whole family learned of my list the game was on to guess which of the girls in my class made the top of the list. As guesses didn't come close, my list-bearing sibling started giving out clues.

The clue I remember was: "She's the girl that has--what shall we say--the least actual appeal and personality." In other words, in my sib's opinion, she wasn't very cute. In fact, in his eyes, of all the girls in my class, she scored lowest on the cuteness/charm scale.

What was particularly disturbing in all of this was that the whole family--based on the clue--guessed who it was right away. So much for my second grade level discernment of beauty.

Now I grant you that this is no life-shattering moment of horrified embarrassment. But it did cause me cover my head a bit, and I haven’t forgotten it. And what did I learn from it? To be honest? Not much. I won’t pretend that I did. I did make sure to guard my lists a bit more carefully from then on, but that’s about it.

One thing I can say now: my family has had hours of laughter at my expense over that episode—along with several others that I’ve provided for the family story-telling repertoire. I am by far the one that is talked about and laughed at more than any other in my six-sibling family. It's been my calling in life.

Here is what I have learned in the time since childhood. It’s okay to laugh, and it’s best to laugh at your own expense.

Humor is good. And humor seems best when it sees the funny in one’s self. Humor at one’s own expense humbles the self, and it frees others to see us as those who are secure in who we are (in ourselves and more importantly, in Christ) and who can then share a moment of life and joy sustaining laughter. It’s all good. I guess that’s today’s life lesson.

By the way, it’s a good thing I started training in female charm discernment so early. It allowed me to hone my skills to perfection by the time I was sixteen when I met Gayline. Otherwise I would have let the most beautiful young woman in the world walk by unnoticed, and who knows whom I would have ended up with then!

Labels: Humility, Laughter