I was an athlete for a long time before I stopped making excuses.  In fact, the entirety of my high school and college career was full of them – many were word-for-word replicas of those in the video above.  I was always the guy who would kill himself in training, but hesitated to assert himself when it counted.  It wasn’t until I finished my senior season in college that I finally believed I could really play – that I didn’t need teammates or coaches to convince me I was capable of performing at a high level.

Thank God it wasn’t too late.  I ended up in a summer pro-league after graduation, and found myself taking the court to play with and against NBA players like Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, and Martell Webster…

…and I held my own.  I have no glory-stories of dominating guys that now make 20 million a year, but I held my own.  I went from being a mediocre (at best) low-level college player, to getting an invite to the all-star game of the Seattle Summer Pro League in about 3 months – because I stopped making excuses.  I sucked it up, believed in myself, and operated in the gifts I had been given and the abilities I had honed through hard work.  I played better and had more fun in those few months before entering full-time ministry than at any other point in my life.

The tragic part of my basketball narrative is not the points I could have scored in college or the losses that could have become wins for my team had I been a more confident player.  The true tragedy is that my mediocrity had nothing to do with a lack of skill or effort.  I knew I was capable of more, but couldn’t quite will it out of myself – then I’d make excuses for myself so I could sleep at night.

It is easier to make excuses than to make a change.

This concept haunts me.

I am capable of so much more.  More commitment.  More generosity.  More devotion.  More compassion.  More sacrifice.  But all too often my college-athlete-self dictates my present-day, real-life decisions.  Not acceptable.

I am capable of more.

We are capable of more.

Hunger.  Slavery.  Poverty.  Injustice.  Unreached millions.

Daunting?  Yes.

Insurmountable?  Absolutely not…

…IF, (and its a big “if”) we are willing to check the excuses at the door and enter into the fullness of what God has called us to and equipped us for.

I don’t care if it sounds cliché…

Let’s make change together.  Not excuses.