One day a young football coach came to visit John Wooden, UCLA’s basketball coach, whose team won 10 national championships in a 12-year period. Seeing his downcast face, Coach Wooden asked him, what’s troubling him. This young coach, then, shared that he had just lost two of his good players to another school. In response, Coach Wooden acknowledged the fact that the other school would always have better players, but he said, “Don’t worry about that. You just make sure you make every player on your roster the best he can possibly be, and everything else will take care of itself.”

Coach John Wooden, who died 12 years ago at the age of 99, is a good example of faith and action in a workplace. His Christian faith translated into moral integrity, and his hard work and competence lent strength to his Christian witness. His wisdom has, to this day, inspired millions beyond basketball court and spilled into life’s court. The answer that he gave to that young coach shows just that.

“Don’t worry about that.” About losing good players, about losing good prospects, about future’s uncertainty that looms over the horizon. Don’t worry about it because life is more than all these losses and there is God who is in control and watches over us. He will take care of us. “You just make sure you make every player on your roster the best he can possibly do.” Focus on the tasks before us; do not get distracted. And do our part to the best of our ability.

From the parable of the talent, we know that God does not give us the same number of talents. No, He’s not mean; in fact, He’s good. He knows our capacities. You see, with each talent comes pressures and burdens. We cannot take the talents without the burdens. So, be thankful that He knows us, and just be good and faithful.

Pastor Paul