Own the Ball

OwnTheBall.com

Learn what God has to say about ~

  • Power
  • Love
  • Self Control
  • Home
  • 60 Seconds
  • Newest Posts
  • Think About It
    • Salvation
    • The Bible in 10 Minutes
    • Universe According To
  • Proverbs
  • Other Stuff
  • About Us
    • Contact
You are here: Home / 60 Seconds / Think First

Think First

February 18, 2014 By dschenk Leave a Comment

In Proverbs, the  fool and the prudent person are often paired up as opposites.  The fool speaks and acts without thinking.  The Prudent person thinks before they act.

In basketball it is easy to dribble yourself into trouble.  You dribble into a trap, and then two people force you to pick up your dribble and try to pass out of a bad situation.  The rule for dribbling — have somewhere in mind that you are going before you dribble the ball.  And a follow up, don’t stop dribbling until you get somewhere.  As soon as you stop your dribble the defender can be all over you, making it hard to pass or to even see where the other players are.

If you have more than 60 seconds here is a bonus story to help cement in your head — think first.

I was twenty.  Going to school and working graveyard at a small hospital as a security guard.  Between 2 and 4 am there was not much to do and plenty of time to talk.  Three of the nurses and I, hit it off real well.  Even after I stopped working there, we would get together every few months and go out to breakfast and catch up with each other.  One of the nurses lived in a complex with a pool.  I starting asking her, bugging her really about letting me come over and learn how to swim.  I had flunked out of sea-horse swim school as an eight year old.  In junior high I had read about fathers taking their kid out in the middle of the lake and tossing them in the water and the kid learned to swim.  My version of this was tossing myself into the deep end of my friend’s pool.  My friends thought I was playing around as i went under once, twice, then a third time.  I survived but didn’t learn how to swim.  Now i was ready to take a chance — on learning to swim.  One day she said she would teach me to swim.  I went over and we chatted for a few minutes.  Two things stood out.  She had a Swedish style rocking chair (not a surprise since she was from Sweden).  It had extra long rails on the bottom so that it tips back much farther than most rocking chairs.  She remarked that I seemed comfortable with it going back so far, and that most people were afraid to let it rock all the way back.  And I made a mistake when looking at pictures she had in the living  room.  I asked if one picture was a picture of her father.  No, it was a picture of her husband.  Oops.

We went out to the pool.  She helped me learn to relax and to float.  Although I still couldn’t swim across the pool I was much better than when I started.  Eventually she said that I could shower first, and that she was going to swim a few laps.  I was proud that I’d tried to swim.  All my concentration had been on that.  You probably were able to think first and you are way ahead of me in this story.  I got in the shower in my trunk to wash the chlorine out of them and then it finally dawned on me.  She was expecting us to have sex.  She had been hesitant to teach me to swim because she thought i meant more than learning to swim.  For my part, she was older — like 30 and married– way to old for me to consider having any kind of relationship with.  What a dummy I was.  This is all finally dawning on me.  I’m standing in the shower in the apartment of a cute blond Swedish girl and she is going to be coming at any minute ready to have sex with a young energetic guy — ME.

I threw on my clothes over my swim suit and met her at the door as she was coming in.  I said something about an appointment that I suddenly remembered and blew past her as she was coming in the front door.  I didn’t think first, but at least I finally started thinking and got out of the situation.  No more swimming lessons for me.

Thinking first would have been very helpful in this situation.  And not only thinking first, but thinking about was is going on with other people and not just being focused on myself.

Filed Under: 60 Seconds

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • 60 Seconds
  • Other Stuff
  • The Bible in 10 Minutes
  • Think About It

Archives

  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • September 2011

Recent Posts

  • Pass
  • Shoot, pass, dribble — power, love, self-control
  • Think First
  • Word up — reboot your walk with this realization
  • Word up — go treasure hunting weekend!

Pages

  • About Us
  • Big Day
  • Contact
  • Disclosure Policy
  • Free Throw Classic
  • Newest Posts
  • Other Stuff
  • Own the Ball
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use

Song of Solomon Study

This is the story of a young girl as she encounters sex, love, romance, marriage and relationship with a guy. She starts out thinking that maybe she is good looking and might be acceptable to a guy. She becomes strong and confident in who she is and in her ability to bring contentment to her husband. A major part of the book is written in her voice: What she says, what she thinks, what she hears him saying. This little book in the Bible can provide some powerful insights. Are you ready to give it a try? Study Song of Solomon

Sites Worth Checking Out

  • Hosanna Poetry

Site Links

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure Policy
  • Terms of Use

Copyright © 2019 ·Dynamik Website Builder · Genesis Framework