Mother Gives Birth, Then Coaches Game

I Love Sport, But This Is Ridiculous…

I love sports. I love to play them, and watch them. It is one of my favorite hobbies. I love my Aggies, the Cowboys, and the Mavericks. I even like to watch golf. I always thought that was boring when I was a kid, but now I like to watch it.

But, on my list of priorities sports is way down the list compared to things that really matter.

Carol Russell coaches the Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team. She gave birth to her first child, a healthy boy in the afternoon. Five hours later she showed up to coach her team. She wasn't required to, and didn't have to, she chose to.

This woman gave birth to her child, and instead of spending time with her newborn, she felt like it was more important to coach a basketball game. Why bother even having kids if they are not going to be a priority in your life? She will never get another day of birth to spend with that special child. She will get to coach many more games, that will be just as meaningless. By the way, her team lost the game. And they didn't just lose, they were blown out 108-75!

I get the feeling, just from observation, that there are a lot of parents who really don’t like to be around their kids. Their children are not as big a priority to them as other things in their lives. It seems as if they look for any excuse or reason to get away from their kids. Imagine a family where the mother doesn’t have to work. She is able to stay home to do one of the noblest jobs on the planet, rear her kids. What a blessing until this family hires a nanny! This actually happens. They hire a nanny so the mom can have time away from the kids.

We love our kids. We like our kids. We like to be together as a family. We like to do things together. Of course, Michelle and I like a break every now and then. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about seeing your children as a precious gift from the Lord. They are a gift that is supposed to be cherished and nurture. They are not the center of the universe, but they are also not the family pet.

Last week we took a family camping trip to Possom Kingdom Lake. It wasn’t long and didn’t cost much money. But we all were together, no cell phones or email, and had a great adventure. It rained on us, we saw loads of stars, found rocks, and went canoeing. It was a great time and hopefully will be one that we will always remember. A basketball game can wait!