Bob Cousy

Cousy had mentioned that he could see the lamp on the side table, the lamp positioned a good 30 to 40 degrees behind his left flank. He could see it, he said, while staring straight ahead at you. He had not mentioned this in any boastful context. He had merely been delineating matter-of-factly the skills that allowed him to rule the National Basketball Association through the ’50s and ’60s from his position in the backcourt of the Boston Celtics. Among those skills were his ability to see the narrow apertures in the defense and exploit them before they evanesced, and the uncanny knack for throwing those passes that led people to say that the Cooz had “eyes in the back of his head.”

Seated in the armchair now, you strain to pick out that lamp, somewhere to the left. You see nothing. Cheating, you turn your head slightly to the left and try again. Still nothing. Then you realize: Most people look at something to see it. Uncommon peripheral vision allowed Cousy to glimpse something amorphous—the contours of a figure, a swatch of color—and then imagine it. (Sports Illustrated, October 16, 1991)

The Great Celtic Bob Cousy, like other great point guards who came after him, had extraordinary peripheral vision. “Eyes on the back of his head” is a high compliment for a playmaker on the hardwood. This is also true for a follower of Christ in the sense that we need to always know what’s going on around us. Karl Barth advised Christians to “hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper ipad in the other” lest we become pigeonholed into our own agenda, irrelevant to the world at large. It’s what I ask myself constantly, “Am I being reverent to God and relevant to people?” The order is very important though-reverence must come before relevance. Without this reverence to God, we’ll be tempted to cast many sideway glances at the world around because of fear. This kind of peripheral vision and awareness could be downright deadly to our spiritual lives.

You know your peripheral vision is too good for your own good when you ask:

Will they still like me when I won’t budge my spiritual standards? Will they call me narrow?

Am I going to be thought of as a weirdo when I pray before I eat?

If my neighbors find out I am a Christian, will they hold that against me?

Why am I so self-conscious!?

Give no mind to people’s opinions.

Do give mind to God’s opinion.

Don’t be a people-pleaser. Be a people lover.

People-pleasers use people to get what they want. People-pleasers need people to get what they want. They please for the approval and affirmation of men. They are driven by fear.

People-lovers don’t need people nor use them. They are driven by the love of God that ministers to people without expecting anything in return. These are the people that can eat garbage and spit out grace.

Ruby Bridges

In February, my daughter was doing a report on Ruby Bridges during African American History Month. We thought it would be helpful to watch the movie supplement her report. I wasn’t expecting much but I have to say I was moved.

If you are not familiar with her story, in 1960 New Orleans Ruby Bridges was one of the African American students who tested and was placed to attend a white school. Six students were chosen and she was the only one placed at McDonogh Elementary School. The principle was very much against the idea so a teacher was hired solely for teaching Ruby with the express intention of not allowing her to mingle with the other students. What drama she had to go through just to go to school every morning! U. S. marshals have to place their bodies as a shield around her as she walks from the car to the school steps. They warn her to “keep your head down. Don’t look at them.” Block your peripheral vision. It’s good advice because the prejudiced parents are yelling obscenities and threats like “We’re going to kill you! We’re going to poison your food!” Her mother’s words of comfort? “Ruby, there was someone who got yelled at by the mobs too–Jesus. You know what he did when they yelled at him? He prayed for them.” What a godly mother!

Later, Ruby is making her usual walk from car to school. Suddenly, she turns around and runs to face the contorted faces of the hate filled crowd. Her lips move rapidly as she stares at them until the marshals quickly escort her into the building with the angry voices slowly dissipating behind them. When asked later what she was doing she answered, “I pray for the angry people every morning. Today, I forgot to pray for them. I remembered as I was approaching the school. That’s why I turned around and prayed for them, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

When you keep your eyes on Jesus, you can love and pray for your enemies.

Because you will no longer be a people-pleaser.

You will be a people-lover.

Just like Jesus.

Hebrews 12¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

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