“Do everything without complaining or arguing.” — Philippians 2:14
Bad Call
“Hey, ref! That was a bad call. Can’t you see?” “That was a foul! Blow your whistle.” “Travel? I didn’t travel. And I didn’t step out of bounds last time either.”
Have you ever heard comments like that while watching or playing a game? Maybe you’ve said or yelled something similar. While playing in a church league basketball game, I heard those exact words — and more. Every single call was argued, and both sides were growing tense. We were not setting a very good example for those watching, and we certainly were not pleasing God with our actions.
In Philippians 4, God didn’t have Paul say, “Do everything without arguing — except while playing sports, because those refs make bad calls.” No, God says do everything without arguing. No exceptions.
The next time you’re watching a game or even playing in one, remember God’s command to do everything without complaining or arguing. You’ll be surprised how much better you feel and how much more fun the game will become.
— Crystal Rhodes
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One of the most beautiful plays in all of baseball is the double play, when the defensive team records two of an inning’s three outs during a single continuous action. Double plays shift the momentum of the inning, and sometimes even of the game itself. Precise timing, sound game awareness and rapid execution are all needed to orchestrate a successful double play. That’s what makes them so pleasing to witness, so deflating for offenses, and so galvanizing for defenses.
Yet even the most perfectly performed double play pales in comparison to the type of “double play” Jesus accomplished during His life, death and resurrection.
You’ll often hear Christians say that Jesus died for their sins, and they are right, for so He did. Each and every person has chosen to rebel against God and the righteous life He calls us to, sometimes in small ways and sometimes in big ones.
Yet every sin, no matter how “small,” has incurred for us a penalty of death and separation from a perfectly holy God. Jesus placed that penalty on Himself. His all-surpassing love for His people impelled Him onward toward His death on a cross, where He experienced every anguish we deserve. Then He rose again to defeat sin and death so they wouldn’t have the final say over our lives.
But it gets even better. This is only half of the Good News of the Gospel. It’s only one of the outs in Christ’s glorious double play.
Jesus — God Himself — walked among us as a man. Fully God and fully man. He got tired and hungry, sleepy and sad. But He never sinned. Not once. Where you and I fail every day, Jesus did not. He was perfectly obedient to the Father, even in His agonizing death.
Jesus was perfectly righteous, doing all things just as the Father called Him to. He lived the life we simply could not. And then, He bestowed that righteousness on His children. On you, if you are in Christ. When God looks at you, He sees Jesus’ perfect record. This, my friend, is the God we worship.
What I’ve just explained is known as the doctrine of the double imputation — our sins were assigned to Jesus, and Jesus’ righteousness was assigned to us. Theologians through the years have basked in the glory of Jesus’ double play, what they call the Greatest Exchange. May we rejoice in it too.
“You have taken upon Yourself what is mine and have given to me what is Yours,” the great reformer Martin Luther once wrote. “You have taken upon Yourself what You were not and have given to me what I was not.”
I was sitting in the bleachers watching my son play in a local AAU tournament. Everything was going smoothly until I saw a player for the other team start playing with what I considered to be poor sportsmanship. For me, it started with him getting up in the face of one of our players, taunting him. I continued to watch the game as this young man and some of his teammates continued to play with bad attitudes.
When it looked like it was getting physical and my son was on the court, I got downright mad. Now, I pride myself (you can already see this going downhill) on not yelling out during the games at the officials, but this time I let my emotions get the better of me. I called out, “Watch number so-and-so. He’s playing dirty.”
A little later, the player got subbed out. I don’t think it was related to his behavior. He probably just needed a breather. He looked across the court and I feel like we made eye contact. I’m ashamed even as I write this. I did it. I gave him the stink eye. Even worse, I shook my head at him slowly… me from the stands looking at him like he should be ashamed. I cringe again to think of it.
Now, God is no respecter of persons and I had a lesson coming. Not just once as God brought to mind various verses that afternoon, but again the next day as we sat in Sunday school and talked on the passage above.
You see, my frustration at that young man came because he was taunting another player. Here’s where I hang my head: That’s exactly what I was guilty of! I was showing my feelings on my face from the stands. God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I should know better. This young man hasn’t had the same number of years to learn some of these lessons. He may not know God. I was calling out the “speck in his eye” when I had enough hardness in my heart to refloor that gym.
Here’s something that stood out in that Sunday school lesson when it comes to judging others: Our teacher pointed out that not judging others doesn’t mean you don’t deal with right and wrong, but rather it’s how you deal with it.
So how do we handle situations like this? We throw out condemnation and we sub in compassion. We quit trying to intervene and we start praying for God to intercede. We quit thinking we know it all and go to the One who knows all things. Yes, I was sitting high and mighty in the stands on a Saturday morning and had to get schooled Saturday and Sunday. I’m thankful for it. I can forget that in God’s court, apart from Christ, I’m the sinner condemned.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see that young man again. I’ve wondered what in his life was going on where he felt the need to play the way he did; perhaps he is carrying some heavy burdens. If that resonates, perhaps you can pause and pray for him. God knows.
So what do I do with my failure, my sin? I take it to the Father and claim the great promise of 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
I wish I’d “played” better that Saturday morning, instead of getting a good old fashioned whoopin’. But for those who can relate, be encouraged, as Hebrews 12:11 reminds us, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
You have your speck; I have my plank. Thank God Christ was willing to take them both and hold them together on the cross with His love. All glory to His name.
Nate Ament greets NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Virtually every college basketball program in the country wanted Nate Ament out of Highland School in Virginia. He was ranked No. 4 in his high school class according to 247Sports, and was already projected as a likely lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
That dream became a reality on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, when the former Tennessee Volunteer was selected No. 13 overall by the Miami Heat. Miami was making the selection for the Milwaukee Bucks as part of Monday’s blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
The 19-year-old’s selection made him the highest-drafted Volunteer since Marcus Haislip in 2002.
When asked by ESPN when his dream of becoming an NBA draft pick materialized, Ament thought back to his childhood.
“When I first started playing basketball with my brothers at the park,” he answered. “Just realizing how much the game means to me, but how much it brought us closer together.”
Ament started all 35 games he appeared in for the Volunteers, missing two due to a leg injury. He averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game and helped lead Tennessee to the Elite Eight, where the Vols lost to eventual national champion Michigan. Ament was named to the All-SEC Second Team as well as the SEC All-Freshman Team, and his 584 points were third-most ever by a Tennessee freshman.
Along with Arizona star Brayden Burries, whom Milwaukee drafted at No. 10 overall, Ament joins an overhauled Bucks team looking to bounce back after a 2025-26 season that ended without a playoff appearance for the first time in 10 years.
Ament could’ve played his one year of college ball anywhere, but the 6-foot-10 small forward chose Tennessee partly because he shared a common faith with head coach Rick Barnes, who was in attendance for his player’s big moment. In doing so, Ament became the highest-ranked high school player to ever commit to the Volunteers.
During Barnes’ recruiting pitch to Ament, he referenced the Bible verse Matthew 17:20, which says in part, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”
Barnes then gave him a mustard seed, something Ament plans to keep forever.
“It meant a lot to know that my head coach is super strong in the faith and someone I can turn to when I’m not necessarily feeling well or I have questions,” he told WVLT News in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In a way, it can be said that Ament literally carries the Bible with him on the court; he wore No. 10 as a nod to one of his favorite verses, Isaiah 41:10.
“Earlier in my career, I was always super nervous before games,” he told a group of reporters in March. “I still am now, to be honest. But that verse always calms me down, knowing that God is my strength and He will raise me up with His victorious right hand.
“To be able to lean on your faith in times of trouble and knowing that — win or lose, good performance or bad performance — Jesus is always going to be here with me kind of just allows me to play more free, more confident. Just trusting in God and not leaning on my own understanding.”
No matter the praise or the scrutiny that comes his way in Milwaukee, Ament said that in all things hopes he reflects Jesus, and His words in Matthew 23:12.
“I kind of come back to the Bible verse a lot, ‘Whoever is humble will be exalted, whoever exalts themselves will be humbled,'” he told WVLT. “So for me, I just want to stay humble as much as possible. And I know that in the end, I’ll be exalted.”
Ament’s first chance to don a Bucks uniform will come next month in the NBA Summer League.
Connor McDavid can change a game in a few strides. His speed forces defenders to back up, creates space out of nothing, and shifts momentum in seconds. When he turns it on, he is flying. Around the rink, players call that high-stepping — skating with urgency, intent and leaving nothing in reserve.
High-stepping is not a random burst of energy; rather, it is controlled acceleration. It is choosing to move with purpose instead of coasting through a shift. The difference between average and impact often comes down to effort level. When someone is high-stepping, everyone notices. The pace lifts and the standard rises.
The apostle Paul challenged believers to raise their standard — to work at everything with all their heart, as if working for the Lord. Faith is not meant to be lived at half-speed. Following Jesus is not casual or comfortable. It requires intention, urgency and consistency. Not frantic energy, but focused effort.
Coasting in your faith is easier than we’d like to admit. But when you decide to live with conviction, serve with passion, and live with integrity, it changes the atmosphere around you. Just like speed opens up the ice, wholehearted effort opens up opportunity for God to work through you.
Do not drift through your faith. Do not hold back your effort. Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.”
High-step in your commitment. High-step in your character. High-step in the way you represent Christ. Bring energy that makes a difference.
— Sam Gonzalez, Hockey Ministries International chaplain
