The Larry Lesson

A few days ago I blogged about my encounter with Red Sox great Ted Williams down at spring training in the 1980s. Today I want to share with you another story of another encounter with another Boston sports legend.

The 1980s was an awesome decade for the Boston Celtics, the 17-time NBA World Champions. The Celtics of the '80s were led by stars such as Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, and Dennis Johnson. Oh, and there was one other player, too, who contributed a little bit to the success of the 1980s Celtics teams. His name was Larry Bird.

Larry Bird was the greatest NBA player of the last three decades. You can have your Dr. J, your Michael Jordan, your Magic Johnson, your Kareem, your Shaq, your whoever, but Larry beat 'em all.

I used to go to Celtics games a lot in the '80s at the old, musty, dusty, cramped, but altogether glorious old Boston Garden, which of course is pronounced "Gah-den" when it's pronounced correctly. The gates at the old Gah-den opened an hour before the game, and usually I was right there when the gates opened so I could try to score a few autographs before the game.

Normally I was one of the first fans to arrive in the old Garden. And frequently, when I made my way down to courtside, there'd be exactly one player out on the fabled parquet floor, warming up an hour before the game.

It would always be Larry Bird.

Larry would be out there an hour before the game, by himself, alone, practicing free throws or 3-pointers. I was mesmerized to watch Larry swish ball after ball. I think he could've done it blindfolded.

As I think back to those moments watching Larry Bird practice by himself in the old Boston Garden, it makes me think of how we can apply this Larry Lesson to international ministry.

What impressed me so much about Bird practicing silently by himself an hour before game time was that he already was the best player in the game! If there was anybody who could probably walk in off the street 5 minutes before the game, throw on his #33 Celtics jersey and shorts, and still go out and light it up for 40 points, it would be Larry.

But there he was, already the best player of his time, still out there with nobody else, still working to make himself an even better player.

We need to have the same attitude as Larry Bird when it comes to international ministry. We need to be out there, alone, by ourselves, silent, practicing, and perfecting the little things that become very big things once the game begins. We can never rest on our laurels. We can never think that we've become so good at whatever we do that we don't need to practice anymore. We need to be out there even when no one else is, perfecting our ministry, always seeking to improve, always seeking to bear more fruit.

That's what made Larry Bird ... Larry Bird.

That's the Larry Lesson for today.