WHO SHOULD GET THE CREDIT?
I had the pleasure of coaching Little League for about 5 years and did so during the time my 3 boys played, so I coached the team they played on. On one occasion we were two runs behind in the final inning with a runner on 2nd. And who was coming to bat? Brian. Brian was a slugger. He hit the ball to right center field, and it dropped in right by the fence.
The runner scored, and Brian ran those bases like lightning, rounding 1st, 2nd, 3rd. The 3rd base coach was telling him to hold at 3rd (that was me). He didn’t see me or he wasn’t paying attention, so he rounded third and headed for home. I was yelling come back, come back ... he kept running, he slid right under the catcher just as he caught the ball. Looked up and the umpire said, "He’s safe." We won the game. The team flooded out of the dugout and lifted Brian up in the air and carried him to the dugout.
I asked Brian this week, I said, "Do you ever think about that?"
He said, "Yeah, all the time."
It’s good to be able to recall a good memory like that. But what if as his father and his coach I had said, "Wait a minute. I’m the one who coached him, I showed him how to hit, what about me? Pick me up and carry me around the field." That’s what we do sometimes. I mean after all, I just helped him get prepared. He is the one that got the hit. He deserved the credit.
Someone said it’s amazing how much we can get done in life when we don’t care who gets the credit. That’s the right attitude. So give Jesus the credit. He’s the one who deserves it. I must decrease...He must increase.
(From a sermon by David Henderson, "Finding True Greatness," 4/12/2011)