At the beginning of the season, college basketball coach Jim Valvano had an odd practice session. His team thought he was crazy. There were no plays to run. No drills. No basketballs anywhere to be found. Instead, there was a ladder and a pair of scissors on the court. The coach wanted his team to be thinking about the ultimate end of the season. Valvano told his NC State team they could win a national championship, and when they did, they would need to be ready to cut down the nets, like all winning teams do when the championship game is complete.
By practicing, Valvano ingrained in his team what it would feel like to win. “I can tell you the first time was awkward,” said Thurl Bailey, a forward on NC State’s team, in ESPN’s 30 for 30 Documentary Survive and Advance. “When you practice something often, then you start to get into it.”
Valvano got his players to visualize winning. To internalize it. To believe it. And it carried them to an improbable national championship in 1983 that remains one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
Heaven is a raucous place. Based on the apostle John’s descriptions in Revelation, a multitude of people are shouting “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Revelation 19:6-7) There is continuous, non-stop, resounding singing and praise and worship of God (Revelation 5:8-13). Jesus describes heaven as a wedding banquet in Matthew 22:1-2, and as a “feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew 8:11. So it seems safe to say heaven is not a quiet place, since the praise for God is non-stop in Heaven, and everyone joins in the worship of the Creator.
If you are thinking about going to Heaven at the ultimate end of your season, are you practicing? Are you giving God the glory, honor and thanks for everything in your life now? Even just a simple “Thank you, Lord” for the seemingly mundane events in our everyday lives can help prepare us. Look around at your blessings, and blurt out “Alleluia!” as part of your training. Say “Praise the Lord!” when you feel happy so you start to get into it.
The best way to prepare for Heaven is to start participating in some praise today. That way you can be ready for Heaven, and you can join the worship that goes on for ever and ever, and feel right at home.
How are you practicing for heaven?
Photo credit: Sporting News
Excellent reflection Sean. At a talk I gave one time I told the group that, in trial advocacy, the very first thing a lawyer does when he gets a trial scheduled is to write his closing argument! Counterintuitive for sure. But doing that informs the lawyer of all the evidence and exhibits he will need when he makes his final argument to the jury. Similarly, what will we need to be and to have at the final moment of our lives? Discern that and then live our lives so that we will be in that state of grace when we lift out of our bodies.
Thanks!
Much appreciated, Frank! Gotta know where you’re going so you know how to get there, for sure.