The View from Seven Feet

As a former NBA player, I understand the type of commitment it takes to excel at the highest level.  When I signed my first NBA contract, my agent congratulated me by telling me how rare my achievement was.  He said, “Every year, of the over 6 billion people on the planet, only about 300 play in the NBA.  Every year, of the over 6 billion people on the planet, about 4,000 get struck by lightning.  In other words, you have a 13 times better chance of being struck by lightning than you do of making it to the NBA.  Congratulations!”

The same principles that it takes to play in the NBA are the same principles that it takes to do anything great.  It begins with a vision for which you would be wiling to pay any price.  When you are 7 feet tall and come from an athletic family, it is a little easier to figure out what you may be called to do.  But being called and skilled are not the same things as being successful.  I still had to see where I wanted to go and pursue it sacrificially over many years.  I played basketball competitively for 14 years before I began my 7 year professional career.  Life’s greatest achievements don’t come over night.  They are forged through years of commitment to a vision. 

You may not have the same obvious roadsigns (7 feet) pointing to your destiny.  But let me encourage you to seek God and find out where He wants you to be.  Stay on the road, and at some point, you’ll look around and see that He has taken you places that few others ever get to see!