When You Have A Target On Your Back

Nora Kate Simpson. Senior. KABC 5th Region Girls Basketball Player of the Year and a candidate for Miss Kentucky Basketball. The most lovable person you can meet and yet, she has a target on her back. Every team she has played has tried to stop her... even if it meant putting three people on her to defend against her.

In the first photo, you see a photo of her before the game... all joy and love. In the second photo, you see her surrounded by all five defensive players and yet she was flying high. Before I show you the third photo of this article, I want to tell you what happened at the end of the first half. As time was running out, Nora was pushing the ball down the court and got tangled up with some of the defensive players. That caused Nora to fall and land on her hip. After being checked out by her coaches and the trainer, she was able to get up and limp towards the locker room with the help of her team. All of the NCHS family who were attending that game saw her moving gingerly and her expression that was so joyful before was filled with concern and pain.

When halftime was over, she came out of the locker room and was still looking upset. You could tell that she was still hurting by the way that she was walking with extreme caution. The question on the minds of everyone watching... "How can she play the second half if she can't walk?" But then as the second half was about to start, I saw her walk out on the court... still in pain but very determined. Determined to finish the game. Determined to help her team win. Determined to set the example for her teammates. Not only did she play the second half, she showed why she is so important to this team. When it was all said and done, Nora and her teammates had won the game. In the photo below, Nora was shooting a foul shot during the end of the fourth quarter.

You can see the pain in her eyes but she did it. She finished the game and she played a crucial role in that victory. That is who Nora is. A highly respected leader of her team, very talented but not prideful of it, one of the three seniors on the team and yet one of the first to encourage any of her teammates.

You and I may not be falling down during a basketball game, but we will have moments when we do get hurt... moments when the next step seems to be so difficult... moments that show us once again, we are powerless without Christ. The apostle Paul experienced some kind of pain and suffering because of "a thorn" that was given to him in the flesh (1 Corinthians 12:7). There have been many guesses about what this "thorn" was but we do not know for sure. We do know that whatever it was, Paul had prayed three times that God would remove it. His answer? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul didn't get the answer that he had hoped for but look at how he responded to God's answer... "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

Sometimes when we pray, we even tell God how we want Him to answer our prayers but it doesn't work that way. Following Christ is not going to be smooth and easy. There are going to be times of great difficulty and the question is "Are we going to keep going or are we going to quit?" Just as Nora kept playing in that game against Green County, may we keep going no matter what happens. We can do this if we remember what Paul said... "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."