John 8:31-32, “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NLT)
Last week I played golf with my college basketball, assistant coach, Joe Campoli. He and I have always been close and it was great to catch up as spending 5 hours with someone in a golf cart is a great way to catch up. We talked about life most of the time as he continues to go through the grieving stages of the loss of his wife which took place about a year and a half ago. But, for a brief moment we talked basketball. Coach has been retired for over six years and was recently inducted into the Ohio College Basketball Hall of Fame.
While riding in the golf cart, Coach “C” described to me an incident several years ago when another coach asked him how he was able to get his players to play such tough and effective man-to-man defense.Â
Man-to-man defense was a hallmark of Ohio Northern basketball for years. It helped us win our fair share of Ohio Athletic Conference titles as well as lending to our ability to knock off three Division I opponents in a one year period. The defensive mindset started with my head coach and Bob Knight prodigee, Gale Daugherty and upon his retirement Coach “D” handed the defensive play book over to Coach Campoli, who took over the program in 1992. What is ironic is there really was no “playbook” but simply a list of drills.  For years Coach “D” and Coach “C” had used the same drills for their teams and every practice the defensive drills were performed by all of the players.Â
Anyway, Coach “C” told me that informed the coach who was inquiring about the science behind the defense; “It’s not rocket science, all we did was run the same set of drills over and over in practice and your kids will do what they are drilled on the most.” When Coach was telling me this story I had flashbacks to those darn defensive drills of thirty years ago…I hated them, but I did them and yes it is why we won. I was known more for my offense than my defense, but by the time I was done at ONU, I had become a pretty good defensive player in-spite of my disposition that ran counter to the cause.
The same holds true for anything in life. If you really want to get good at something, it takes consistent, effective and focused practice. There are no shortcuts.
I was reminded of this when I was reading the scripture above, during my morning devotion. Jesus tells us we can become disciples of His if we remain faithful to his teachings because His teachings are the truth and the truth in turn, sets us free. The only way I can remain faithful to His teachings is to first understand them and I do this by drilling them into my head on a daily basis. I’ve been doing this routine for a good ten years.Â
The freedom I am experiencing from drilling on the Truth comes in the form of handling the challenges of life (the challenges never go away) in a more peaceful manner which runs counter to my true disposition…just like my days of learning how to play defense.
If you are trying to change your life by learning more about and following the Truth of Jesus; it won’t happen overnight but it will happen if you “drill” in the word on a consistent basis…and I am living proof it is not Rocket Science.
P.E.A.C.E.
