Follow Through

Sunday, January 30, 2011

When is the last time you heard or saw something that was really incredible? When is the last time you had a “jaw dropping” experience? Last week my jaw dropped when I saw the video of an accident that could have gone terribly wrong. During a performance by the acrobatic team Verve Sol Patrol at the Phoenix Suns game, team member Nick Corrales made the ultimate slam dunk. Not only did the basketball go through the hoop, but Nick accidentally did also. You have to see it to believe it! Click on the arrow in the video link above.

Nick’s training as a gymnast helped get him through the mishap and as a result, he was not seriously injured. He didn’t plan to go through the hoop, but he was in motion and moving at such speed that he allowed his body to follow his head. He credits his agility and quick thinking for his daring shimmy. He didn’t fight the direction of his motion. He didn’t change his trajectory. He threw himself in all the way. He stayed the course, and he came out the other side unscathed.
This illustration gives new meaning to “follow through,” doesn’t it!

What would have happened to Nick if he had fought the direction of his motion? What if he had changed his trajectory? What if he didn’t follow through? Would he have been injured? Would the next team member have collided into him? Nick’s follow through may have prevented injury.

How is your follow through? Have you ever started down a course in your life in full motion only to get sidetracked? Have you ever veered off the path of your life or changed your trajectory?

Christ calls us to keep our eyes fixed on him. He wants to be the focus of our trajectory. He wants us to stay on his path. We know that Christ wants us to follow him, but how is our follow through? The Psalmist advises us to be steadfast as we follow God.

Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the[a] paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil. Psalm 4:25-27 (NIV)

When we truly follow him, we’ll have good follow through!