Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

Wake Up, Look Up a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the gospel of Jesus Christ i'm Zach

Weihrauch and in today's episode we're

asking the question why won't LeBron

listen this is prompted by an article in

the Atlantic this week by Ross Anderson

uh this let me give you a little

backstory lebron James of course is one

of the greatest basketball players in

the world as a Northeast Ohio guy I'm

super appreciative of what LeBron has

done for us bringing a title home to

Cleveland uh but LeBron is also a father

and I want to lead with this i've from a

distance I've appreciated that LeBron

seems to be a very involved and

intentional father and I think that is

awesome i love great dads but LeBron's

sons uh al also play basketball not a

surprise including Bronnie James his

oldest son who just finished his

freshman year of college at USC and then

was drafted into professional basketball

now there's a catch to this he was

drafted primarily not because of his

play in fact he wasn't even a starter on

his college team he was drafted because

of who his dad is in fact LeBron went

even so far as to say he would play for

whatever team drafted Bronnie so of

course the Los Angeles Lakers the team

that had LeBron and wanted to keep him

uh also drafted Bronnie James and put

him on the roster presumably to keep

LeBron happy and while it probably has

done that it hasn't been great for

Bronny that's because uh he just doesn't

seem to be good enough now he's a rookie

he might get better but his stats are

not great and uh the world can be a

brutal place for professional athletes

so when the Lakers are in various other

cities fans are often cheering or you

might say jeering Bronny uh asking the

Lakers coach to put him in now this has

prompted some sports media personalities

like Stephen A smith on ESPN to kind of

blast everybody LeBron the Lakers

Bronnie about how stupid this kind of

circus sideshow is putting Bronny James

in a position he's really not deserving

of and then bringing all this scrutiny

well LeBron is a protective father so

there was an incident recently where he

confronted Stephen A smith at a

courtside seat at a Lakers game

basically telling him in an aggressive

way to stop talking about his son

sending a message to Stephen A smith and

to all other sports personalities and

the article by Ross Anderson was really

making the point that LeBron seems to be

the only one who isn't aware of how dumb

all this is and that is a point I can

resonate with because LeBron is a famous

basketball player an amazing athlete a

great businessman and I think a pretty

good father but like a lot of us he's

also very stubborn and the Bible warns

us about this and that's how I think we

make connection to this story is it's so

easy I think sometimes to tell ourselves

that everyone else is wrong and we are

right but that is the beginning of

foolishness the book of Proverbs tells

us that ignoring wise counsel is the

pathway to making some really bad

decisions proverbs 16:18 tells us that

pride blinds us it kind of leads us to a

fall lebron can't seem to see past his

love for his son to see past the

opportunities that he is getting for his

son he can't seem to listen to anyone

and as a result everyone is losing in

this scenario that's because as the

writer of Proverbs tells us in Proverbs

29:1 stubbornness doesn't solve problems

it amplifies them bronny James life

isn't better than it would have been if

he just would have kept playing in

college or forged his own path or been

an accountant who knows it's not getting

better it's getting worse and the only

one who can't see that is the one who's

been driving this all the time look the

book of Matthew tells us in Matthew 23

that true leadership requires humility

it's about serving others not not

getting your way but asking what's best

for Bronny what's best for the Lakers

what's best for basketball what's best

for fans so on and so forth but LeBron

like me can't seem to stop asking what's

best for him listen stubbornness is one

of those sins that flies under the radar

it doesn't seem to be as salacious or as

defeating as lust or anger or greed but

stubbornness is a much more present

reality for so many of us so if there's

something in your life that everyone

around you is telling you doesn't make

sense isn't what's best isn't what God

wants would you finally try listening

and LeBron I'm sure you're a big fan of

Wake Up Lookup thanks for being a great

dad and it's okay to admit maybe you got

this one wrong hey thanks so much for

watching this episode of Wake Up Lookup

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Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!