When God opens a door, a person needs to walk through. Not many doors open in life. When one opens, if you fail to walk through, you don’t know what kind of opportunities you are missing.
An important ingredient is to be ready when the door opens. Oftentimes we see doors open, but we are not ready to walk through them. Readiness is essential.
Such was the case this past week in professional basketball. A young basketball player, Jeremy Lin, has taken the NBA by storm. He will appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Some people are even predicting that he will soon be on the front page of Time magazine.
Lin is the least likely professional basketball player to be cast into such a big spotlight. When he came out of high school in Palo Alto, California, he did not receive any major college offers to play basketball. He elected to go to Harvard. He played at Harvard, but went undrafted by the NBA. He was picked up as a free agent by an NBA team, but was soon cut by that team and another team.
Jeremy Lin continued to work extremely hard on his basketball skills to be ready when his door opened. He stayed in top notch shape. He continually sharpened his offensive and defensive skills. Even though he didn’t get to play in any games, he practiced as if every game depended on him.
That spirit paid off. When the door opened – he was ready!
Due to several injuries with the New Your Knicks, last week New York Knicks’ coach Mike D’Antoni had to play Jeremy. He had nobody else to put in. Jeremy made the best of it. He became an instant star as he broke a losing streak for the Knicks and has led them to six consecutive victories! He has become a star in New York, in NBA basketball circles, and with everybody in the world who has experienced the hope to get a chance to someday perform.
Jeremy was ready when the door opened. In his first five starts of his career, he has far better statistics than Michael Jordan or LeBron James, in points scored, field goal percentage, assists, free throws, and steals. Wow!
On Tuesday night, Valentine’s night, he led the New York Knicks to an upset of the Toronto Raptors. He scored 27 points and had 11 assists. He hit a step back 3-pointer with one second on the clock to win the game! They are calling it a VaLINtine!
Jeremy Lin was ready when the door opened.
His popularity continues to skyrocket. Already this week there has been two requests for patents on the phrase “Lin-sanity” which people are using. Spike Lee has said he will wear a number “4” Palo Alto High jersey, Lin’s number in high school, to the Knicks game on Sunday. He has already received the NBA player of the week honors. He smiles, is humble and is a Christian.
When the door opens, be ready. Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 24:42, “be on the alert, you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:44 says, “for this reason you be ready too.” The entire chapter of Matthew 25 is about being ready, when Jesus tells of the wise virgins who had oil for their lamps, the slaves who invested wisely, and the people who ministered to the hungry, sick and imprisoned. Be ready!
Life could be far more successful and productive for a lot of us if we had been ready when the door opened. The door doesn’t stay open long – you have to be ready to walk through. A good question to ask is what am I doing today to be ready to walk through the door when God opens it.
Be ready!
John Ed Mathison
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