Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and You

Foreign. Welcome to make for Mondays with Justin Lester. I'm so glad you're tuned in with us today. We're into the month of April. Believe it. April is here and we are engaging in it. And I'm so happy you're here too. This podcast is dedicated to you, to engage with you as you jump into your Monday, wherever you are, to be the absolute best you can be. Remember, you were Made for Mondays. Mondays don't own you, you own your Mondays. Jump into our time together. Welcome to Made for Mondays. So today I wanted to engage in Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. And let me preface this by giving you a little bit of background on myself. Years ago, when I first got into college, one of our listeners, Brian Hendricks, and I were managers for the Marquette women's basketball team. We had a background and inside look at women's basketball from our sophomore year all the way into two years into our master's program. When I graduated from Marquette, went down to Vanderbilt University, I worked at for their basketball program, their women's basketball program for two years. We had a chance to understand the nature of college athletics, Big east and SEC sports. I had a chance to understand athletic departments, student athletes, the inner workings of finances, fundraising, students, management, laundry, manage your games, I mean all these different things and learn so much. And so I have an affinity and love for the game of basketball and I enjoy watching women's basketball. And I was taken aback this weekend as I took time to actually sit down and watch the Iowa South Carolina game as well as the LSU game as well on Friday and then again on Sunday to watch LSU versus Iowa. And I was so excited to watch Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Clark is so good for the game of basketball. She reminds me a lot of being in college and watching Maya Moore and watching just generational talent, Sylvia Fowles and Diana Taurasi, and following along with their careers in the WNBA and overseas. And I was really, really frustrated at the end of the LSU Iowa game, not with the actions of Caitlin or Angel, but with the reactions to Caitlin and Angel. And I saw it from individuals who've never been on a sideline or on a court. When you are that emotionally charged, there are things you say and do that only make sense in the context where you are beyond race and beyond what Caitlin did in the Iowa game versus South Carolina, beyond what angel has done at the end of that game. None of that really matters when you are playing basketball or you're playing football, baseball, soccer, hockey, whatever that is, There are certain emotionally charged moments that you have where you do things that only make sense on the court. When Caitlin waved off Raven Johnson from South Carolina and waved her off because she was playing so deep in the paint, to anyone who's ever played basketball, you do that all the time at LA Fitness. You do it all the time in high school, you do it all the time in the pros. You want to challenge a player. It's an ego thing. You're emotionally charged because you are at the top of your craft. When Caitlin did the John Cena to the team earlier in this tournament, you were emotionally charged at the top of your craft. So when angel decided to turn around and do the very same thing to Caitlin at the end of the national championship game, when she, after she transferred from Maryland after fracturing her foot and missing a season and transferring to a whole other university, working behind a coach who they were not picked to finish anywhere near, near the top of their conference, and now here they are cutting down the nets against a generational talent. I think I would probably have done the same thing, too. Here's what it shows me. No one understands what you're doing, but everyone has an opinion about what you're doing. To all of you who are leading people, leading organizations, making decisions, having to make critical decisions that are life altering, you're just like Caitlin and Angel on the basketball court. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you have a moment where you're waving off a player. Sometimes you have a moment where you're doing the John Cena. Sometimes you have a moment where you're pointing at your finger with a ring. Well, let's bring it to your context. Sometimes you have a moment where that strategic decision pays off. The investment pays off, the hire pays off, the fire pays off. The opportunity goes well. Sometimes you have a decision where the service goes abundantly well. Sometimes you make a decision and it goes so well. Sometimes something you worked so hard for from the last two or three fiscal years go so well and you just want to do the John Cena all around your office. You want to point at the ring on your finger, you want to wave off the competition. And then sometimes you're the one who, like Caitlin Clark, gets someone pointing at the ring finger, get someone pointing at you or doing the John Cena. Because the decision you made didn't go so well. The opportunity you took advantage of didn't go so well. To me, it showed so much about leadership. No one understands the weight of what you're doing. No one understands the decisions you have to make. But you and I want to Challenge you make the decisions, show up fully, wave off the competition, point at your successes. I've learned in my life that if you don't celebrate what you accomplish, no one else will. You have an opportunity as a leader to share the narrative, to tell the story about what you're doing. So as you go into this week, point at your finger. As you go into this week, do the John Cena. Celebrate your successes. Honor what you are called to do, finalize and finish the work you're doing. And if people are offended by your emotionally charged investment in the work that you were doing, let them be offended. And here's why. They weren't there with you in the off season. They weren't there with you on the court. They weren't there with you shooting and practicing. They weren't perfecting your form. They weren't crafting the emails. They weren't in the staff meetings. Who cares what those who are not as invested as you are care about? Engage with you. Celebrate what you've done this week as you engage in whatever opportunities you have ahead of you. Celebrate. Engage. Honor yourself enough that you are honoring what you are called to do. And there are moments where you're going to John Cena the competition. There are moments you'll point at your ring finger, and there are moments you'll wave off the competition because you know what you're capable of doing. I honor you today. Thank you for existing, thank you for being successful, thank you for honoring your failures, and thank you for not giving up when life got hard. Well, that's made for Mondays today. Pray you guys have an amazing, amazing week. Enjoy this week. For me as a pastor, this is Holy Week. This is our super bowl week. So enjoy whatever, whatever spiritual, traditional, religious tradition you have. Enjoy and engage fully. I pray the absolute best for you this week. I look forward to engaging with the super bowl, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I. I will say this. If you're on here today and you don't know Jesus, I really, really challenge you to get to know him. You can sit there and say, faith makes no sense and faith won't feed my kids. Faith won't change this. Faith won't do that. Well, you know what? It will. There's something amazing about realizing the only thing you have to lose when you gain Christ is yourself. And I'm cool with that. So if you want to know more about Jesus, you can reach out or we believe in this. Admit, believe, confess, and demonstrate. I will not lose a moment to share the love of Jesus. I pray that if you don't know the Lord Jesus, admit that you are a sinner. Believe that he is God on the throne. Confess that you desire Christ to be in your life, and demonstrate that by becoming a part of a local church, giving your life over to Christ, and trusting that he'll lead you places you didn't even know were possible. You're made for Mondays. And let me tell you what will make your Mondays even better. Jesus. Happy Resurrection Week. Happy Holy Week. Happy Jesus Week. Whatever that is for you. Let's say our affirmations together. Repeat after me. Say I am me. I can be me, and no one will stop me from being me. Be you this week. Thank you for existing. You were made for Mondays. Mondays don't own you. Have an amazing week.