I occasionally get some of the Ole Miss Basketball players in my classes. The roster this year indicates that nine of the twelve on the team are either in one of my classes or have had me in a previous class. At a convenient time, I let them know that earlier in my life I played in the NBA. Of course, they start trying to figure out what the NBA stands for because, for some reason, it appears easy to see that professional basketball does not ethically belong on my resume.
I go ahead and tell them it stands for the Noon Basketball Association, which is when their eyes roll back into the back of their head. The league was a bunch of young men with a few old men spending their lunch hours playing basketball at the First Baptist Church gym in Springfield, Missouri. Hall of Fame names like Dave Rush, Russ Meek, and David Waddell appear written on the locker room walls. Well, until they came and painted over them.
I remind my ballplayers in the class that I had one of the quickest first steps on defense in the history of the game. I also let them know that in the years that have gone by I haven’t lost any of my speed. I trash talk a bit and paint the scenario that they are at the top of the key about to drive past me on the dribble, which is when I point out my first step on defense is still quick enough to pivot my body in time to see them make the layup after they’ve breezed bye. It is at that point I receive another roll of the eyes. I get that look a lot in class.
The noon games were always fun whether we won or lost. During one game I took one of my patented first moves as a player drove past me and I heard a crunching sound. All of a sudden, I could put no weight on that foot. In theater, to wish an actor to “break a leg” means good luck or do well. Not so much in basketball. A visit to an orthopedic surgeon in our church confirmed it. I had a broken bone in my foot. While I never metatarsal I didn’t like; this one was going to slow me down a bit. In a way, I felt like I was a useless pile of lumbar!
I will admit after the Doctor set my foot in a cast I went back to the office and found a dictionary to look up what a metatarsal was. The broken bone was the one to the outside of the foot.
While I was in college, the study of bones was never high on my list. I never saw the need to have a “skeleton key.” I always thought the name “funny” bone was due to the funny tingling I got in the arm when I hit my elbow just right. I won’t fibula; I burst out in laughter as a freshman in High school Biology when I discovered that bone above the elbow is called the “humerus,” which somehow struck me funny.
I think the most familiar I’ve ever been with bone structures is the storage of skeletons in my closet. The phrase, “skeletons in the closet” refers to sins and mistakes you hide so that God and others won’t know the truth about you. The “closet” helps us protect our image of being good and projects the perception that we are holier than we are. It sounds silly to think I can hide something from God, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.
I know from buying several houses that closet space is usually a premium in the marketability of a home. I also know, in my life, I’ve had several requests out for construction companies to bid for closet expansion to hold the additional skeletons my sin builds up. Real closets fill up with junk quickly as do sin closets with skeletons.
One thing I’ve noticed, in this newfound appreciation of bone structure, is that skeletons don’t like to stay in the closet. I’ve also seen when they decide to come out they don’t crack the door open and peek to make sure no one is home with you. Instead, they blow the door wide open and come out and dance. Usually, this occurs when you have people you’re trying to impress in the living room for a fancy dinner. Their dance, while bothersome to my image, is still choreographed well. Skeletons in the closet become very talented dancers.
The difficulty of dancing skeletons, as the closet owner, is I must confess to owning all of those skeletons. In his letter, James said it this way, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16 NLT) Dancing skeletons are used by God to get us where we need to be with Him and with others. The skeletons exposing themselves to others with incredible dance moves is one of God’s way of bringing us out of a life of sin and death back into life with Him.
Dancing skeletons in my life and your life are not the first time God tried to make a point with a pile of bones. God gave Ezekiel a vision about the restoration of Israel through a valley of dried bones. We find the vision in Ezekiel 36. At the time Israel was dead as a nation. Their constant rebellion and idolatry (skeletons) had placed the people where their nation had lost their land, lost their king, and almost lost their heritage. That must have been some dance scene by those skeletons. I suppose their closets were not large enough to hold all of their skeletons, so they all put them in this vast valley.
In chapter 37 God directed Ezekiel to that valley of dried bones. The scriptures say, “they were completely dried out.” (Ezekiel 37:2 NLT) In other words, they’d been dead for some time. In the same way, my spirit dries out when my closets start filling up with my rebellion and idolatry. God told Ezekiel that He would breathe and this pile of bones would rise again. Ezekiel prophesied what God had said, and the bones rose up into a mighty army. Not only did the bones stand up but skin appeared on them once again, and they were ready for battle once again. God told him that He would pull Israel up from the grave and give her new life. He promises you and me the same salvation today. The same skeletons that danced to shame you can receive God’s breath into a story that helps others with similar skeletons.
So, whether the skeletons are dancing or marching in formation, it would appear God uses them to pull us up from our death into a life that is fuller and more abundant. So, if these bones are our friends, you could say we have several carpals!
Break a leg!