Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks died Friday, a few months after the death of national champion basketball coach and ESPN Jimmy V Award for Perseverance winner Don Meyer.
This past April I was very honored to get to hear two legends of their respective sport speak at Lipscomb University's Don Meyer Night of Excellence.
Don Meyer, who I grew up going to his basketball camps and watching him coach the Bisons and growing to love the game of basketball. While we were sitting there watching him speak, my dad said that this would probably be the last time he ever spoke in public, and it was.
The main thing he said in this night that I remember was that you don't have to like everyone but you must love everyone! If you love everyone enough to pray for them, then you won't have time for enemies!
Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, I never saw him play but he is a true legend in the game of baseball! He said that he was told by another true legend, Jackie Robinson, that you just need to learn to listen, because the more you listen the more you learn!
Hebrews 11:4 tells us, “By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it (faith) he being dead still speaks.”
The lessons that both Coach Meyer and Mr. Cub have taught so many don't stop just because they have passed but continue on in each and every one of us.
Don't stop listening and don't stop loving!