In my mid-twenties, when I was more athletic, I was a fairly
competent tennis player…until the fateful summer of 1978. That was the year of my epic match with
Crawley Stubblefield. I was the
Recreation Director for the Gulfshore Baptist Assembly. It sounds glamourous but it was a summer job
while I was in seminary. I led a crew of
college kids who built a softball field, restored the facility that had been
rebuilt after Hurricane Camille and created a recreation program for the church
groups that came to the Baptist campgrounds that summer. We had several weeks of retreats with youth,
music students and senior adults from Baptist churches all over the state of
Mississippi. Our job was to provide
recreation for the groups while at Gulfshore.
It was a fun job as I got to be in charge of a group of
enthusiastic Christian college students
as my recreation crew as well as all the recreational activities of each
week. I was in my mid-twenties with a ‘large and in charge’ ego and admired by my
younger crew…until I met my match with Crawley Stubblefield.
It was the first week of several senior adult retreats. I knew Mr. Stubblefield as a beloved elderly
(early 80’s) deacon from my home church.
He and Mrs. Stubblefield were a wonderful Christian couple, loved by
everyone. They were at Gulfshore with
the group from my home church and someone told me that Mr. Stubblefield wanted
to play tennis and needed a partner.
Well, I was in my mid-twenties, fit and well known as the best tennis
player at Gulfshore so I told them I would gladly play a game with Mr.
Stubblefield. I thought I would just go
easy on the ‘old guy’ and lob balls over the net until he got tired. However, I did not know Mr. Stubblefield went
to college on a tennis scholarship and had been an accomplished life-long tennis
player.
As I sent soft lobs over the net rocket shots were
returned. My young ego was
challenged. I am sorry to admit that I went
from ‘taking it easy on the old guy’ to
sending back my best stuff with a ‘see
what you can do with that, old man’ attitude. Well the harder I hit the ball, the harder he
returned my best shots…and he was hitting them to the corners with pinpoint
accuracy making me run like a madman to try to return his laser missiles while
he stood at the baseline and fired pinpoint accurate kill shots. Well, I think you see where this is
headed. After a few hours I threw up my
hands and met Mr. Stubblefield at the net admitting defeat. I looked like someone showered me with a
firehose and he had hardly broken a sweat.
As a once confident and fit young man I had given my best against an 80
year old geltleman and was soundly beaten.
It was quite a blow. But that was
not the end of my lesson in humility. I returned
to my home church the next week to find that Mr. Stubblefield went to bed a few
days after our epic match and Mrs. Stubblefield woke the next morning to
discover that during the night Crawley Stubblefield had quietly gone to Heaven.
That was almost more than I could take. An elderly man just a few days from death soundly
defeated me in tennis. Talk about a blow
to a young cocky ego. Then I realized
that this was not as much of a bruised ego as it was a lesson in life. Crawley Stubblefield lived a full life
enjoying every moment until the end. He
beat a young cocky kid in tennis, went home and went to bed with his wife of 50
plus years and woke up in Heaven. What a
testimony.
I have often thought of that lesson in life from many years
ago. None of us know when or how we will
die. I have often told people that I would
like to know when I am going to die so I could eat ice cream, apple pie and
Oreos all week just before I check out.
On a more serious note it is not about how or when we die but how we
live each day. None of us know when our
lives will end. James 4:14 tells us we “do
not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Life is indeed brief, fragile and fleeting
and we do not have tomorrow (or even the next breath) promised to us. Thus is the value of the lesson I learned
from Crawley Stubblefield many years ago.
It is not as important when and how you die as how you
live. Crawley Stubblefield won his last
tennis match against a man young enough to be his grandson and went home to go
to bed with the love of his life and woke up in Heaven. He did not worry about when or how he would
die but how he lived each day. He wrote
that script as he lived each day to his fullest. Jesus said, “I came that you may have life
and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).
The best way to live an abundant full life is to live each
moment to the fullest with Jesus as your Savior and Lord, forgiving and loving
each person you encounter each day. We
never know when we will have our last tennis match, final conversation or last encounter
with a loved one so we need to do the best to make each moment as positive as we
can. I am eternally grateful for for the lesson in humility and life I received from losing
the tennis match to Crawley Stubblefield many years ago. He taught me more about life that about
tennis. He taught me to savor each day.
Make the most of each encounter with everyone you meet, love those whom you
cherish the most. That is how to win in
the game of life.
