SPEAKER_04 0:09

The Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.

SPEAKER_05 0:17

Welcome back to the Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis, a conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ in her life. And as it is every week, it's a great blessing to be here with my good friend and co-host, Monty Williams. And one of the nice things about having this weekly podcast is you don't have to stop a conversation at the end of an episode. You can pick it up the next time. And last week we discussed a fairly broad topic of what it looks like to grow in Christ. What are the marks of a growing disciple? And it's hard to fully cover that topic in just 40 minutes. But we pray that some of these initial podcasts would help build a foundation and a framework of biblical principles that we can build upon. And we pray that these conversations would also cause the listener to reflect on these own areas in their own life. And as you study the Word of God for your own benefit and your own spiritual growth. And today we're not covering a topic as much of a phrase that we want to look at throughout Scripture. It's a two-word phrase, but God. And it's these but-God moments that give us strength when life feels heavy. It's these but-God moments that give us hope and help when our struggles and our pain seem too much. God may not remove us from the flames of the fire at that very moment, but God is there with us in the midst of the trial. So what what's a but-God moment or or verse that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

I think the one that that comes to mind it happened long, long ago, and it it had an impact on me then. Um but as I've gotten older and God has shown me so much and and what's come out of that, um I've learned to trust him even more and to appreciate those but God moments. And the scripture reference um for this particular time in my life is uh Psalm 73, um verses 26. It just says, My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. And that verse is so relatable to a time in my life when I was not in relationship with the Lord. I had um a lot of religion. And um I reference it, reference it um to the part of my life um when basketball was an idol. Um during my college recruitment, I was, you know, whatever I was in high school, um I had a pretty good high school career, um, had five visits planned uh to go see all these places. And I ended up going to Notre Dame for the first visit. Uh committed when I got home. My mom thought I was nuts. Uh, but I fell in love with the place because it was different from where I grew up. Um practically, I had an idea that I was gonna play. Um, but that was that was all I thought about because I did play, had a pretty good freshman year. Um my high school coach that summer going into my sophomore year, called me and said, Hey, you know, people are talking about you having a chance to go pro. And I was like, Really? And back then we called it hardship. Yeah. It was when you gave up your scholarship to go pro or do whatever you were gonna do. Um, one of the cool things, if not the coolest thing that happened to me was I met Ingrid. And she was, as we've talked about before, she was the first person at that age that I saw living out her faith on a daily basis. And she'd be the first one to tell you that she wasn't perfect in that, but she was living it out in an intentional way.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Well, uh that summer um I was working my tail off because I'm in my head, I'm thinking, man, I got a chance to go pro. So I just kicked it up even more. And I ended up uh having a routine physical with our Notre Dame doctors, and they they heard a gallop in my heart, is how they described it to me. And come to find out after a week of test and a battery of test, um, I had a a disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And it brought an end uh to my career right away, and it was quick, and I was 18 years old, had no idea uh what was going on. Um while it was going on, I never said a word to Ingrid about it. Um and so we had a press conference. Um and and mind you, I'm I'm just like spinning, you know. My whole world was basically like over because, like I said, basketball was my God, even though I gave my life to Christ when I was 10. Yeah, I had no idea um what relationship was, let alone the principles and pillars that we build our faith on. I had no clue. Um, God was a genie to me at that point in my life. And so I went to her dorm to tell her after the press conference, and she cried and we sat there and cried, and then she, you know, as small as she was, five foot three, a hundred pounds, she looked up at me with those beautiful eyes and just said, Monty, Jesus can heal your heart. And at the time, Will, I was just like, you know, great. Yeah. Like, let's get it going, you know, because that's what God had been to me at that point. Like I said, I didn't have a relationship. I had religion.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

And what happened over the next two years was um a miracle. You know, we started going to church um at a place called New Wings of Faith in South Bend, Indiana. We'd leave campus on Sundays, go to church, and I met a guy named Pat Magley and his wife BJ. And that was my first encounter with discipleship. And um God was doing something in my life and in my heart. Um, and the story is so much more than what I can tell um everyone today, but it was the beginning of me going from uh religion to relationship. Yeah. And it I didn't have my heart healed right away. Um, but God was doing things in my heart that He continues to do and has done over the past 30 plus years since that time in college. And so when I read this verse, you know, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. But God is the strength. He was the strength then, he was my portion then and now, and what he was doing in my life, um, I couldn't even comprehend it until probably decades later, when I started to look back and see the all the pieces that he was putting together and how he strategically got me to Notre Dame so that I would meet Ingrid, meet Pat, uh go through some tough stuff and allow him to bring me through it. Uh it was a but-God moment for sure in my life.

SPEAKER_05 7:56

It's a powerful testimony uh of when you may have felt that you were in some measure of control, but God forced you to lean upon him and his plans. I also thought of Ephesians 2, 4 through 5. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And this speaks of the gospel. You know, we were spiritually dead in our sin. The wages of sin is death, Romans 6, 23. But God, in his love and mercy, sent us his Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins in our place, and not because of any merit in us. Jesus then rose from the grave, conquering sin and death in order to give us the gift of everlasting life. It's by grace we are saved through faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, not by works. When I first came to faith in Christ, I understood for the first time that heaven is a free gift. I thought I could somehow do enough to earn or deserve heaven, but I simply had to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, and God saved me and made me into new creation in Christ. The old has passed away, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. The new has come and I was transferred, Colossians 1.13, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. We also see one of these foundational but God scriptures in Romans 5.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah, Romans 5. Um when I look at it, I again I think back to a time in my life where God was doing stuff that I had no idea about. I mean, it was it was it was phenomenal when you look back on it during that time. I just didn't have the capacity to even know. Like, you know, I was just a goofy kid, you know, and just living my life. But um Romans 5, 7 through 8 says, For scarcely uh for a righteous man will one die. For peradventure, for the good man, some would even dare to die. But God commanded his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we were in that bad state, uh separated from God because of our sin practically and positionally, spiritually, um, our sin has caused this chasm, if you will, to separate us from uh relationship with God. But the beauty is not from the love of God. And that that's the beauty of our faith. And when I look back um on my life during a time when God was doing something so extraordinary, um, early in my life, uh the first nine years of my childhood, my parents had a tough go. And so I spent a lot of time with my grandparents um until my mom and dad eventually got divorced when I was seven or eight years old. And um, I had a really good uh life with my grandparents. Um and my family's awesome, but we were not living in a place of victory in Christ at all. I think we had a reference um and a reverence, but not a practical relationship at all, and certainly not a daily uh relationship with the Lord. And when you're a kid, you don't really think of it that way. I I just love playing outside. It was a country lifestyle. Uh I would fish and hunt and play sports all day, eat from fruit trees. I worked with my granddad um as a landscaper. That was my first job.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

He was my hero. Um he was the first person that I saw pull over on the side of the road and help someone out that he didn't know. Like he was that kind of man. Yet we still didn't have a relationship with the Lord. And so when I was um nine years old, my mom had the courage to uh come and get me from my grandparents in Virginia and take me to Maryland uh in PG County. And that was where uh she and I lived. Uh we started out in a single uh one-bedroom apartment, just uh my mom and I. And um I started playing football at the Oxen Hill Boys Club. It was my first time playing um organized sports. And at that particular uh club, uh one of my coaches, who's still in my life today, I met uh Jim Westbrook. And Coach Westbrook was the first person that I had ever met who would invite uh me to church outside of my family. Um, the only faith-based reference that I had on a consistent basis was my dad's parents. And my granddad, J. O. Williams Sr., um, who's still one of my heroes to this day, was a pastor for 50 years. And I spent some summers with them, but still didn't have any idea about the Lord. And like I said, early in my life, I was it was all about religion, not so much relationship. But my mom, like I said, had the courage to take me out of a certain situation uh to raise me on her own. But neither one of us knew that God was orchestrating all of this out of a rough, rough situation. Um, Coach Westbrook invited me to uh our family to church. He invited our whole team. And I think two families went my family and another family. And my mother and I just went to church every Sunday. Wow. She ended up singing in the choir. We had other family members start to go. Yeah. But that was where I became a Christian when I was 10 years old at Riverside Baptist Church in Fort Foot, Maryland. And so God was uh doing an amazing thing in my life, and while I was in a bad state, while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. While I was in this tough, tough place spiritually, he was laying out the breadcrumbs, he was carving out a path for me and my mom to start going to church and hearing the gospel, even though at 10 years old I had no idea. I just I saw other people going to get saved, and I was like, I want that. You know, but I didn't really understand it. So at that point in my life, it was really religion more than anything. And it's it just speaks to the grace of God that He would use my hard, childish heart with a religious perspective, and gradually over the next uh decade or so, like I said, when I got to college, it went from religion to a little bit of a relationship. I still had a lot of religion, and and I'm 54, and I I I I honestly can tell you, I still do. And God is still working on that, He's still uh molding my heart to a place where I have way more relationship than religion uh that I came up with, and and especially when I was 10 years old and and um gave my life to the Lord. And so that that butt God moment for me still I can still look back on that and still like pieces to the puzzle still come together. Yeah. And it took me decades to even have the capacity to see what God was doing back then. Yeah. But as you get older and God brings you through some stuff, you're like, wow, yeah, God was working that out. And so that that was a huge but God moment for me.

SPEAKER_05 15:53

Yeah, and and not just one moment, but those series of but God moments uh through the years that that still continue. I remember we talked about in in our podcast on waiting well. We talked about one of my favorite characters in in the scripture, Joseph from the Old Testament. And we see Joseph featured at the end of the book of Genesis, and and we saw two but God scriptures uh in Joseph's life. In when Pharaoh asked Joseph in Genesis 41, 16 if Joseph could interpret Pharaoh's dream, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, I cannot do it, but God will give uh Pharaoh the answer he desires. On our own strength we are weak, but God will allow all things to be possible. He gives us the power, he gives us uh the wisdom that we need. And then the second scripture from Joseph's life is found in Genesis 50. Joseph's father Jacob had just died, and all of Joseph's brothers are now suddenly afraid that Joseph will take this opportunity to get his revenge against them for the way that they had mistreated Joseph many years ago. But Joseph had already forgiven them. And he says in Genesis 50, verse 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive. God had used all of the trials, all of those uh long years in prison to refine and prepare Joseph for the day when he would eventually become prime minister in Egypt. Again, but God. And I know you have other verses that that speak to God hearing our prayers and and providing spiritual growth in our lives.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

No, I just I mean, even listening to you talk about I wish we just had more time, you know, because it's so encouraging to hear other believers talk about what God has done, and not from a place of arrogance or pride or strength, um, just out of gratitude. Yeah. Because I I think we all have uh these but God moments. And another one for me, uh the scripture reference would be um Psalm 66, 19. The Bible says, But verily God hath heard, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Um I didn't even understand how that would that verse would play out in my life at the time. At the time, I wasn't even thinking about this verse. Yeah. My prayer was, Lord help me. And it takes me back to 2016. Um I was coaching in in Oklahoma City with the Thunder, and uh I got the call that no one ever wants to get. Uh my wife and and and three of my kids were in a tough uh situation, had a car accident, um, and we lost Ingrid um in a practical sense, but we didn't lose her um in an eternal sense because we know exactly where she is. She's in the presence of the Lord. The Bible says absent from the body, present with the Lord. Yes. But during that time, um my prayer was, Lord, help me. I have no idea what I'm doing. Um I had five kids. Uh one of my kids um was in a tough situation, and thank God she was uh medically um healed from that, from the accident, and then two of my kids were bumped up pretty good, but they were okay. And so I had five kids that I had to raise and and do a lot more than I was doing at the time because Ingrid had done so much. Um, but again, my prayer was Lord help me. And he sent so many people. Uh Avery Johnson, Charlie Antondra Ward, uh Coach Pop, RC here in San Antonio, um, the OKC Thunder. Um Sam Prestey is one of the most remarkable people you're ever gonna meet. Ayana Lawson, yeah, Billy, and Christine Th Donovan, uh to name a few during that time. But um at that age, I was just like, man, I'm I never thought I'd have to think about remarriage or getting married again, getting uh in a situation where I would have to give my heart to someone else. And as God prepared me for that, I was like, Lord, like I don't know what I'm doing. You know, uh dating was not something that I was uh accustomed to. I never thought I'd have to do that again. And as I prayed and asked God to help me, um, I was working with the Spurs at that time. Um, and they gave me this glorified title. I was vice president of such and such. And I just laugh at that because RC is just he's just a really cool dude, and I was just a glorified ball boy during that time. But in the branch that I was working at, there was a young lady named Leslie, and she was telling me about this girl named Lisa, and I was like, okay, you know, and over time um I met Lisa, and um Lisa was so sweet, so kind, and so patient. And she was the one, when we first met and first started talking, uh, she was the one that was um telling me to like, let's take this slow. Because in my mind, I was just trying to put everything back together again like I had it before. And she had the wisdom, um, the kindness, and the integrity to walk with me through a lot of tough stuff. Premarriage counseling, post-marriage counseling. And my prayer at that time was still, Lord, help me. When I look at this verse and I see that, but verily God hath heard. He heard all those nights sitting on the side of my bed trying to figure out like, what am I doing, Lord? Like, how do I take care of these kids? There's more on my plate than I ever thought. You know, I thought I'd be on the sideline coaching or in the gym, sweating, running up and down the floor with players, and I'm in PTA meetings and going to medical appointments and making sure everybody has their teeth brushed and listening to my daughters, you know, talk about stuff that I have no idea what's going on. And I would go to bed and just be like, Lord help me. Yeah. And during that time, I had a tangible grief that is really, really hard to understand unless you've gone through it. And God was bringing me through that whole thing by his grace, by his strength. And when you look back, when I look back on my life, I think of, you know, many people, you know, who were just like Paul and Apollos, you know, in sec in 1 Corinthians 3, 6 and 7, the Bible says, I planted Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. It there were so many people during that time that were planting and watering and serving me and my family. And uh, like I said, no one more than than Lisa. She's been um, you know Lisa. She's when you look up nice in the dictionary, there's a picture of Lisa and Dora the Explorer, right next to the definition. And you're just like, she's just a beautiful person. She has loved on uh me and my children in a way that I could never explain or pay back. Um I got another son out of it, which I never thought about. You know, my son Caden, who's who's a quarterback at Houston Christian, um, and I got a a new set of in-laws that um Mr. Ron and Ms. Ruthie are nuts. You know, I I don't care what we're doing. If I need them to help me change a trash bag, they will get in their car and come to our place and help me do it. And so God heard my prayer. I all I knew was Lord help me. Um, but God, He had so much in store, and and His healing and His grace and His strategic plan uh in our tough, tough, tough time has been a blessing to me and my children.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

Yeah. We can look back and see how God uses so many people in our lives, uh first and foremost, our our our wives at those key moments to strengthen us and to encourage us in our pursuit of Christ and and his plan and his providence. You know, he takes us to places that we could never have imagined and and puts those people on our path to help us along the way. I remember when I was in grades three through five, I struggled with a speech impediment. And I had a hard time with with S's and and R's. I struggled with Wascally Wabbit. You know, that was that was a issue. And and every week, for three years, I went and met with this speech therapist named Mrs. Flores. She was a wonderful lady, and ten years later, I came home from from college on a Christmas break and decided to stop by my elementary school. I went into the library and I asked, you know, does Mrs. Flores still teach here? And the lady said, Well, yes, she should be coming into the library any moment to to work with some students. And and sure enough, Mrs. Flores walked in and I said, Mrs. Flores, I I don't know if you remember me, you know, Will Davis. And she gave me this big hug. And I didn't want to keep her from her students, but I quickly expressed to her, I just stopped by to say thank you for for working with me and and helping me for those three years. You know, by the grace of God, I'm now majoring in in broadcast journalism in college. And and so thank you for instilling some confidence in what had been an insecurity for me. And now, praise God. You know, communication is a big part of my vocation, and we have the privilege of doing this podcast together. And so God works in mysterious ways. And and I know you have witnessed that over and over again in your own life.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

It's it's just amazing to hear these stories and kind of see where we are now. Like none of us, you know, at the time when we're going through the stuff we go through would have imagined like God's gonna use you to do this, yeah, you know, podcast. And you know, I'm just telling you, if you saw me back in the day, no one would have guessed I'd be a basketball coach. Like uh, I was the guy who got kicked out of the gym. You know, my high school coach was pretty tough on me, and he but the my next verse, uh 1 Corinthians 1 27, the Bible says, But God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise, and God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. When I look at my life, um the math just doesn't math. You know, I know who I am, I know the things that I've done, I know the sin that I've committed, I know uh where I come from, yeah, I know the tough stuff that God has brought me uh through in my childhood, um through college, uh in my first marriage, in my second marriage. Um you know those things about yourself. Um there was a time in my life, and I if I'm being totally honest, I still deal with it, um, where I thought it was me, or I think it's me, my strength, uh, my intelligence, my my ability to work. But the Bible says in James 1:17, every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights. Like all these good things come from him. And I I think, you know, a a reference point for me goes back to uh Ingrid's celebration in OKC. Um I I had no idea what I was gonna do or say that day until the night before I got a bit of encouragement after we had praise and worship at our house that that that that night before the celebration. And it was that night when I I I thought like I'm gonna say something. I was just like, I don't know, you know. Well, I ended up getting up on stage and I was really just talking to my kids. Yeah. But it ended up turning into something else. And after the service, um people came up to me and were they were just talking about what I had said, and I wasn't really concerned with that at all. To be straight, I didn't care. Um, I was hurting so bad that I just wanted to, you know, put on a good face, but I wanted to get out of there and just get the kids and just, you know. And God was using that in a way that only He could. Um, but when I tell you, um, the way people saw me after that was a bit different. And I started to be looked at as someone who was much stronger than I really was. And it put me in a place uh somewhat on a pedestal, if you will. And certain I mean, I I'd be walking around an airport and somebody I'd never met before would walk up to me and say, Man, I just want to tell you, I watched your your wife's celebration and they just go on and on. And I I over time I got to a place where I'd cringe a little bit because I know who I am, and I know that that was just God. And I was only talking to my kids because my biggest fear was that um that situation with Ingrid was going to shake them, and I did not want it to shake their faith, even though they were kids. I was just like, I I just don't want my kids to walk away from the the Lord, I don't want them to be angry for the rest of their lives. Um and and God has done an amazing thing um in my kids' life and lives, and so I I look at you know that particular verse, he does do amazing things with foolish things and people, and I'm I'm one of them. And I know it. I don't need I don't need anybody to encourage me or to tell me, you know, those things. I know what the word says about us. You know, when you read Jeremiah 17, 9, it tells you the the heart of man is wicked above all things. So when you put everything together and you rate the wickedness of all things, man's heart is at the top. And I can relate to that more than I can relate to the touchy-feely verses that you you tend to see on TV that people throw out there out of context to get people happy about a certain situation. I know what Jeremiah 17, 9 says, Yeah, but I also know what John 3.16 says. I know what 1 Corinthians 1.27 says. It's just God, it's just the Lord. If not for the grace of God, like I'd be in a tough, tough, tough place. And so he does choose the foolish things uh to confound those uh wise people or wise things. And I'm so grateful for that level of but God in my life during a tough, tough time.

SPEAKER_05 32:21

Yeah. On our own, we are weak and and and foolish. But God. And and I do believe God God did speak through you uh as you gave that testimony uh during Ingrid's celebration of life service that God continues to use today uh for his glory. And I think the the verse from Acts 13, 29 comes to my mind during Paul's first missionary journey. He was preaching the gospel, and he said in Acts 13, they took Jesus down from the cross and laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. And so as we wrap up today, this is the greatest but God moment, you know, the resurrection, because for the disciples and and Christ's closest followers, all seemed lost on Good Friday and on Saturday. You know, Jesus died and was buried, and the world held its breath. But God raised his son from the grave, defeating sin and death and granting us the gift of everlasting life in Him. The resurrection on Easter morning is the greatest event in all of human history, and it serves as the foundation of our faith. And so as we wrap up, you we want to challenge the listener to think about your own but God moments in your life and and share that with someone else. It takes the credit off of you and it gives all the glory to God. And we do want to remind the listener that we thank God for you, we're praying for you, and let me pray right now. Lord, whatever trial we are are currently walking through, we know that you are with us, you are near to us, God, that you will never leave us. And when life does seem at times too hard to bear, Lord, help us to see you in the storm. Help us to see those but God moments when you come through for us. And Lord, we testify today to your goodness and your faithfulness. And we do so in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, thank you for spending some time with us today. And remember, whatever it is that you're facing, know that God loves you, He's for you, He's got a good plan for you. And we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_04 35:21

Thank you for joining us at Coaching for Life. And please subscribe wherever you receive this content.