--- id: ff25_seventy_basketball_games_pilot title: FLYINGFREE - Seventy Basketball Games Pilot category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: family-joy-setup-before-crisis sentiment: Warm emotions: - Joy - Pride - Grateful keypoints: - Early forties: businesses well, kids in high school healthy and enjoying life - Greatest joys included watching daughter and son play basketball - One year they attended over seventy games running between contests - Sometimes half a game, then airplane hop to the other child’s town - Dedicated parents, selfishly proud; important memorable family times summary: > Dean sets the stage with early-forties family joy — businesses healthy, kids playing basketball, over seventy games in a season, even flying between towns — dedicated and proud parents in memorable years. tags: - flying-free - chapter-25 - family - basketball - parenting - joy - dean-rush - book-excerpt - biblical-counsel - pilot sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 9 entropy: 2 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: flyingfree created: '2010-01-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: FLYINGFREE prefix: FLYINGFREE enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: FLYINGFREE_25_seventy-basketball-games-pilot.md source_kind: book_excerpt proposed_topic: FlyingFree lane: FlyingFree voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: FlyingFree content_status: active date: '2010-01-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md source_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md site_category: Flying Free book_title: Flying Free book_chapter: 25 book_chapter_title: Share Your Experience – Help Others Land Safely source_file: flyingfree/flying-free-25-share-your-experience.md description: > Chapter 25 setup — early forties joy; seventy-plus basketball games; pilot hops between kids’ contests; proud dedicated parents. --- # Seventy Basketball Games Pilot **Author:** Dean Rush **Book:** *Flying Free* · **Chapter 25:** Share Your Experience – Help Others Land Safely **Full book:** [deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md](https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md) ## Context for the Reader This chapter demonstrates that recovery is not complete until it is shared. Before cancer and Lonnie’s rescue, Dean paints the bright season that made the later loss so sharp: early forties, healthy kids, basketball obsession, even airplane hops between games. This lesson holds only that joy-and-presence setup. > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's excerpt** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean savors ordinary family delight without apology. Scripture blesses rejoicing with children, diligent presence, and receiving good gifts with thanks before the storm story arrives. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Joy in watching children thrive and play | Children are a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3–5); rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15) | | Costly presence — travel, time, even aircraft between games | Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31); walk in wisdom… making the best use of the time (Ephesians 5:15–16) | | Dedicated and proud; memorable family times | Train up a child in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6); these words… shall be on your heart… talk of them (Deuteronomy 6:6–7) | --- ## Dean's excerpt ### Benefit to being a pilot When I was in my early forties, our businesses were doing well and our children were in high school, healthy, and enjoying life. One of my greatest joys was watching our daughter and son play basketball. We traveled to nearly every game in the season for both kids. One year during that time we attended over seventy basketball games as we ran back and forth between contests. In a few cases, we would watch half a game in one town, run to the little airport where our business was located, hop in an airplane and fly to the town where the other kid was participating in a game. There was a benefit to being a pilot. We were dedicated parents but selfishly very proud as well. Those were important and memorable times for our family. > **Scholar sidebar — Delight before the dark** > Psalm 127:3–5 and Romans 12:15 honor joy in children. 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Ephesians 5:15–16 frame costly presence. Proverbs 22:6 and Deuteronomy 6:6–7 root parental investment. Dean’s airplane hops are love in motion — setup for what cancer will strip. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Bright season.** Early forties businesses and healthy high-schoolers. 2. **Named joy.** Watching both kids’ basketball ranked among greatest joys. 3. **Seventy-plus games.** Extreme presence, not occasional attendance. 4. **Pilot edge.** Half-game, airport, hop, other town — skill used for family. 5. **Proud dedication.** Memorable times they still mark as important. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? In his early forties Dean and Vickie poured into their kids’ basketball seasons — over seventy games, even flying between towns — as dedicated, proudly present parents. ### Why tell the happy years first? So the later wheelchair and pity-party contrast lands as real loss of a life they loved, not abstract hardship. ### Key verses to read with this lesson - **Psalm 127:3–5** — Children a heritage. - **Romans 12:15** — Rejoice with those who rejoice. - **Deuteronomy 6:6–7** — Talk of God’s words in ordinary life. - **Ephesians 5:15–16** — Make the best use of the time. - **Proverbs 22:6** — Train up a child. ### A simple practice Name one “seventy-game” level investment you can make in a person you love this month (presence, not purchase). Schedule it. ### How this feeds Ask Dean Seed material for: *What was Dean’s family life before cancer? How did he use flying for family? Why do memorable joys matter in recovery stories?*