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When I was coaching football I was blessed with an opportunity to help at an FCA Football Camp. During one of the coaches’ huddle sessions, our Huddle Leader said, “I tried to coach my players as if one of them would one day become my son-in-law.” That has always stuck with me. And in Mark 12:31, we read that this kind of advice is actually from God Himself.
It’s been a while since I was in high school, but I still vividly recall one day during my junior year. It was the day my coach called me into his office and told me he was moving me from fullback to tackle. As a sophomore, I had weighed 200 pounds and was pretty fast. I gained 35 pounds over the summer and was a little slower at that weight. The coach told me I was too good of a player to sit on the bench, but that I was now too slow to be a running back. He asked me to make a personal sacrifice and move to a new position on the line so that I could help the team have a chance at the conference title.
Ok, so you’re an athlete. You’ve probably read or heard this verse before. But when was the last time you stopped and thought about it? What was Paul trying to say? Is the athlete the metaphor, or how the athlete trains? My take on this passage is that every Christian is an athlete; so, that leaves the training in this verse to be the focus.
The Third ‘No’ - No Excuses! Are you tired of having an excuse for everything? Well those days are over!
The goal of every coach is to have an outstanding team, but a winning team must train at all times, in season and out, even when it is inconvenient. A coach knows that training during the off season is just as important as training in season. A good team is comprised of athletes who are in shape, well trained, and in tune with the other players. Every coach knows that if a player is out of shape, hard workouts will cause injury and a severe loss for the team. That’s why there can be no slacking off between seasons. Even the best players have to practice year round.
The first thing anyone asks a coach is, “How are things with your team?” When someone meets me and finds out that I am a coach, he usually asks, “Is your team good?” When I walk down the street after a game, people stop me to say, “Great win coach!” I always have a quick response, sharing all of the positive things that are going on in our program and painting our team in the best light.
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson received plenty of coverage on last night’s NCAA Championship game with the anniversary of their classic game. Recently, I saw an interview where Magic Johnson was talking with LeBron James about the young man’s success in the league. The conversation eventually turned to former players who did so well in competition that they were simply known by one name or nickname. Athletes like MJ, Tiger, Junior, Kobe, Sweetness, Shaq, Magic, Dr. J, and now LeBron. James was honored to be considered part of such high athletic royalty, and he hopes that he will be around to see the next one-named guy come on the scene.
In athletics we do a good job of misusing the verb need. We need a win. We need new uniforms. We need this player to play well. We need to raise this much with our fund-raiser. We need to have everyone at workouts.
The only problem is we are not looking at the verb need right. When we use need, we use it to mean something we would like to have. All of the situations above are things any coach or athlete would like to have. Who would not like new uniforms every season? We should use need a little differently.
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