In sixteen years as the coach of the Boston Celtics, Red Auerbach guided his team to nine NBA championships. He retired after the 1966 season as the winningest coach in NBA history with 938 wins. While his teams had some great players, they were characterized more by their team play, which included a new concept of using role players. According to Auerback, a role player is one who “willingly undertakes the thankless job that has to be done in order to make the whole package fly.”

Baseball immortal Ty Cobb, one of the greatest hitters of all time, was also a base- stealing “demon” during his playing days. In his autobiography, My Life in Baseball, the True Record, Cobb admitted that often he would use trickery to fool his opponents and steal a base.

This morning when I stepped outside my door for my daily run, I was greeted by the crazy heat and humidity of a Midwest July morning. Usually the heat doesn’t affect my running as much because I run during the coolest part of the day right before sunrise. But today, it was like someone forgot to turn on the air conditioner. It was over 80 degrees and, boy, was it humid.

When I run, I really like to run through the woods as opposed to on the streets. I just like being with nature and running over and around tree roots instead of flat pavement. There was a 3.5-mile route I had learned that went around my school. I usually ran the same loop, sometimes backwards to mix it up. Every time I would run, though, I would pass another path I’d never tried that branched off into the woods. For a long time I would just run the same route, over and over again, always feeling an inner tug toward the other trail. I would always think to myself, “I like where I’m at. I know where I’m going; I’m comfortable with it. If I take that path, I could get lost. That other trail could be longer or more difficult.”

After his recent passing, people around the world continue to remember the life and legacy of Coach John Wooden. He was a teacher, leader, coach and father figure to so many great players in his career. One unmistakable characteristic of Wooden was that those around him knew who was in charge. Just ask Bill Walton. Before one of his seasons at UCLA, he decided he wanted to play with long hair and facial hair. Walton walked into Wooden’s office and told him just what his plan was. Walton thought he was going to do things his own way.

In our service at church this week I was reminded about who should be calling the shots in our lives. Our pastor, James McDonald, told us that there are only two ways in life: our way or God’s way.

Do you ever find it hard to sleep at night because your mind is racing and dwelling on things that you have absolutely no control over? I think that we are all prone to struggle and deal with worry. It's probably why Jesus told us not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34. My daughter Amber and I recently led a small group seminar at an FCA summer camp in Kentucky. What really impacted me was how practical this was to the students who attended. We began by asking those who attended our seminar to "Write down one to three things that you worry about on an ongoing basis."

Humility and competition, especially today, seem to be a contradiction in terms. As human beings, we believe that if we demonstrate humility, we will be walked over, pushed aside, neglected, or even abused. So instinctively we reject humility, maybe not as an idea, but in our everyday actions toward others.

Although Christ’s purpose was not that of competition, we can certainly agree that Christ had a purpose and goal and was successful in achieving it. In this vein, let’s consider our own goals as coaches. Where does humility play a part? Paul, speaking to the church at Philippi, reminded us that Christ recognized His humanity and this resulted in a humility that inspired obedience.