Does the word “wait” cause the hair on the back of your neck to rise like it does mine? As an endurance athlete, a lot of my training can last for several hours. An example would be during one of my former marathon trainings. One week I had a 20-mile run scheduled. Before the first mile was completed I was already thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if this was mile 19 and I only had one mile to go?” I was wishing that I could fast-forward through my run and just see the end results.

At twenty-seven inches tall and dressed in his sleek-fitting evening attire, the adeli penguin looks like a million bucks. A good day for a penguin is a day of “non-event.” It is a day where he has eaten a few fish, slid around on his belly to conserve resources, and has not been eaten himself! A good day for a penguin is one where he is able to wipe his brow at the end of it and proclaim, “I made it.”

Is it possible that one man could have changed Mike Tyson’s problem-filled boxing career? Tyson believes his former trainer, mentor, and legal guardian Cus D’Amato, who died before he won the title in 1986, would have changed things. Tyson said, “It would have been totally different. Cus once told me, ‘You’re the kind of person who has to get hurt to learn.’ I didn’t understand he was talking about life…in the fight of life I am a pug, a palooka [a second-rate prize fighter].”

Fans hold their breath and sit on the edge of their seats. Then, it happens—that unexpected play that no one saw coming. In every sporting event, at any time, the element of surprise can alter a game’s momentum. One tick of the clock can take a coach through numerous emotions. In these defining moments we can learn great lessons about following Christ.

As we play the game, we never know what ups or downs might occur. Christ never promised His followers that life would be easy. But we have hope in the midst of the unknown. God has won the victory for us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. So anything we face can be overcome when we follow God’s game plan.

THUD. One. The fierce bite of the whip sunk into Jesus' back.

THUD. Two. A 350-pound Roman guard, unleashing the power of every muscle in his body.

THUD. Three. A short pause, to let the blood ooze and the pain sink in. Forty times would surely kill Him, so they went one less. Then the nine tails. Nine ropes holding the sharpest things they could find. Rusty nails. Baked glass. Jagged razorblades. They all plunged into Jesus' back, mercilessly ripping Him apart and tearing His skin to shreds with force no NFL lineman could hope to muster. They found the roughest thornbush with thorns three inches long pointing in every direction, and they forced it onto His head and ground the thorns into his skull.

That was the easy part.

Over the past fourteen years, I have been a defensive coach in our high school football program. Specifically, I coach linebackers. In order to play linebacker successfully at our level, a player must make a total commitment to the expectations placed upon him. It requires an unwavering self-discipline.

I was reading a statement by Tom Glavine recently. He said, "I went through the 'don't do this' syndrome at certain times in my career when facing certain batters. I told myself not to hang a curve ball. Sure enough, I did. Now I focus on 'Do this.' It's a significant difference."

How many times have we been done in by the "don't do" mindset? When we diet, we mess up by thinking so hard about what we can't eat that we crave and then give in to the foods we are trying to avoid. Hitters go up to bat thinking, "Don't strike out!" only to have their minds so laser-focused on what not to do, they forget to tell the mind what to do. In the end, what they were trying to prevent becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After an All-American college basketball career at Kansas State University, Shalee Lehning experienced a breakout rookie season in the WNBA as a guard for the Atlanta Dream. Not only did she help the team set a franchise record in wins, but also ranked individually among the top 10 in the WNBA in total assists. Now between pro seasons, Lehning is serving as an assistant coach at her alma mater under Coach Deb Patterson.

When I was 17, I was a young, brash, three-sport athlete who took any challenge that came my way. My aggressive personality allowed me to “hang with the big-dogs” on the court, in the field and on the track. That personality, however, also caused many setbacks.

The desire of every high school athlete is a full scholarship to college. I was speaking to a local softball team yesterday. I asked them to imagine that I could give them a full scholarship. The only thing I needed them to do was to try out. The terms of the scholarship state that if every "at bat" is a home run; if every ball is fielded cleanly; if every throw is on line; and every pitch a strike, then you will get the scholarship.

I asked them if they could achieve that. "No" was the unanimous answer. Of course you can't because no one is perfect.