Last week, my mighty Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim got swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals, a team of young, no-name players who came in and shut down one of the hottest teams in baseball (at least they were before last Monday). When the Royals arrived they were 30-46 and owners of the second worst record in the majors; and at 49-27, the Angels held the second best record in the majors. To top it off, the Angels hadn't been swept at home since 2005. But it happened. It's history. It's in the record book. David slew Goliath.

 

Athletes have goals. That is what we do! We make goals and then strive every day to reach them. If we didn't have a list of goals, then we would stop improving, stop moving forward. We would have nothing to aim for.

 

I am a huge fan of Coach Vince Lombardi and have read almost all of his books, including the book "Vince Lombardi Rules." This book says that his number one rule is "Self-Knowledge": to know yourself and what your talents are so that you can work for them.

 

As a recent high school graduate, I realize that sports are over for me. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't still stay in shape. I have to continue to workout in order to maintain my physical fitness.

 

The same is also true for our spiritual lives. We must continue to workout our faith, even after we leave church and are no longer in fellowship with believers. We must exercise spiritual fruits in order to gain spiritual strength.

 

Recently, while preparing for a Sunday School class, I was reading a lesson on Jesus calling the tax collector into service. I was reminded of my high school baseball days. I remembered those games when we were tied 0-0 into the later innings and then the opposing team would score a run. As we ran into the dugout after the third out my coach would say, "That's alright. We had to score one to win, anyway." In a situation which many people would lose heart, our coach would offer us a different perspective to give us hope.

 

Let me say this: sin has a purpose.

 

The Rebels and the Whales met in the second round winners' bracket of a double elimination softball tournament. In the bottom of the first inning the Whales had runners on first and third with two outs. The batter hit a shot deep into right centerfield that was sure to score two runs and give the Whales a two-run lead. However, the runner on first left too early and was called out. In the bottom of second inning with two outs and the bases loaded, a Whales player lined a seed into the left centerfield gap, which would have scored at least two runs, but the batter was called out for stepping on home plate. In the top of the third, a close call went the way of the Rebels, turning what could have been the third out into a six-run, two-out rally for the Rebels.

In football it's important to wear a mouthguard. This protects a player's mouth from injury. Those who don't wear mouthguards sometimes end up with missing teeth!

 

In life, some of us need to wear "heavenly mouthguards" to guard our words. The unkind words we say can hurt others. God is not pleased when His children say things that hurt or anger others. The Bible says that the tongue is like a wild animal that cannot be tamed by man (James 3). Only God can tame our tongues. We need His help. If we ask Him, He will help us to honor and bless others with the words we say. When we are angry, God can help us to not say damaging or unwholesome words. He also can guard our mouths when we are tempted to say untrue things about others.

University of Memphis track athlete Cassandra Harding didn't give a second thought to signing a document stating she could lose her scholarship if she became pregnant because, "I wasn't going to get pregnant." But she did. When asked what role the fear of losing a scholarship played in a decision to have an abortion or not, another female athlete said, "On a scale from 1 to 10, it was like a 9. It had a big, big part in my decision; because that's the first thing I thought about, I'm losing my scholarship."