For four years I watched my little girl, Julianna, walk, run, and twirl her way through our church. For thirteen years I watched another girl in our church, Kindra, live her entire life confined to a wheelchair. One Sunday, Kindra’s mom brought her to church with a new spring outfit. I noticed that there were new shoes, but they sat in Kindra’s lap. After the service, Kindra’s mother gave the shoes to my wife with the request that our daughter wear them. For the next few services, I observed the mom watching Julianna move about the church property in the shoes that Kindra could not wear.

Before Christ was born, there was a symbol of the exchange of ownership and property recorded in Ruth 4:7. The seller gave his shoe to the buyer as a representation that the pervious owner no longer had the opportunity to walk on the property again. In the passage, Boaz became the kinsman-redeemer for a widow, Ruth, and a shoe was exchanged to bind the ownership.

As a parent, I do not understand why Julianna was blessed with health and Kindra was not. As a coach, I do not understand why some games are won and others are lost.

We must understand that Jesus Christ removed His shoes to allow His feet to be nailed to a cross. He became our Redeemer so that we could wear His shoes. Win or lose, we must fill the shoes that God has placed us in and be examples for Him in victory and defeat.

My daughter could only wear those shoes for a short time. As coaches, God has placed us in Christ’s coaching shoes for a short time. We have a responsibility to be the redeemer of many, win or lose.