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September 27, 2012
Set:
As a young baseball player, I found myself on the losing end of a lot of games. Many times my team had the mindset of losers, and our attitudes showed that we had lost the game long before the seventh inning. We went through the motions to the finish, but we were defeated long before the end of the game.
Perhaps many of us live as if God were keeping score, as if He has His own scoreboard with everyone’s name on it. One side lists “Good Works” and the other “Sins/Bad Things.” Can you imagine if eternal life depended on being perfect or trying to make sure all our good outweighed our bad? We would be like my little league team: living in defeat with no hope.
October 18, 2012
Set:
Every day it sits on my desk as a powerful reminder. It tugs on my soul with a convicting message that seems to say, “Be careful. Do not let your life be like this.” The object is a gorgeous leather Bible with all the extras, including gold tipped pages. It’s real nice. But the reason I don’t want my life to be like this Bible is that when you crack open the pages, you discover that the pages are blank. Yup—not a single word or letter. It appears to be the Bible of all Bibles on the outside, but it contains nothing of God’s message on the inside. The fake Bible had actually been a sample sent to me by a publisher so that we could get an idea of a cover we wanted for a future FCA Bible. The sample just needed blank pages to fill the inside.
January 31, 2013
Set:
After leading the nation in total offense and passing yards per game last season, University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum was all set to lead the Cougars to another great run in 2010. That all changed, however, when in just their third game Keenum suffered a season-ending knee injury that forced him to the sideline for his senior season. As a man of faith, the injury forced Keenum to rely on the Lord in new ways and to fully trust in the Lord’s ultimate plan.
April 10, 2014
Set:
As a cross-country skier, I have to train all year. Since we have not had much snow in the last couple of years, we have had to do dry-land training so that when the snow comes we are ready. Skiing is both a team and an individual sport, and we train for endurance, technique and strength. And although we have a team behind us encouraging us along the way to keep us going and making us want to succeed, it is still up to us as individuals how much we put into the sport.
January 03, 2012
Set:
If someone walked up to you and asked, “What does it mean to play ‘in the zone’?” how would you respond? What professional athlete comes to your mind when you think about playing in the zone? As an athlete, you have certainly been in the zone at least once. To play in the zone means that you are unstoppable. You are the “go to.” You can’t miss. I think you get the point—when you are in the zone, it is an awesome experience.
What does in the zone mean if you relate it to your spiritual life instead of your sports experience? Have you ever been in the zone spiritually? What does it take to get in the zone? Let’s dig deeper with a few questions based on Ephesians 5:1-10.
December 15, 2008
Set:
“Probably the biggest things I learned were just the power of patience and perseverance, and knowing that everything God does, He does for a reason. He knows what He’s doing. It’s not our job to question what He’s doing with our lives. He has a purpose for it, and we just have to trust Him and know that His plan is the right way.”
University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford spoke those words to FCA’s Sharing the Victory magazine earlier this season prior to becoming the latest Heisman Trophy winner on Saturday night. They were lessons that Bradford had learned from experience.
April 01, 2013
Set:
Many times, pre-game prayers can be like a “rah-rah” talk or a desperate plea to God for a big win. But as true competitors, we need to ask, “What is the proper way to pray before entering the battle? How should we pour out our hearts before God so that we will be spiritually ready for competition?” Here is a great prayer that you can pray before a game, competition, workout or even practice:
May 31, 2010
Set:
There is a nice country dirt road loop in which my chocolate lab Abbie and I run to do our training runs that is just over a mile long. Along this route we also have a few homes and dogs that are usually friendly and don’t bother us, but there is one particular home that has a dog and for whatever reason doesn’t particularly like Abbie.
November 18, 2013
Set:
For some reason, every time I play a pick-up game of soccer, I never play as hard as I would in an actual competition. A friend will make a pass around me, and I’ll just let him go by. I may attempt a move, but when I’m unsuccessful I usually just slow up and don’t get back to defend. Shin guards usually aren’t part of my attire, and sometimes I dig up a pair of old, torn up cleats so I don’t have to “ruin my best.” After all, it’s just pick-up, not a real game.
November 07, 2013
Set:
When our daughter Hannah was an infant, I had to take her to the hospital for tests. What should have been a routine procedure quickly turned into a traumatic event. The nurse was having trouble drawing enough blood from Hannah’s small feet, and had to poke her three times. Worse yet, the nurse asked me to restrain Hannah during the procedure. This was a painful experience as a dad, holding her down while she cried in pain. All I could do was whisper my love to her. When it was over, I took her in my arms and rested her head on my shoulder. Hannah instantly grabbed me with all her strength and held on tight. Within a few moments, her crying died down and the calm of being in her father’s arms came over her.
February 15, 2013
Set:
Several years ago I ran the annual Kansas City Dog ‘N Jog, and at that time I thought that my crazy dog, Tweak, and I would have a shot of winning the entire thing. Coming into the final loop of the two-mile race, Tweak and I were in third place. I was so excited that we were clearly going to place in the top three. Unfortunately, during the final turn, Tweak swerved in front of me, and I lost my footing and slammed hard into pavement. It was over after that. I hobbled to the finish bruised and beaten.
When I got home that day, I reflected on the situation. It would have been so easy for me to be miserable the entire day and grumble at the outcome of the race. I thought back to a time when I’d finished a longer race and had done much better than expected.
June 25, 2007
Set:
Recently, San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds has been getting a lot of attention. In newspapers or on TV, Bonds is featured at least every other day, sometimes for no other reason than going hitless. But the reason Bonds is shown every day is because he continues to draw closer to Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs.
Because of this pending record, fans of Bonds are boasting about him. At the San Francisco Giants' ballpark, Bonds has his own sign in left field that says "a Giant among legends." He also has his own personal home run target, McCovey Cove, in right field, which was specifically made for Bonds.
August 16, 2013
Set:
As athletes, we know the cost associated with excelling in sports. We sacrifice our bodies and endure muscle aches and injury to get stronger. We practice hours every day, often sacrificing other things, to refine our skills.
April 20, 2004
Set:
As the most feared hitter in baseball, there isn't much that San Francisco Giants' slugger, Barry Bonds hasn't accomplished. His six MVP awards and record-setting 73-home run season can attest to that fact. After hitting his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third place on the career home run list, Bonds said, "[I] finally feel like I've accomplished something in the game of baseball."
Saul was a man who was a very accomplished leader of the Jewish religion (see Philippians 3:4b-6), but it was an encounter with Jesus that ultimately defined his life. That was the point when everything in his life changed. He became the Apostle Paul and began preaching Christ as forcefully as he once persecuted His followers.
January 08, 2010
Set:
After watching Texas quarterback Colt McCoy succeed for four years, not many would have predicted that his college career would end this way. Four years of preparation and hard work. (Five, if you count his time as a redshirt.) Four years of sacrifice and dedication. Four years of hoping and dreaming of hoisting the ultimate trophy. All of it came to one last shot at the national title. By the fifth play of the game, it was over. McCoy went down with a shoulder injury that took him out of the game he’d waited so long to play.
February 08, 2013
Set:
A few days ago, I went out for a long training run. It wasn't a particularly pretty day, and I wasn't exactly looking forward to the run ahead of me. About four miles in, it started to drizzle. A mile later, it was raining. I found myself looking around realizing that I was the only one out there running in the weather. My mind started to harp on how miserable it was, how much longer I had to go, and how I could probably just take a shortcut and go home. Then I felt God speak to me.
November 29, 2012
Set:
Athletes typically respect one another. We all share a single-minded, committed lifestyle that tends to be laced with adversity, but the adversity is the price we pay to excel. An athlete’s identity and purpose all too often hinge on performance, so what happens when adversity strikes, making our performance less than ideal? If our identity is wrapped up in athletic success, then we are resting on shaky ground.
December 16, 2012
Set:
Over a 32-year stretch of time, Les Steckel has coached championship football at the high school, college and professional levels. As different as each of those experiences has been, there’s one philosophy he has always shared with his players. “I used to tell my players, ‘Let me take you where you can’t take yourself,’” Steckel says. “That requires a willingness to cooperate and be committed.”
May 12, 2014
Set:
It’s all about power these days. We have Power Bars, Powerade®, Power Play, Power Training and Power Ratings. The world of sports is addicted to power. Bigger, faster and stronger is the ticket.
Strength training for any athlete is essential—you need to be an athlete of power. We know what an athlete of power looks like physically, but do we know what an athlete of power looks like spiritually? God wants us to be an athlete or coach of spiritual P.O.W.E.R. This is not power that the world offers, but the kind of power that only comes from God. What kind of athlete do you want to be? It’s time to P.O.W.E.R. up.
P - Pursue Purity
January 01, 2013
Set:
The NBA Finals are always a blast to watch. I don’t know about you, but I love to see the key match-ups these games bring with great teams and great players.
Even though lacrosse was my primary sport, I loved to play basketball as a kid. I loved to invest hours in front of our driveway hoop over the garage. At 6-foot-1, I didn’t have much height for a forward, so I quickly learned the art and importance of posting up against the defense.
August 03, 2006
Set:
I was flipping through the channels on my TV the other day and came across a softball game that was in the top of the final inning. The visiting team was down 3-4 with runners on 1st and 2nd and a full count to the batter. The pitch. . . The batter hit a line drive past the shortstop, and then as the left fielder charged the ball to make the throw to home, she picked up her glove too soon and the ball rolled underneath allowing both base runners to score. That put the visiting team up 5-4--a score by which they would win. After the game, the announcers were talking about the winning pitcher, saying, "She didn't pitch great, but she pitched good enough."
May 09, 2014
Set:
Jealousy can destroy a team. A lot of it comes from outside people saying, “You can do this and you can do that” or “the only reason you can’t do it is because that other player is getting two more shots than you are.”
It’s funny when you think about it, but that happens and then you start buying into it, and you start saying, “Yeah, I should be playing more.” But whatever God has for you, you will have. Nobody else can take that away. If you’re not getting the playing time you should get or the recognition you should get, work harder. Work harder. Don’t sit there and blame somebody else for what they’re doing.
May 07, 2014
Set:
Sweaty palms, a racing heart and butterflies in the stomach were my Friday night enemies. The opening drive always made me nervous. I wanted our team to make a statement on the opening drive—to march straight down the field and score. But, at times the fear seemed almost paralyzing.
In those moments, my high school head coach would always remind us to “turn it loose and play.” I found great encouragement in that statement to let go of my fear and nervousness and just play the game.
December 01, 2008
Set:
Throughout Les Steckel’s 20 years as an NFL coach, he made stops in San Francisco, Minnesota, New England, Denver, Tennessee (via Houston), Tampa Bay and Buffalo. One place the president and CEO of Fellowship of Christian Athletes never coached was in Oakland, but something about that organization will always stick with him.
May 08, 2014
Set:
Every time I turn around, I’m hit with another statistic—another number, another measurement. My friends who are math majors cling to this principle, and for them it makes the world go ’round. But for me, it just facilitates an overwhelming feeling of unworthiness. I can’t go a day without being measured by my GPA, my batting average, my fielding percentage, my time around the bases, height, weight…See where I’m going?
