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My first year of coaching was with a football program at a small Christian school. I believe there were only 20-22 players on the team. We were lacking size and had average speed. With only so few players, most of the starters played "iron man" football. A few players played the whole game on defense, offense, kick off and kick return. Would you be willing to bet those players were both physically and mentally spent by half time, much less the end of the game?
I love to watch the big guys at our football practices. Today many of them are almost 300-pound giants whose names will never be called out over the speakers at games. In the winter they spend time in the weight room getting bigger and stronger and building the stamina they need to push against the opposition. At practices they spend time working on their footwork and making sure that every step puts them in a position to make a solid block. Their names don’t show up in the stat sheets for yardage or touchdowns, but no team will ever win without them.
John the Baptist could be considered as the greatest lineman Jesus had in front of Him. John's actions were never about seeking glory for himself but about doing everything he could to clear the way for Jesus.
As a young coach I had a sign on my office door: “Rules for Our Program. Rule 1. The Coach is always right. Rule 2. If you think the coach is wrong, see Rule 1.” My players always thought that was funny and, remarkably, true most days. Throughout athletics, rules govern the game. Our lives are no different.
As a student athlete who recently graduated, I understand what it’s like to come to terms with life after college athletics. It’s not an easy process to accept that your time of competing for your school is over. With a new class of athletes, it can be disappointing to see that you have been easily replaced. It’s a hard pill to swallow, often coated with a dose of pride. And all those statistics and awards that were such a big deal are quickly erased by another player.
I once heard of a pitcher who was nervous about starting a play-off game. The position players were steering clear of him, and the pitching coach was at his wits end over the pitcher’s behavior. The head coach finally got wind of what was going on and marched down to the clubhouse to talk to the pitcher. He looked the pitcher in the eye and said, “Son, either change your behavior, or change out of your uniform!”
I sat with a coach whom I had known for years, discussing how to help someone in the midst of crisis. He desperately wanted to help, but, almost in tears, he revealed he could not because of his own finances. He was enslaved to debt. I wish I could say his story is the exception to the rule, but sadly it is not today. We live in an age of credit. An entire industry is built on encouraging us to incur large amounts of debt. Many companies earn more from interest than from the products they sell. Debt service takes a huge part of people’s income. Proverbs 22:7 clearly warns us about debt: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.” Debt causes us to shift our allegiance to those we owe and away from God.
A centurion named Julius was charged with escorting the imprisoned Paul to Rome. They sailed against Paul’s advice, hoping to reach a new destination before winter. The gentle breeze that blew in encouraged their voyage but then they became trapped in a tremendous fourteen-day storm, costing them their cargo and almost their lives. The majority of those on board had urged the trip forward, and the captain made the mistake of listening to public opinion.
At the end of the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played, there is a scene that depicts what winning is all about. Based on a true story, 20-year-old golfer Francis Ouimet wins the 1913 U.S. Open with a fifth-grade caddie named Eddie. After accomplishing this unthinkable feat by sinking a playoff-winning putt on the 18th hole, Francis yells, “We did it!” Francis played the round of his life, but understood that he won with the help and encouragement of Eddie. This scene captured my heart and I was convicted. I’m embarrassed to say I would have yelled, “I did it!”
Psalm 37 was written for competitive people. It will help any athlete stay focused on the big picture and release them to perform better. There is a fine line between being worried and prepared; but to “fret” will only weaken us. Fretting is a warning that we want our own way more than God’s. It has been a custom around the world for years to rattle off the Lord’s Prayer before competition. Do the athletes really mean, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” or “my kingdom come, my will be done”?
To access the video, click the link below to watch or download the clip. After you’ve watched the short video, take time to answer the questions below. Finish by reading the related Scripture and asking God to work in your heart as a result of what you’ve learned.
VIDEO LINK:
A special tree grows each year in every sport. It’s called the coaching tree. Throughout the history of sports, wesee a list of coaches who have been trained by other great coaches, who, in turn, continue the legacy to form an incredible tree. Bob Knight, Pat Summitt, Knute Rockne, Tommy Lasorda—all have great coaching trees because at one time or another, they committed themselves to being taught and they gained the knowledge they needed to pass along to others. Basketball coach Dean Smith is an example. His coaching had many branches that stemmed out to high school, college, and professional ranks and included coaches who had been and still are following in his footsteps.
Several years ago when Bobby Dodd was the coach at Georgia Tech, Tech was beating Alabama by five points with only seconds remaining in the game. The coach told the quarterback to fall on the ball, but instead, he dropped back to pass. The pass was intercepted by an Alabama defensive back who was very fast. He got by everyone, but the quarterback chased him down from behind to tackle him. Tech won the game. Afterward, Coach Dodd was asked how the slow quarterback outran the fast defensive back. Coach said, “The defensive back was running for a touchdown, but the quarterback was running for his life.”
Most of us who get these devotions have heard THE story—the account of Christ and His life, death and resurrection, and how we are forgiven for our sins and saved by faith in Him. It’s the ultimate and greatest story of all time!
Well, a while ago, I was in Medford playing soccer. In our last game, I was a little too fired up and used some words that I don't want to mention again. Right before the game I had specifically said, "Lord, I’m playing for You." After the game was over I realized that I had completely gone back on my word and let myself get caught up in the emotions of competition.
Hockey Chat: You don’t hear of penalties given for blocking the goalies view even though they hate when someone stands in front of them “screening” and then a puck trickles in unseen. There is no rule in the rule book about that therefore it’s an OK tactic. The goalie would like to make up that rule but if everyone got to write up their own rules for the book the game would be a mess.
You will find them on fields and in arenas, flying high to represent honor, pride and love. What could I be talking about but those huge banners and school flags that are so visible in sports today? These banners are flown proud and freely as if to say, "This is our team and our house. Much is at stake." These truly are a sight to see.
Let’s consider the most reckless, dangerous, and risky thing we’ve each done. (Please don’t answer out loud.) If we said it was love our family, friends, and teammates, we’re thinking like Jesus. In John’s gospel we read these challenging words, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.”
These words are remarkable for more than one reason. First, Jesus said them while Judas, who would betray Him that very evening, was in the room. He also said these words to His disciples—His teammates—who, within hours, would go into hiding or deny knowing Him. His love was rather risky, but very deep.
An imprint is permanent mark. It means to engrave, etch, impress or inscribe. I remember as an eight-year-old, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride my older brother's motorcycle. I wanted to show him how "big" I was, so I took off with reckless abandonment! Around 100 yards down the dirt road, my front tire hit a hole that I never saw. As I flew through the air, my life passed before my eyes. I landed in a ditch, and the motorcycle landed on my back! Ouch! Thankfully, as a result of being in the ditch, the only part of the motorcycle that was touching my back was the muffler. As the muffler burned through my shirt and my flesh, I experienced a world of hurt. My brother rescued me and I was forbidden to ride his bike again.
My wife coached with the Houston Comets when they were crowned the first WNBA champions. When most people see her championship ring, very few think about what it took to obtain it. The Comets won it all because that team consisted of true champions.
A champion is by definition an ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person; one who fights; a mighty warrior. In the case of Goliath, it literally means the man between the two, denoting the position he held between the quarreling camps. From this vantage point, we’re given a very clear indication of what a true champion is: one who willingly steps up when it’s time to do battle.
Chris Tidland is a very good golfer. However, for six straight years he missed the final cut in q-school by a couple of strokes. In 2005, it came down to the final hole, and he missed it by one stroke. Many athletes would stop trying after all those years, but knowing Chris, he would never give up. The following year, Tidland again found himself in the top 30 players on the leaderboard in the final round. Only the final 30 would advance to the PGA Tour the next season. Would he finish strong and get an early Christmas present?
Former Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne said, “I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players.” Maybe when it comes to football, big players do make the difference in prayer. In the game of life, I’ve discovered the bottom line to getting prayers answered. As I look back on the times God has answered my prayers, I know why I got the answer. It was because I prayed the right prayer. I was specific with God when I prayed.
In Malachi 3:10 the Lord says, “Test Me in this way…See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.” Here we see the power of God to provide when we test Him. The way to test God is to be specific.
People can be in many loving relationships throughout their lifetime and never realize that true love is an action outside of emotion. Love takes skill, and like any skill it takes practice and attention to develop. In junior high I was enrolled in Tae Kwon Do for about three years. I loved it. I loved the discipline and skill involved. We learned all kinds of moves, refined them, then later put them to use in sparring.
Hockey Chat: Good hockey teams win as a team and lose as a team. They are protective of each other on the ice, sometimes getting in scuffles that they never started. They celebrate together after a goal, whoever scored it. It’s that comradely that keeps the team strong.
You don’t see it much anymore, but when sports teams used to be really bad, fans would wear paper bags over their heads during games. They were at the game, but ashamed of their team and didn’t want anyone to know who they were.
Jesus did many miracles and amazed people daily. No one saw this more than His disciples. They were front-row fans, so to speak. One day, Jesus told them that if they truly believed who He was, they would not be ashamed of Him and His message. Like the fans of old, one of His disciples, Peter, became ashamed of Jesus to the point of publicly denying Him—not once, but three times!
Our lives are so much bigger than what we can or cannot do on the playing field. Sometimes people think that the star athlete will be the best leader because of their athleticism. Or we think, Wow, if that person were a Christian they would have so much impact because they’re so popular and athletic.
The man who wrote 1 Peter 1:24 had an eternal impact even though he was what some would call a “spiritual scrub” or a “spiritual walk-on.” Peter was not the most popular, well- educated, or most athletic disciple. (Notice in the Book of John how he lost in a foot race with John to Jesus’ tomb.)
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