Many of us learned the “Jesus Loves Me” song as children, but the last part always bothered me: ”Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak but He is strong.” To me, displaying weakness seemed to contradict the very goal of competition.

As I was learning to compete in athletics, the idea of embracing weakness seemed ridiculous. I thought that I had to renounce all that I had learned in the gym in order to become weak. I mean, who has ever been chosen for a team for being the weakest player? Who breaks into a starting lineup because she is weaker than her teammates? I wanted to be strong and display that power for anyone who cared to watch.

How many of us have ever started a practice, game or even a season without a plan? To me, that idea doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. As coaches, we have plans coming out our ears! As a coach, I started working on next season just as soon as the current one was over. After all, I had to recruit in-coming freshman and encourage the returning athletes to come back. The last thing I wanted was for them to lose interest in being part of the team.

I’m such a pack rat. Over the years I’ve saved so many coaching plans, even ones for sports I’ve never coached. You never know when you’ll be the head coach of a new sport someday, right? You just have to be ready at a moment’s notice.

Last season, I was watching the NBA playoffs and the finals. I saw some miraculous shots (like LeBron's 3-pointer) throughout each series. These moments make it onto ESPN's top 10 plays.

One of the top miracles Jesus performed was the feeding of the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I noticed that the same pattern appeared in each Gospel. Jesus blessed the bread, broke the bread, then kept giving the bread until everyone was fed. After the meal, 12 baskets of leftovers were filled. That's a miracle by anyone's standards.

Larry, at only 13 years old, impacted my life.

At the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, we have a tradition that has occurred at every camp for more than 55 years. On the last night, we have open mic session when athletes come forward and share how camp has impacted their lives. It is always the highlight of the entire week of camp.

I will never forget an FCA Leadership Camp I was directing several years ago when Larry got up to share at the open mic night. After a terrific week of training middle school and high school students on how to impact their campus for Christ, it was now time to hear how God had worked in their hearts towards leadership. Service projects, leadership workshops, hands-on training, inspiring speakers and powerful worship had marked the week.

Over the past two weeks, I have been listening to the guys on ESPN and the NFL shows give their two cents on the rules they’re going to enforce involving vicious hitting in pro football. The argument seems to be that violent collisions are occurring way too often and are being done with the intent to hurt a player, not just separate the man from the ball.

He may not have been the biggest, fastest or strongest man in the NFL, but that didn't keep Warrick Dunn from being selected as the 2004 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. The award, which recognizes a player who excels on the field and in community service, couldn't have a more worthy recipient than Dunn. Inspired by his mother, who never got to realize her dream of owning a home, he has helped 52 single moms become first-time home owners through his "Home for the Holidays" program. Said Dunn, "People say I'm giving back, but I think I'm getting a lot more than what I put in."

One of my favorite things about John Wooden’s coaching was that he taught his players each year to put on their socks and tie their shoes properly. You’d think college-aged athletes could already do this, but Wooden took nothing for granted. He paid attention to the little things, which made the big things come more easily for his teams over the years.

Of course, Coach Wooden wanted to teach his players a lesson: If they were going to play in his program, they had to put aside what they wanted to do and follow his plans for the team. That discipline in the small things gave his teams great results, as they won 10 national championships and set an example for the rest of us how the little things make the biggest difference.

The Boston Red Sox saw little potential in their 24-year-old pitcher. He’d had a couple of decent years, but he had showed little sign of improvement. Eventually, the team traded him to the New York Yankees, who decided to move him to the outfield to utilize his strong arm. The Yankees also believed that he could become a good hitter. They were right. Years later, few people remember that Babe Ruth began his career as a mediocre pitcher in Boston!