The perfect season was in 1972 when the Miami Dolphins did the improbable. They won seventeen games (including the Super Bowl) in a row. People still call them one of the greatest teams of all time. On the other side of the coin, Northwestern lost thirty-four games in a row over a four-year period. The adjectives used to describe these teams were much different. Streaks—either you love them or you hate them. If you are on a roll and winning games, then everything seems to go your way. But if the steak is the other kind—the bad kind, the losing streak—then it seems the harder you try, the more small things grow into huge problems. When you have been on both sides, you learn the difference between winning and losing is very small.

Many times we think about the starting lineup for an athletic team and how we as athletes work to make the cut. What about God’s starting five—not five people, but five direct commands from His Word.

These words from the book of Ecclesiastes ran through my mind during my senior year in high school. We had just won the state championship the year before, but it seemed nearly everyone had already forgotten. The things of the world failed to satisfy my cravings for what was truly real, lasting, and meaningful in life. I was invited to an FCA Huddle meeting where Coach Patterson, one of the school’s football coaches, was scheduled to speak. At a time when I refused the wise counsel of most adults, the idea of hearing a coach’s speech attracted me. The advice of a coach has tremendous influence and power because most athletes are conditioned at a young age to listen to and respect their coach.

Hockey Chat:  Chasing the puck is easy to do but a bad play to make.  Imagine if you had all 5 skaters on your team chasing after the puck and nobody keeping to their positions.  It would be a big mess.  We all want to grab the puck and make the play, but we need to remain controlled and play our position to make the winning play for the team.

A while ago I went on a training run with my wife to get ready for my first 5k race in over a year. It felt great to get back out on the road, and the run was pretty uneventful.

Later that night, we headed to a friend's house, and when I looked down, panic set in. My wedding ring was missing from my hand. I checked my pockets; nothing. I quietly walked outside to retrace my steps, and still nothing. When was the last time I'd had it? How could I lose the one thing that symbolized this important commitment in my life?

During our training run the weather had been cool, my hands sweaty. Somewhere, during the four miles of sidewalks, intersections and city streets, my wedding ring had slipped off.

Hockey Chat:  Mark Messier was a great goal scorer with 694 goals in his 20 years of playing.  But he doubled that number with the passes he made that helped his teammates score time after time.  His linemates knew that he was a great playmaker and were ready to grab goals of their own from his assists.  His efforts won him and his teammates six Stanley Cups.

Hockey Chat: Keeping the puck out of your net is necessary part of the game for a team to win.  Guys have blocked shots with all kinds of body parts. Sliding and diving they do what they can to stop the puck from being shot into their goal.  Each block is another benefit to the team.

Every team has them, and every team needs them—warriors. They display it on their faces—they’re ready to play! Their game faces are on, and they take the field ready for battle.

Zephaniah encouraged the people of his day to gather and pray. What great advice. I recently had the opportunity to see FCA warriors in action at a staff retreat. These warriors met early in the morning, some on their knees, some standing, most in chairs. They were prayer warriors—mighty men and women of God who truly knew what it meant to gather and pray.

Over the past fourteen years, I have been a defensive coach in our high school football program. Specifically, I coach linebackers. In order to play linebacker successfully at our level, a player must make a total commitment to the expectations placed upon him. It requires an unwavering self-discipline.

Last night our FCA Huddle completed our city clean-up project. While the act of adopting a one-mile stretch of the city streets in our small town is a small service, the fact that we had six Huddle members show up in cold, wet conditions said wonders about their dedication and commitment to serving their community. It would have been easy for them to blow off the event and stay home where it was dry so that they could work on homework or the 15-page paper many had due for their composition class. But these kids chose to take the path less traveled and work through steady rain showers to make their community a little nicer.

Hockey Chat:  Martin Brodeur used it as a popcorn bowl when he took his wife and children to see the movie ''The Kid'' in Montreal.  Scott Gomez brought it into an Anchorage park on a dog sled.  Petr Sykora took it to an orphanage in Prague.  Scott Niedermayer flew it by helicopter to the top of the Rocky Mountains in Cranbrook, British Columbia.  It’s been used as a flowerpot, baptismal, and champagne glass.  Yet regardless of all the uses it has seen, the Stanley Cup is still a symbol of hockey greatness and the most prestigious trophy in all of sports.