Hockey Chat:  Some guys know just how to get under the skin of their opponent.   Sometimes it’s with a discrete cheap shot.  Maybe a whack of the stick.   All for the purpose of getting the guy to swing back.  With retaliation comes consequences.  Those couple minutes spent in the box might cost the team a goal.  All because they had to get ‘em back.

All athletes need to go through this, but most would probably rather skip it if it were possible. It’s probably the part of sports that is the least fun. Yet this is also the part that separates average athletes from top athletes.

Have you figured it out yet? It’s training. Athletic training involves many different things. Proper eating, weight training and practicing are all necessary in order to get into top playing condition.

As Christians, we need to be training ourselves spiritually. This involves getting sin out of our lives and removing those things that may not be sin but are a hindrance in our respective walks with Christ. An example of this is when sports in your life begin to take away from time that you need to be devoting to God.

Before He was ever crucified, Jesus gave the perfect summary of the foundation of Christianity. I just saw this in His Word for the very first time. I was thinking about Easter and thinking about the cross, when I remembered something Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40.

At the beginning of this soccer season, we had a good combination of experienced/inexperienced starters and substitutes. I thought we were right where we needed to be. We jumped out to a 3-0 record. But then we lost a key forward due to a broken leg, and, two weeks later, our leading scorer broke his ankle. Fortunately, my players took it upon themselves to step it up. The bad thing was that each player did what he thought the team needed. They stopped listening to coaching instruction, stopped playing as a team and relied on their own individual talents. The season started to fall apart, and they found themselves at 3-4. It was time to rally the troops!

In the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, sprinter Bob Hayes tied the Olympic record on his way to winning the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Just a few months later, Hayes was dashing past defensive backs as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. Turning a world-class sprinter into a football player was a radical concept at the time, yet Hayes’s success altered defensive strategy and changed how football is played.

When you see a glass half-filled with water, what do you think? Is it half empty, or is it half full? It all depends on your perspective. So many different circumstances and situations happen in life. Uncertainties and challenges make life difficult, but attitude or perspective can make a positive difference. If you have the right perspective you can experience God's presence, power, promises and peace.

In Philippians 4:9, Paul said to learn from him, to put into practice the right perspective of faith in God no matter what your situation. There are three things we can learn from Paul when it comes to proper perspective.

I so enjoy going to Huddles to share about Christ. Recently, I visited Northwestern University and spoke to their group. As I was praying and waiting to speak, a football player came in and sat down. Now, I used to attend many practices, and I had seen this player in competition. And I’m sorry to say, but I had thought only an act of God would bring this young man to the Lord. He had been a player who used foul language, seemed angry all the time and was the first to rumble when the occasion was presented. So I was surprised to see him at FCA, but thankful.

Hockey Chat:  Wayne Gretzky said it best when he was quoted, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take”.  To win those scoring titles he had to press on and take those shots, even though not all of them went in.  Continually pressing on makes winners

Hockey Chat:  The chest protectors that goalies wear are essential to protecting them.  They allow for 100+ miles per hour vulcanized rubber biscuits to bounce off them with no pain to the goaltender.  That keeps him confidently in the game.

Coaches travel across the country recruiting future players. Each coach works to sell his or her school and wants the future stars to pick them. Those blue-chip recruits are in high demand, and every coach is inwardly saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” This is a great analogy for godly wisdom, as illustrated by Solomon.

In Proverbs 8, we read that “wisdom” calls out to us and pleads her case as to why we should pick her. (I’m sure that Solomon knew what he was doing when he labeled wisdom a “her,” but I won’t go there today.) Choosing wisdom is invaluable. Nothing is better. Think of the best thing you could ever want. Nope! Guaranteed it’s not better than godly wisdom.