Alphabetical
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November 01, 2008
Set:
A recent study reports that only 6 percent of teens today believe that moral truth is absolute. I knew it wouldn’t be high, but that’s really low. Not good. Young people today are basically saying that life is a sliding scale. Truth has become relative because it all depends on the situation.
In the world of athletics, there are many truths that cannot be relative, such as wins and losses. Imagine if every athlete defined winning differently—one by score, one by hustle, one by the best fans, and so on. It would be chaos! Fortunately—or unfortunately—winning is defined by the scoreboard. Life without truths, absolutes and boundaries leads to chaos.
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October 02, 2010
Set:
David was a leader with great skills and a pure heart, qualities that make for a great leader, whether he or she is a monarch, a coach, or a teammate. David was both skillful and full of integrity. The world is full of skillful leaders, but they often have hearts full of compromise and mixed motives. It is the rare leader who has purity of heart, uncompromised by self-interest or divided loyalties.
We must be leaders like David. We must work diligently to develop our skills and guard our hearts in order to maintain integrity. Beware of those who would have us violate our players’ trust. Watch out for the crouching lions of division and strife that would disrupt the unity of our teams. We need to shepherd our teams with skillful hands and integrity of heart.
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March 31, 2013
Set:
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.
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May 01, 2014
Set:
Most of the time as coaches we push, push, push! Our players know we are serious about getting better as a team. We even yell and scream to get the point across because we know that sometimes a nice calm, controlled request just doesn’t get the result we are looking for. Or we might hold an extended practice to work on a specific problem so we are better prepared. But how often do we push, push, push our own selves to get better? What do we do to improve?
If you watch ants, you can see that they work tirelessly. An ant knows its job and performs it with expertise, discipline, and focus—for the good of the whole colony. What are we doing that models this approach?
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October 25, 2012
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June 03, 2004
Set:
Tiger Woods doesn't win a tournament in a month. Barry Bonds doesn't homer in a week. Jeff Gordon doesn't win a race for a month. All of these are recent happenings. Sportswriters love this type of reporting because they get to go for the jugular. They break out the big "S" word — SLUMP. Sports fans and writers get used to the sports heroes performing day in and day out. When reality hits that these athletes aren't perfect, they feel like they have to make an excuse or that something must be terribly wrong with them. For the three examples above, I'm not sure if the word "slump" is right, but we all go through tough times in life and in sport.
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April 23, 2014
Set:
The Major League Baseball season is in full swing. Already, some ballplayers have started off with extremely high batting averages, and others have started off rather slowly. Only time will tell whether those hot hitters will taper off or if the slow starters will elevate their averages as the season progresses, but either way, it is likely that at some point during the season, they all will experience a slump.
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October 03, 2010
Set:
Athletes hate slumps. They’ll try anything to get out of those times when they can’t hit the baseball or make a foul shot or catch a pass. Some players will change bats or shoes or their routine. They will do whatever it takes to get out of the slump. As Christians, a spiritual slump can make us feel like we’ve been forsaken by the Lord. Like athletes in a slump, we can struggle with doubts, fears, and frustrations. We can even feel like we’re losing the battle.
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January 30, 2014
Set:
You hear it on ESPN, read it in the papers, see it on the news: smack! Smack is a common form of vernacular used by players and sometimes coaches to establish or self-promote their performances. In short, it is trash talking. In every league, game, and team there is someone who has the gift of smack. Usually this person has an ego the size of Texas, humility the size of Delaware, and common sense the size of an M&M®. Smack-talkers usually just talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk.
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March 29, 2012
Set:
I am always amazed at how disciplined wrestlers are. They say no to the goodies brought to class for birthdays and only eat a small portion of huge holiday meals. Wrestlers watch every item that goes into their mouth and weigh the pros and cons of each bite when cutting weight to qualify for their weight class. Then, after the season ends, they go back to a less regimented lifestyle.
