Alphabetical
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July 16, 2009
Set:
Coach Scott was a great offensive line football coach. As a 10-year-old aspiring right guard, I learned from him the basics to being a great blocker: elbows up and out with hands tucked in. It was the “old school” way to block, which didn’t involve the use of hands—just stick your elbows way out so the defensive player couldn’t get by. For me, a good game required making sure no one ever got around me and never got a tackle. Not exactly a simple job. It took an incredible amount of work and effort to keep others from advancing toward the ball.
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January 16, 2014
Set:
In a Business Week poll, employees were asked “Are you one of the top 10 percent of performers in your company?” A whopping 90 percent of all employees said yes, including 97 percent of the executives! But the math does not compute. Ninety percent of us can’t be in the top 10 percent. So, what is going on?
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August 26, 2010
Set:
Even though it’s bad thinking, we do it all the time. We see someone succeed in the athletic world, and we automatically jump to the conclusion that they are successful for two main reasons: natural talent and hard work.
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December 24, 2009
Set:
Elephants are some of the biggest, most powerful, and intelligent animals on the planet. And in certain parts of Asia, farmers still use elephants to do much of the heavy labor. Some countries even hold elephant festivals to
celebrate their strength and intelligence. These festivals always end with a tug-of-war between one elephant and
one hundred men—and you guessed it, the elephant always wins!
But amazingly, the only thing that elephant owners in Asia have to do to control an elephant is tie a rope to its right hind leg and a small wooden post in the ground. That’s it! The elephant won’t move, even though the wooden post and rope is like a toothpick and dental floss to you and me.
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October 18, 2012
Set:
Every day it sits on my desk as a powerful reminder. It tugs on my soul with a convicting message that seems to say, “Be careful. Do not let your life be like this.” The object is a gorgeous leather Bible with all the extras, including gold tipped pages. It’s real nice. But the reason I don’t want my life to be like this Bible is that when you crack open the pages, you discover that the pages are blank. Yup—not a single word or letter. It appears to be the Bible of all Bibles on the outside, but it contains nothing of God’s message on the inside. The fake Bible had actually been a sample sent to me by a publisher so that we could get an idea of a cover we wanted for a future FCA Bible. The sample just needed blank pages to fill the inside.
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May 28, 2009
Set:
I was approached the other day and asked if I was fat. Well, as a former athlete and coach who has put on a few since his glory days, I was taken aback. “I may be fat, but you’re ugly,” I kidded him. He laughed and responded, “Not that kind of fat!” I was interested to see how he would get out of this one.
He told me that the “FAT” he was referring to stood for faithful, available, and teachable. He told me that we need FAT people in ministry. What a great thought! We certainly do need FAT people in every area of life. Athletes need to be FAT. Coaches need to be FAT. Pastors need to be FAT. The list goes on. We must each ask ourselves if we are FAT.
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February 04, 2013
Set:
While watching an NFL game I saw something that made me scream out. I hollered a saying that everyone, especially sports commentators, uses when there is an incredible play. "Are you kidding me???"
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March 02, 2010
Set:
The desire of every high school athlete is a full scholarship to college. I was speaking to a local softball team yesterday. I asked them to imagine that I could give them a full scholarship. The only thing I needed them to do was to try out. The terms of the scholarship state that if every "at bat" is a home run; if every ball is fielded cleanly; if every throw is on line; and every pitch a strike, then you will get the scholarship.
I asked them if they could achieve that. "No" was the unanimous answer. Of course you can't because no one is perfect.
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September 26, 2013
Set:
I will never forget playing basketball my freshman year of college. I had just graduated from a Christian high school and was ready to impact all of my fellow teammates. While on road trips, I would have to stay in a room with two other teammates. During every trip, I would deliberately take out my Bible at night and do a quiet time, thinking that if my teammates saw me reading the Bible, they would ask questions. I thought by doing this, I was being a leader.
At the same time I was doing quiet times, I was struggling with sinful language. During practices, games, or just walking around campus with my teammates, profanity was always coming out of my mouth. I felt I had to be that way to get respect from my teammates and to be taken seriously.
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August 02, 2010
Set:
The 2009-2010 Butler Bulldogs’ historic run to the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship was a Cinderella story that shocked America. They were overmatched in almost every game, yet they still persevered and defeated the odds. How did Butler accomplish what many national powerhouses failed to? Skill, determination, and school pride were factors in Butler’s success, but the true X-Factor was their coachability.
