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Hockey Chat: Wood, aluminum, carbon composite, fiberglass. Hockey sticks are made up of all kinds of different materials. It takes time and practice, but once you find YOUR stick, you know it and use it with confidence. You puck handle and shoot the best you can with your stick. Have you ever broke a stick and had to grab a different one quickly. Right off the bat you know it’s not going to work well. Your not use to it. It’s not yours.
Last night as I was working through lesson four of the FCA’s “The Starting Line,” the ministry’s resource for new Christians, I was given an analogy that really brought into focus what it means to be properly equipped in both life and sports. For me, that involves hockey.
Recruiting at the collegiate level is not an exact science. As coaches travel around the country looking for athletes to fill their rosters, they look for players who are not only talented, but who are willing to dedicate and commit themselves to being the best they can possibly be. Likewise, as coaches, we are committing to players to help them become the best they can be. We are promising to equip them for success.
Mephibosheth had lived in Lo-debar since the death of his father, Jonathan, and his grandfather, King Saul. He desperately wanted to leave the forsaken town that was a constant reminder of his father and grandfather’s deaths. He was faced with the constant threat that the Philistines would kill him as well. As a cripple, he had trouble traveling and feared returning to Jerusalem, since it was customary for a new king to eliminate all members of the former royal family to prevent retaliation to the throne. Mephibosheth must have yearned for a better life.
Alcatraz. The very name conjures up thoughts of hopelessness. This prison sits on an island in the middle of the frigid San Francisco Bay, covered in fog and mystique. It's a foreboding place to visit, but a great place from which to escape.
A few summers ago, a group of FCA Endurance athletes joined about 1,800 others in the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon. We were taken on a boat to the island, and after they dropped anchor, they opened the side doors and yelled, “Go!” We spilled out like paratroopers into the black, choppy, 55-degree water and swam as fast as we could across the 1.5 mile channel. After that tiring swim, we then biked 18 miles of hills and finished off with an 8-mile trail run. It was an absolutely intense experience.
As an athlete, I constantly struggle with my thoughts. I have thoughts of doubt, confusion, and pride—just to name a few. I wrestle with doubting my athletic ability and potential, my place on the team, and my acceptance from teammates. It is usually my mind that is the greatest challenge, not my physical ability. My mind runs wild with speculation.
My college lacrosse coach would post his daily practice plan before practice began. Based on where he would put my name on the practice plan, I would think better or worse of my ability. My thoughts would consume me as to why my coach had listed me in the order that he did—thinking that he had either moved me up or down in the rotation. I later found out that he had no real reason for moving the names around.
Baseball has always been a way of life for Boston Red Sox slugger Adrian Gonzalez. The three-time Gold Glove winner and four-time All-Star has excelled at the game since he first picked up a bat and ball as a young boy in San Diego. But when asked to put his life and nine-year MLB career into perspective, he explains how it has been and always will be about so much more than just the game, “You look at the big picture of life; there’s going to be more time when it’s going to be you and Jesus than in the field.”
I became a baseball fan during the magical season of 1961. I lived for the trek to the mailbox for the morning paper. Turning to the sports section, I would devour the scores, especially those of the New York Yankees, where the nation focused on the home run race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. These two players fascinated me. Though Maris won the home run race that year, Mickey Mantle was my hero. He moved with grace and hit with power, and his statistics were incredibly impressive.
As I grew older, however, I learned of many poor choices made by Mantle. His decadent lifestyle and forty-year abuse of alcohol had shortened his career, prevented him from reaching his full potential, and clouded his mind.
As athletes, we know we have to train hard to be any good. Everyone is more capable in one area of their sport than others. Most of sport is taken up in training, where one assesses and develops skills. We may know people whose talent seems to come effortlessly; but to be at the top, we need to exert a lot of effort. Great athletes measure their skills and work hard to improve both their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe we are strong but slow, have great hand-eye coordination but are too cautious. We have good upper-body strength but are prone to leg injuries. Athletes push themselves meticulously because they have a goal and desire to accomplish it.
Whether it’s grading films, evaluating staff, or being evaluated by a superior, we’re all familiar with some standard of measurement—systems by which we determine how things are going. God has a system too. His system is called the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20. If we have broken even one of these commandments, the Bible says we’re guilty of breaking them all (Jms 2:10).
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