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We, as athletes do not wish for weakness, nor want anyone to see weakness in us. But weaknesses are instruments that can be used to make us stronger, if we have the courage to face them. In dealing with weaknesses, we must learn to surrender—to admit we have a shortcoming, then be willing to work on it. Sometimes it can be corrected; sometimes it must be accepted. Either way, surrendering will lead to the success of our team and produce maturity in us.
One of the greatest attributes of leaders is a desire and obedience to serve others. Jesus communicated that the most important commandment was to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and then to love others. To put it simply: Love God; love others. Or, to use the old acronym for J.O.Y.: Jesus, Others, You.
A mutual respect exists among athletes. To some degree, as athletes we all have a single-minded, committed lifestyle that is laced with adversity. This is the price we pay to excel. An athlete’s identity and purpose hinges on his or her performance, but what happens when adversity strikes?
What we see as adversity, God sees as opportunity. In Genesis 38–39, we read the story of how Joseph was sold into slavery by his own family and then imprisoned for 13 years for a crime he did not commit. But Joseph stood firm. “What men meant for evil, God used for good,” he said (see Genesis 50:20). Joseph was right: Years after being sold into slavery, he became second in command over all of Egypt!
As a competitor at heart, I love sports video games. I used to play one that involved boxing, and there was one fighter whose nickname was "Sweet Sugar." In this particular game, the system would remind me every time my opponent would knock me out. Truthfully, I didn’t think there was anything “sweet” about that!
I was thinking about Sweet Sugar the other day and thought about a personal dilemma. Sometimes in life I find myself confusing love and grace with the act of “sugar-coating.” What that means is that I gloss over a situation and refuse to deal with the truth about what is going on.
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