I had to make a tough decision in my senior year of high school. Coming out of basketball season, I had to decide between playing baseball or running track. My junior year, I had played baseball because we didn't have enough boys to fill a track team. My senior year, however, presented a dilemma. If I ran track, there would be just enough to have team. If I didn't, there wouldn't be a track team that year. When I approached my baseball coach about it, he told me that I would never do anything in track and that his baseball team would probably be going to the state finals. My decision was simple after that. I chose track.

I love watching football. I love watching those 300-pound linemen push their opponents down the field. The discipline they have to hold their block for 10, 15 or more yards is always very impressive. The power they show and keep throughout a play separates the good from the great.

I have known many players just like this over the years who have had the power to drive their opponents into the ground, but when it comes to other areas of their life they do not have discipline or power. They can’t help but click a mouse and go to Internet sites they don’t need to go to. They have no power to say no to others who want them to drink, do drugs or engage in sexual activities. The discipline on the field is where it stops.

Most students often have to answer questions about their future plans. Whether we are asked about our plans for school, the weekend, or even just the afternoon, it generally isn't that hard to answer. "Oh, I'm going to [this university] and participating in [this sport]." Or, "I'm going to chill with some friends." Etc. One day though, I found myself answering a question that was a little more serious: “What are your plans for your life?”
 

As coaches, we are supposed to teach our players about the game and about life lessons. Sometimes, the reverse happens and our players teach us a valuable lesson. The day before my first home football game of the season, my senior quarterback boldly stood up in front of the entire team and coaches and quoted the above Scripture.

Jeff, a young man preparing to go to college, is new in his faith in Christ. Before heading off to school, Jeff went on an FCA mission/work trip to New Orleans with his former high school’s Huddle. The trip included many of Jeff’s friends and former teammates, but the most significant person on the trip to Jeff was his younger brother, Dan. And everyone was curious to see how Jeff would live out his new faith in front of his brother.

How often do we worry that we are weak? When the struggles of life start to weigh us down, we sometimes get weak in the knees and feel we don’t have the strength to continue. But it’s not always the feeling of physical weakness that makes us tremble; it’s often the feeling that we are alone in the battle. It is always easier in a negative situation to look to people for support than it is to turn our sights to Jesus who is not there in the flesh.

Rafer Johnson’s dream of a good life hinged on his athletic ability, even though he’d been told that a birth defect would prevent him from participating in athletics. He chose to deal with the defect as a simple setback rather than as a deal breaker. With the help of coaches and family, he not only won his battle but was declared the world’s greatest athlete when he won the 1960 Olympic decathlon.

As athletes, we’re likely more skilled in our sport today than when we first started playing. After we initially picked up that ball or held that hockey stick or bat, we made the choice to practice and play and to improve and grow.

As college athletes, my teammates and I chose to work on our individual skills and watch game film to improve and be prepared for upcoming games. We chose to grow every day so that we could continue to help our team be successful.