You Are Here > Resources / Devotional Archive / Devotional Archive - January 2010
When the weather finally breaks after a long winter, everyone gets busy fertilizing the lawns, dusting off the golf clubs, cleaning up the patio furniture, and lighting up the grill. There is a genuine excitement in the air! If we stay in the house too long or if winter stays too long, we get cabin fever. Cabin fever is a condition of increased anxiety, tension, and boredom caused by living for some time in a confined space or an isolated area, especially in winter.
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. You have to play with it before you get comfortable using it regularly.
There seems to be a lot going on in our society today that makes people question God. From the simple, “My game is a wreck,” to the more complex, “I thought God was a God of love, so why would He allow this to happen in Haiti?” Everywhere we look, people are hurting and looking for answers. Sometimes friends try to comfort us and explain why God does what He does, but rarely does it pacify our pain and struggle.
Hockey Chat: Brain Buckets. The 79-80 season was when the NHL made new comers wear the head gear. Prior to that it wasn’t thought of to be a need. But ask anyone whose taken a wack without it how much it is needed. It’s one of those things that we don’t really use in the game (head-butting a puck into the goal is not very effective). But when a stick comes up to high, or our skate slips out from under us, those hockey helmets are what saves us from a potentially deadly injury.
Hockey Chat: Oh the skates! A premium fitted boot with a sharp blade can have you moving across the ice with fancy footwork. Try a loose boot with a dull blade. You’re better off playing barefoot. Having a fitted skate gives you peace of mind knowing that you can get where you want to go confidently. If you tell your feet to move, you’ll dig in the ice and make the play.
Hockey Chat: The chest protectors that goalies wear are essential to protecting them. They allow for 100+ miles per hour vulcanized rubber biscuits to bounce off them with no pain to the goaltender. That keeps him confidently in the game.
Sports are a big thing for me. My whole year pretty much is revolved around sports. The time I do have between seasons, it's usually really busy with working and such, but you also have to have time for friends and family too. I got to thinking the other day, if I prayed, and asked for God as much as I played sports, where would I be? I am pretty sure that my relationship would be 10X stronger, even stronger then it is now. I am sure a lot of people think the same way though.
Today, the entire state of Louisiana is asking one question: “Who dat?” It’s part of the celebration surrounding their Saints’ 31-28 overtime victory against the Minnesota Vikings in yesterday’s NFC Championship game.
As the Saints marched through this season to where they are now, much attention has been given to their quarterback, Drew Brees. He’s been on magazine covers (including the January issue of FCA’s Sharing the Victory) and in thousands of interviews. His story is remarkable—one that clearly shows the power of God at work in his life, both on and off the field.
Hockey Chat: Have you ever tried to skate with your hockey pants around your ankles. It doesn’t work. It’s happened before to Marc Savard when during a game in Calgary when his belt broke. When your belt fails, the essential protection in your hockey pants doesn’t do much good slipping down your legs will you’re trying to skate. Little strap of fabric has a very important purpose.
As coaches, our jobs do not end with the final game of the season. Even out of season we are recruiting, reviewing game films, and developing a plan for the next year. We set goals and requirements for our athletes—all to prepare them for competition.
God instructed Moses to receive the Ten Commandments, “Cut two stone tablets…be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before Me on the mountaintop” (Ex 34:1). Throughout the Old Testament, God gave instructions on preparing sacrifices, being prepared for battle, preparing food, and preparing to build the temple.
Hockey Chat: Could you imagine what the scores would be like if goalies weren’t allowed to wear any equipment. We’ve got some talent between the posts during our skates but they thank much of that to the equipment they put on. Not only does it help to stop the pucks, it stops the pain as well. Going out there unequipped would be disastrous. Sure they would stand there for a few minutes and maybe even grab a slow sliding puck with their bare hands. But as the attacks keep coming, their lack of preparedness would leave them broken down. Every player has equipment to keep them safe. It helps them stand their ground and play hard.
I was blessed to play one season of basketball with my hero, two-time Olympic Captain, Naismith Award Winner, first female Globetrotter…Lynette Woodard. The first day I practiced with her, I tried to do everything like she did. I stayed after practice with her and as she touched the rim ten times and made ten free throws in a row, I touched the backboard ten times and made five free throws in a row (It was a start!). I even went so far as to get my hair permed into a curly white-girl’s afro … anything to be like Lynette.
De'Andre had it all: a great college basketball career behind him, a Master's Degree from a prestigious institution and an awesome job on Capitol Hill. He had the world by the tail. He thought he had it all on his own. Thinking he didn't need any help, he walked away from his faith and continued to thrive by the world's standards. But when the things of the world didn't fill him up, he decided that he needed more. He left his career to chase a dream. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as this is where his true adventure began. When his dream crumbled, he ran and hid. People offered help, love and care, but he was lost in the sin of the world. He had no desire to return home to Christ.
Hockey Chat: In 1896, the Ontario Hockey Association stated the role of the goaltender in the rules: "The goalkeeper must not during play lie, sit, or kneel upon the ice” These rules held until goalies were given permission to drop to the ice with the start of the NHL in 1917. The new rules gave them freedom from being penalized for dropping down and allowed them to better protect their goal.
Hockey Chat: There is only one true Stanley Cup. It is authenticated by the seal of the Hockey Hall of Fame in the bottom of the Cup which can be seen when winning players lift the Cup over their heads.
I had a point guard who struggled early on with her play and self-confidence. After beating herself up after a practice, I stood by her and said, "What stinks?" She replied, "My game." I disagreed and told her it was her attitude about her game. I told her to stop her stinkin' thinkin'!
To many times as athletes (and coaches) we tend to think the worst about ourselves or our situations. We tend to find our value in who we are as athletes, not in who we are in Christ. When this happens, as it did with this player, our stinkin' thinkin' takes over and our God-pleasing thoughts take a back seat.
Hockey Chat: There are some great stories of come behind games. Times when teams were down and out but worked their way back to score goals and win. Sometimes its after they come out of the locker room and just play like a new team. Sometimes it’s putting aside the fact that you just lost 3 straight games in a best of seven series. In the final playoff series of the 1942 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs did just that and went on to beat the Detroit Redwings the next 4 games and hoist the Cup.
Do you ever get irritated by your players, fellow coaches, or referee? Sometimes, instead of allowing God to fight our battles, we react with improper thoughts. Instead of resisting the powers we struggle against, we wage our own war. Occasionally, in a moment of frustration, have you even declared the fatal words, “I just can’t continue”?
Well, rejoice, because God has provided us with the power and authority to serve an eviction notice to the enemy of our souls! God’s Word reminds us not to become timid or afraid when trials occur. Jesus requires us to stand our ground, take up our weapons of warfare, and fight by faith.
Hockey Chat: 2008-2009 season marked the first time in the 82 year franchise history that every game of the Chicago Blackhawks was televised. This moved was a big change from the “blackout” ruling that had been in place from earlier ownership. With the new ability to watch the games came a great interest in the sport making the Hawks games the highest attended of any hockey venue for the entire season.
Hockey Chat: Although hockey pucks are hardened by the vulcanization process in which they are made, the black biscuits are kept frozen during an NHL game to stop them from bouncing on the ice which gives better control. Sometimes the refs swap thawed pucks out with chilled pucks during stops. It takes a little extra attention to keep them hard but it makes for a better playing puck.
Hockey Chat: A regulation size hockey goal opening is 24 square feet. A fully armored goalie covers approximately 18 square feet of that space leaving only 6 square feet of open net and that’s with the goalie standing still. It takes practice and determination to get the puck into the mere 25% of the goal that is uncovered while that padded guy is hopping around in front to stop it.
Hannah made the varsity tennis team as a sophomore, eventually beating Mindy, a senior, for the number two singles spot. Hannah became very arrogant in her new position of power, bossing her teammates around and telling them to do things for her. When Mindy did not budge, Hannah became angry. She would do anything to make Mindy look bad in front of the coaches. Mindy did not retaliate; she went about her business playing doubles in her final year. Hannah would not let up. Her dislike for Mindy turned into hate, and she tried to get Mindy kicked off the team. Does this sound familiar?
Hockey Chat: We’ve seen it at every level. From the pee-wee’s up through the professionals. As much as skaters on the same team try to move fluently and work together, there is always some moment in some games where two guys on the same team cross paths and trip each other up. The lack of proper communication or the way they communicated caused them to run into each other. One misjudged the other and they both wound up in the same space and down on the ice.
Why is asking so hard for some of us? Whether it’s for a ride to the airport, a few dollars for lunch, or financial support for FCA camp, many of us avoid asking for things we or others need.
Of course, there are times when even the most self-sufficient among us is willing to swallow our pride and plead before “the throne of grace.” I have personally witnessed the humbling of coaches, players, and fans when difficult circumstances turned them into fervent prayer warriors. Sometimes the difficulty is momentary, such as during a game when the team is down by a point with a few ticks left on the clock and the least-talented shooter is on the free-throw line. Who among us hasn’t uttered a prayer in times like these?
Coach Sleepy Thompson was one of those coaches that everyone wanted to play for. He not only knew how to win football games, but also how to develop young men. As my high school football coach, I remember him as an encourager—a coach that instilled life into his players. We walked a little taller as a result of his living out one of his favorite sayings, “Accentuate the positive.” A day would not go by without Coach Thompson reminding us of that principle. It was short and sweet and yielded powerful results. He stressed accentuating the positive at every practice and made it an essential characteristic of our team. He focused on the good in players instead of the bad; the future instead of the past. His words gave us purpose and meaning.
Ministry
Sport
Book of the Bible
FCA Bible Topic