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To kick off the summer vacation, my youngest daughter and I went on a 20-mile, three-day back-packing trip. I have been on several trips, but this was her first. We were hiking a section of the Monadnock-Sunapee Trail and followed their guidebook and trail markers for the three days of hiking. By following their book, we found shelters or platforms on which to spend the night and we found plenty of water to pump into our water bottles.
Less than six months after he was hired to take over the University of Alabama football program, coach Mike Price was fired because his behavior failed to coincide with university policies. While Price admitted to “making mistakes and at times inappropriate behavior,” he did not agree with the firing, saying, “I don’t think the punishment fits the crime.” When we make poor choices in life we (and sometimes those around us) will have to pay the price for our actions. It may not always be as big as losing our job, but rest assured there is a price to pay. So how can we honor God with our behavior?
Dean Karnazes, the ultra marathon runner, lost his sister in a freak accident. Perhaps the pain of this loss gave him great determination. He was a cross-country runner in high school, but afterward he set aside the sport until the age of thirty. His first run, after resuming, left him bruised and beaten, but he had found his sport. Now he does seventy-five-mile training runs once a month and, just for kicks, he runs at night. Karnazes runs in heat in the Desert Valley; he runs in snow on the highest peak in California.
The Apostle Paul reminded his Corinthian friends that athletes run in such a way as to win the prize (1 Co 9:24), but he used this example to illustrate the most
My first year of coaching was with a football program at a small Christian school. I believe there were only 20-22 players on the team. We were lacking size and had average speed. With only so few players, most of the starters played "iron man" football. A few players played the whole game on defense, offense, kick off and kick return. Would you be willing to bet those players were both physically and mentally spent by half time, much less the end of the game?
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PICTURE THIS: Its Wednesday morning July 28, 2010. Its 6:30 AM, time for my morning run. It’s raining. Its decision time…to run or not to run that is the question. Put up or shut up, go hard or go home, don’t be a punk were some of the thoughts that ran through my mentality as mind kept reminding me that it was raining. OK Chad, what’s it gonna be?
The Complete Package
Set:
Having proclaimed Christ as Lord and Savior for nearly three decades, you would think that I’d be able to share my beliefs without hesitation. But the truth is that for many of those years, I was content to be just a casual, amateur Christian. I’d let my actions be my witness. A few years ago, there was a great opportunity for me to share Christ with my brother, and in truth, I blew it. I hadn’t been practicing consistently; as Christians that means searching the scriptures, being constantly in prayer and fellowship with other believers.
Sports superstars usually have the “complete package”; they seem to excel in every aspect of their sport. Great sprinters get out of the blocks, accelerate to top speed, and finish strong.
You Play To Win the Game
Set:
A few years back, Herm Edwards was speaking in a post game interview as the head coach of the New York Jets. He was asked by a reporter how he felt about the loss and did it matter to Edwards considering how poorly the team had been performing that season. Edwards responded "This is what's great about sports, the greatest thing about sports is you play to win the game. Hello? You play to win the game. You don't play just to play it. That's the great thing about sports, you play to win. And I don't care if you have any wins. You go play to win. When you start telling me it don't matter, then retire... GET OUT! Because it matters. This whole conversation bothers me."
Your Focus
Set:
I’ll never forget the first day of football camp at the small college I attended. I’d come hoping to be a part of a winning program and perhaps even a national championship. Our head coach had scheduled a team meeting. As he reviewed the goals, he pulled out the video of last year’s national championship—a game we had lost. I then expected him to share his plan on how we would make it back to the national championship game and win. Instead, he did something I would never forget: he threw the video to the ground, stomped it to bits, and told us if our only dream was to win a national championship, then we had set our goals too low!
Are You Spiritually Coachable?
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.
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