After leading the nation in total offense and passing yards per game last season, University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum was all set to lead the Cougars to another great run in 2010. That all changed, however, when in just their third game Keenum suffered a season-ending knee injury that forced him to the sideline for his senior season. As a man of faith, the injury forced Keenum to rely on the Lord in new ways and to fully trust in the Lord’s ultimate plan.

If someone walked up to you and asked, “What does it mean to play ‘in the zone’?” how would you respond? What professional athlete comes to your mind when you think about playing in the zone? As an athlete, you have certainly been in the zone at least once. To play in the zone means that you are unstoppable. You are the “go to.” You can’t miss. I think you get the point—when you are in the zone, it is an awesome experience.

What does in the zone mean if you relate it to your spiritual life instead of your sports experience? Have you ever been in the zone spiritually? What does it take to get in the zone? Let’s dig deeper with a few questions based on Ephesians 5:1-10.

Many times, pre-game prayers can be like a “rah-rah” talk or a desperate plea to God for a big win. But as true competitors, we need to ask, “What is the proper way to pray before entering the battle? How should we pour out our hearts before God so that we will be spiritually ready for competition?” Here is a great prayer that you can pray before a game, competition, workout or even practice:

There is a nice country dirt road loop in which my chocolate lab Abbie and I run to do our training runs that is just over a mile long.  Along this route we also have a few homes and dogs that are usually friendly and don’t bother us, but there is one particular home that has a dog and for whatever reason doesn’t particularly like Abbie.

When our daughter Hannah was an infant, I had to take her to the hospital for tests. What should have been a routine procedure quickly turned into a traumatic event. The nurse was having trouble drawing enough blood from Hannah’s small feet, and had to poke her three times. Worse yet, the nurse asked me to restrain Hannah during the procedure. This was a painful experience as a dad, holding her down while she cried in pain. All I could do was whisper my love to her. When it was over, I took her in my arms and rested her head on my shoulder. Hannah instantly grabbed me with all her strength and held on tight. Within a few moments, her crying died down and the calm of being in her father’s arms came over her.

After watching Texas quarterback Colt McCoy succeed for four years, not many would have predicted that his college career would end this way. Four years of preparation and hard work. (Five, if you count his time as a redshirt.) Four years of sacrifice and dedication. Four years of hoping and dreaming of hoisting the ultimate trophy. All of it came to one last shot at the national title. By the fifth play of the game, it was over. McCoy went down with a shoulder injury that took him out of the game he’d waited so long to play.

As the most feared hitter in baseball, there isn't much that San Francisco Giants' slugger, Barry Bonds hasn't accomplished. His six MVP awards and record-setting 73-home run season can attest to that fact. After hitting his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third place on the career home run list, Bonds said, "[I] finally feel like I've accomplished something in the game of baseball."

Saul was a man who was a very accomplished leader of the Jewish religion (see Philippians 3:4b-6), but it was an encounter with Jesus that ultimately defined his life. That was the point when everything in his life changed. He became the Apostle Paul and began preaching Christ as forcefully as he once persecuted His followers.

Athletes typically respect one another. We all share a single-minded, committed lifestyle that tends to be laced with adversity, but the adversity is the price we pay to excel. An athlete’s identity and purpose all too often hinge on performance, so what happens when adversity strikes, making our performance less than ideal? If our identity is wrapped up in athletic success, then we are resting on shaky ground.

It’s all about power these days. We have Power Bars, Powerade®, Power Play, Power Training and Power Ratings. The world of sports is addicted to power. Bigger, faster and stronger is the ticket.
 
Strength training for any athlete is essential—you need to be an athlete of power. We know what an athlete of power looks like physically, but do we know what an athlete of power looks like spiritually? God wants us to be an athlete or coach of spiritual P.O.W.E.R. This is not power that the world offers, but the kind of power that only comes from God. What kind of athlete do you want to be? It’s time to P.O.W.E.R. up.
 
P - Pursue Purity

Jealousy can destroy a team. A lot of it comes from outside people saying, “You can do this and you can do that” or “the only reason you can’t do it is because that other player is getting two more shots than you are.”

It’s funny when you think about it, but that happens and then you start buying into it, and you start saying, “Yeah, I should be playing more.” But whatever God has for you, you will have. Nobody else can take that away. If you’re not getting the playing time you should get or the recognition you should get, work harder. Work harder. Don’t sit there and blame somebody else for what they’re doing.

Sweaty palms, a racing heart and butterflies in the stomach were my Friday night enemies. The opening drive always made me nervous. I wanted our team to make a statement on the opening drive—to march straight down the field and score. But, at times the fear seemed almost paralyzing.

In those moments, my high school head coach would always remind us to “turn it loose and play.” I found great encouragement in that statement to let go of my fear and nervousness and just play the game.