We know them well—athletes who, at first, worked hard and gave the credit to God for their success. But then as success increased, giving God the glory decreased. It happens all the time—the once humble athlete asks for more of the world and less of God. Pride takes over!

King Uzziah was one of these men. Under the spiritual influence of Zechariah, Uzziah sought the Lord and was blessed. But Uzziah started to focus more on himself and less on God. He became powerful quickly and quickly forgot who got him to that point. He became so proud and brash that he entered the temple and tried to do things only the priests were allowed to do.

It seems the psalmist’s heart, informed by God’s truth, was the source of his wise speech and security in life. Many coaches rest their security in their players’ abilities, which serves them  well until injuries occur. Other coaches find security in knowledge of their sport or the experience of their coaching staff. Others appear fully confident, but are then found to be inferior in competition. In each case, their confidence easily turns to anxiety because of the nature of their source.

Our heart can be a limitless source of peace and confidence if we maintain our relationship with Christ through careful study of the Bible. Reading the Scriptures regularly deposits the law of God in our hearts and will keep our steps from slipping.

Our lives are made up of choices. Should I go out for this team? Should I go to practice? Should I play that sport? Should I go to class? From the time the day begins and we decide to get out of bed, everything is a choice. For some of us that choice is easier than for others. Some of our dads make getting out of bed and going to class an easy choice. The thing we often overlook as athletes is that our success is largely our personal choice. No one can make it for us.

When it comes to excellence, I first have to look at everything through God’s eyes. I look at who Jesus was as the ultimate example of excellence, service, and humility, and all of those values. I look at Him, and I obviously fall short in each of those in comparison to Him. His example is the pure definition of excellence. It all starts with Jesus and looking at Him and His life. You look at the Christian faith and who we are as people, and we all fall short of Christ’s example. But that doesn’t mean we should stop striving for excellence. I think when we give up on that, we sort of miss the whole concept that Jesus teaches us.

Sometimes people want to say something to a friend, but chicken out at the last minute because they think it might be silly or embarrassing. Often, they later regret not saying it. What does God think about such situations?

Proverbs 25:11 states: “A word spoken at the right time is like golden apples on a silver tray.” We all know the value of gold and silver, even if we can’t afford them. We also know how sweet to the taste apples are. How valuable and how sweet to our souls would apples of gold be? Certainly they would have great value, especially when served to us on fine silver.

Competition is an obvious part of the coaching life, resulting in either winning or losing. But God’s Word reminds us not to get so caught up in the results that we forget to take care of the flock—the athletes—who have been put under our watch.

Of course, we all want to win. Yet if we forget that we’re really working toward an “imperishable crown” (as Paul writes in 1 Co 9:25), we’ve lost perspective of why we’re coaching in the first place. In other words, just as we live our lives to please the Great Shepherd, so, too, do we coach our players with the same goal. In the process, we’ll serve as examples to the sheep.

This weekend Gary Brasher will attempt to accomplish something that most of us would never even consider, much less aspire to, when he completes a triple-iron triathlon. That’s a full iron-distance triathlon every day for three consecutive days! He will swim, bike and run his way over 422.6 miles in a 72-hour span! It is truly one of the most difficult sporting endeavors ever imagined.

As Christian athletes we sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that God is always on our team’s side. We think, Why would God not want us to have victory on the playing field? Are we not more righteous than our opponents? (For some reason I always saw the other team as the bad guys). Even more, Why would He not want us to experience victory?

Habakkuk cried out to God for answers to questions like these. He could not understand why God would allow such evil and horrible injustice to take place in his land. God gave him an answer he couldn’t believe. God told him the Chaldeans were going to invade his land. God had purposed that the Chaldeans—a nation more evil than his own—were going to be His instrument of justice among the people of Judah.

As a coach, my main objective is to communicate the game plan to my players. My next objective is to teach them to execute it on game days through hours of practice. During my pregame speech I may promise that if they execute the plan properly, they will have a chance to win. However, in the chaos of the game, the plan that I have mapped out may begin to unravel. If some of the players failed to study and learn it, the whole team will suffer. Are there similarities between this scenario and your own experiences?

Recently, I’ve been struck by the simple way in which children think. This spring, I volunteered at a camp, and as part of the curriculum, we were teaching the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. When we asked the kids questions, a young girl around 5 years old would always answer in the simplest way, but I could tell she understood the story better than most kids her age. When the group was asked how Daniel was saved from the lions' den, the young girl said something to this effect: “Daniel trusted that God would keep him safe because God loves Daniel.”

Athletes and coaches often think that winning is everything, but truthfully, it is not. A person's attitude--win or lose--helps determine true winners and losers.

It's absolutely crazy what athletes go through in the NFL Scouting Combine. A few days of testing that will most likely determine if they are drafted or have a future in the NFL.

There are training facilities across the country that help those NFL hopefuls prepare for Combine's physically challenging events including the vertical jump, 40-yard dash, 3-cone drill and bench press among others.

In addition to the drill work, these facilities do a number of tests including putting athletes in a "bod pod," to test the body's fat count, as well as doing electromagnetic testing of the nerves and joints. There are nutritionists, orthopedic surgeons and even interview coaches.