I was approached the other day and asked if I was fat. Well, as a former athlete and coach who has put on a few since his glory days, I was taken aback. "I may be fat, but you're ugly," I kidded him. He laughed and responded, "Not that kind of fat!" I was interested to see how he was going to get out of this one.

He went on to tell me that the "fat" he had been talking about stood for Faithful, Available and Teachable. He told me that we need FAT people involved in the ministry. What a great thought! We most certainly do need FAT people in every area of life. Athletes need to be FAT. Coaches need to be FAT. Pastors need to be FAT. And the list goes on and on. The question now is ... Are you FAT?

Another grueling workout… I have just finished leg presses with 10 plates. As I grab the sides of the press machine to steady myself as I get up, I can feel my legs shaking. It is not the normal shake of someone who has worked out hard. It is the shake that comes from the nerves in my body struggling through multiple sclerosis.

I look around the gym as I try to get my mind to coordinate my legs to move and I see the other bodybuilders working out. They are all healthy. They stand strong and steady on their legs. They don’t hold onto the machines to keep from losing their balance. There is no effort in walking from machine to machine.

The psalmist tells us that his heart’s bitterness caused him to act more like an animal than a man. Sometimes when competitors are displaced by injury or illness, they experience great frustration, isolation, loneliness, and a myriad of other emotions. Those emotions can lead one to thinking and acting senselessly. The pain associated with losing may even drive some to foolishly medicate their pain and grief. Wise coaching can short-circuit that process and keep the team from painful consequences.

As a coach it can be easy to get caught up in the details of our sport. We can spend more time with our coaching staff and student athletes than our own family, and we find ourselves weighed down with worry and becoming overworked in effort to keep our jobs. Some coaches are famous for the number of hours that they put in to secure a position. But in Matthew 6, Jesus gives us specific instructions not to worry about the details of life. This got my attention. Worrying about our jobs is like worrying about what we will eat or wear; they are all provided by God.

After the third preseason game of an NFL team, many players find out where they stand in trying to make the cut. One such player, Jason, found out some bad news. Before his third game, he was told that he was cut. Jason drove home, obviously disappointed in not making the team.

NBA legend Michael Jordon once said, “My attitude is that if you push me toward something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” The competitor’s mindset is always to turn a weakness into a strength. They are in constant pursuit of getting better. However, on the flip side, no one would ever think of turning a strength into a weaknesses. But beware, strong one. Your strengths can quickly become a weakness without any warning if you are not careful.

According to society’s standards, a coach’s status is based on his or her win-loss record. Unfortunately, a coach’s personal worth is often tied into this same evaluation. The scoreboard is a clear-cut way to determine playoff selections, but it is a dangerous barometer for a coach to use as the measure of personal success. 

Today’s culture breeds entitlement thinking—even in the church. Supposedly, if we have our daily devotions, go to church, help the old lady across the street, and pray before our games, then God should bless our lives. We think God owes us for all we do for Him. We think that God needs to hook us up because we have done our part.

If we look at the Apostle Paul, he addressed the fact that if anyone was entitled to privilege it was him. But despite his Hebrew heritage and incredible obedience to the Law, he wrote in Acts 20:23, “in town after town the Holy Spirit testifies to me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.”

Athletes love to be called great. At least I do. It has been awhile since I have heard those words on the field of competition, but I do hear it from my kids every once in a while, so I got that going for me. If you truly are the best, then you are called the greatest of all time. Only a few have reached that level of success, and they are certainly in their respective Halls of Fame.

I think every true competitor has a secret desire to be great, and that is okay. That shows drive and passion. My question isn’t whether or not you are great or even if you have that desire. My question is would you rather be great or grateful?  

The sport of bull riding is what some call “the toughest sport on dirt.” It involves riding a twisting, bucking, angry bull for what every rider hopes will be eight seconds—a virtual eternity when seated on 1,800 pounds of raging power.

One common denominator among bull riders is fear. The Lord says in Isaiah that we have nothing to fear because, by the glory of God, He will help us through anything we face. And that means anything from the possibility of missing clutch free-throws to the potential of getting trampled by a bull.

To many campers, truth is a relative thing. "Being close counts, doesn't it?" they ask. Not exactly. During one of the ice-breaker games for the week, people were asked to share three things with their group, two truths and one not so true. But all three seem rather believable at times.

Finding truth can be very difficult. Students are being bombarded with many different truths today. They are told that sex is safe, drugs are fun and won't hurt you, drinking too much won't do anything to you, and so on and so on. Everybody's doing it, so it must be okay. WRONG. During today's Huddle time the campers learned what real truth is, and who He is.