Webster’s dictionary defines victory as “the winning of a battle, war, or any struggle.” The definition of winning is “to finish first.” Is it possible to gain a great victory and still not finish first? Which is more important: victories or wins?

As the son of an Air Force chaplain, Danny Wuerffel had lots of neighbors growing up. He had neighbors in South Carolina, Nebraska, Colorado and even Spain. Eventually Wuerffel’s family settled in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where he developed into one of the state’s outstanding quarterbacks. And while most kids in his shoes might have fallen prey to becoming typical military brats, Wuerffel had a much different understanding of his circumstances.

“The Scriptures say to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself,” Wuerffel says. “But we are unfortunately caught up with focusing most of our passions not on loving our neighbor but loving and caring and serving ourselves.”

It is copied in gyms all over the country. It started back in the 80’s in an old beat-up stadium in downtown Chicago. Basketball fans all over can still hear these words in their heads, “And now the starting line up for your Chicago Bulls.” These words echoed as Pippen, Grant, Cartwright, Armstrong, and Michael Jordan were announced. High schools and colleges today still imitate these now-famous words.

Our theme verses for camp this year are basically a prayer and some closing thoughts, but I wonder how they would sound blaring from the loud speakers of heaven down to earth when the Lord returns and we enter heaven. Who might get the job of announcing it to all? It might sound something like this …

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!

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.

Football players at Virginia Tech carry on a meaningful tradition. Each offensive player carries a chain link that symbolizes the teamwork they exhibit both on and off the field, as well as the responsibility each player has to work toward the success of the team.

I have adopted this tradition at the high school at which I now coach football; however, our chain link is symbolic of several biblical principles rather than simply inspiration for team victory. We carry our chain link to every practice and game as a reminder that each player is significant, valuable, important, and dependent upon the others not only for success on the football field but in our walk with Jesus Christ.

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 Corinthians 9:25), then we’ve lost sight of why we’re coaching in the first place. In other words, just as we live our lives to please the Good Shepherd, so too should we coach our players with the same goal. In the process, we’ll serve as examples to the sheep. 

In his book "Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way," Pope John Paul II took a chapter to talk about the steps he used as a new bishop to initiate fellowship. He wrote that prayer prepared him for his encounters with others. He suggested that we pray for everyone every day, and also offered that praying as soon as you meet someone would help in all relationships.

If we made a list of hindrances to athletes today, what would it include? Drugs? Violence? Selfishness? Anger? Cheating? What if I said laziness was one of the top three hindrances to athletes? Some may disagree because of the intense training and conditioning of today’s athletes. I agree they are conditioned, ripped, and seem to be more physically conditioned than ever before, but I’m not talking about physical laziness.

Hebrews 6:12 describes “lazy” as something dull, unexciting; something that is slow or has lost its momentum. In other words, not moving with the same velocity and aggressiveness it once had. This is a picture of someone who has lost his drive—like sitting in a sports car and only shifting the gear into neutral.