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After an All-American college basketball career at Kansas State University, Shalee Lehning experienced a breakout rookie season in the WNBA as a guard for the Atlanta Dream. Not only did she help the team set a franchise record in wins, but also ranked individually among the top 10 in the WNBA in total assists. Now between pro seasons, Lehning is serving as an assistant coach at her alma mater under Coach Deb Patterson.
Each new season starts out with a team meeting. The coach gives the team rules and goes over the expectations for the upcoming season. The coach makes sure that there is no question about what will be expected out of the athletes.
God is the ultimate head coach. Just as a good earthly coach goes over the rules, so does He. God gave His “team rules” to the Israelites through Moses, and He expected them to be followed.
When our earthly head coaches expect us to follow the team rules, they generally set out a reward. The reward might be a letterman’s patch or pin, or it could be lessened conditioning in practice. Whatever it is, the head coach makes sure that we know the rewards for following the team rules.
Hockey Chat: In the 95-96 NHL season something incredible happened. After not even making it to the playoffs the year before, the underdog of the season was a team in a state that didn’t have many hockey rinks and was hardly a place any NHL’r would imagine a good team would develop. Other teams may have laughed at the thought of this club being a contender but the Florida Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup finals only 3 years after they started up, a record at the time for start up teams to make it that far.
Losing is hard. And it certainly makes it difficult for us when it comes to practice. We find it hard to put forth any kind of real effort when aren’t seeing results. But, do we realize that in everything we do, we are to work as hard as we can for the Lord?
Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan. They stood out as great NBA players, but they had a certain quality that did not show up in the box score. It was the ability to make the players around them better. They added value to their teammates, and they could see the bigger picture. Success for them was inevitable.
Likewise, Jesus calls us to see the bigger picture of His kingdom as we influence others for His sake. Every day, we encounter fellow coaches, students, players—even our family—who might need our help so that they can get to the next level, not just for their sake but for His.
About 10-12 years ago, my wife started running. In that time she has run about a half dozen half-marathons, one full marathon and uncountable 5 and 10Ks. She usually competed in these events with a friend or family member, and in years past, it wasn’t me. I was a tennis-only athlete with a few medals on the mantle. Because I had never competed in endurance sports I couldn’t understand why she would always want to run with someone. I had always competed to win. I couldn’t understand wanting to run with another.
Last week I got to go to Austin, Texas, to interview Colt McCoy for the December issue of Sharing the Victory magazine and our online video ministry. In my line of work, I get to sit down with Christian athletes and coaches on a regular basis and talk about their faith. It’s a dream job, of course, and one that I thank God for every day.
In all of these interviews, I meet a lot of different personality types. There are hard-nosed, intense guys who convey that in their passion for the Lord. Some are more reserved and shy, yet incredibly sincere. Others are just straight-forward, no-nonsense athletes who tell you like it is. It’s such a unique opportunity to see how God’s body has many different parts that function as a whole unit for His glory.
Hockey Chat: You can be a great skater, shooter, and puck handler but that all means nothing if you don’t know the rules of the game. You’ll spend all your time in trouble for illegal hits or in the face off circle for skating offsides. Of course you have to follow the rules. It’s those who can a play good game within the rules are real hockey players.
Hockey Chat: I watched a Chicago Wolves game on a Friday night, and saw a team in disarray. They did not play like the first place team they were. Instead they were walked on through the entire game, giving a whopping 50 shots to Peoria and 7 of those went in. After the game, their goalie who was one of the team leaders, Fred Brathwaite, gave the guys an earful on what went wrong. He told them what they needed to hear. The very next night they turned the tables and put up 47 shots and got 8 goals against Rockford. Back to the kind of hockey those guys were known for.
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.
A mutual respect exists among athletes. To some degree, as athletes we all have a single-minded, committed lifestyle that is laced with adversity. This is the price we pay to excel. An athlete’s identity and purpose hinges on his or her performance, but what happens when adversity strikes?
What we see as adversity, God sees as opportunity. In Genesis 38–39, we read the story of how Joseph was sold into slavery by his own family and then imprisoned for 13 years for a crime he did not commit. But Joseph stood firm. “What men meant for evil, God used for good,” he said (see Genesis 50:20). Joseph was right: Years after being sold into slavery, he became second in command over all of Egypt!
Hockey Chat: There are a lot of superstitions and traditions that the NHL players have. On the Blackhawks, John Madden used to change his laces every single time he skated. Patrick Sharp always wears his headphones with his iPod on before the game. Brian Campbell doesn't like anyone touching the knob of his stick before the game, or he has to re-tape it. Brent Seabrook gets ready at the exact same time every game. Tomas Kopecky during warm-ups always spits on all four faceoff circles. But regardless of whatever superstitions these guys have, there core ability is what makes them great players.
We live all of our lives by faith, whether we realize it or not. We have faith that a light will come on when we flip the switch. We have faith that our friends and spouses will be faithful to their relationships. Managers have faith that players will perform as they hope. Players have faith that everyone on the team will perform. The Bible describes faith as “the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Heb 11:1).
Imagine fielding a ground ball, throwing it to first base, and no one is there. Imagine running the bases, coming into third wondering whether to keep running, and no base coach is around. We depend on our teammates and coaches to be there. When we commit to a team, we commit to be there—win or lose, good or bad. We depend on our teams, and they depend on us.
Off the field, life is similar. When times are tough, we expect our friends to be there. When we arrive home—needing a meal, support, and love—we expect our parents to be there. When I come home at the end of the day, I expect my wife to be there. More importantly, when life is good or bad, I expect God to be there.
In last week’s NFL playoff game, Ryan Grant of the Green Bay Packers fumbled the ball away twice in the first few minutes of the game. Grant’s turnovers resulted in the Seattle Seahawks taking a commanding 14-point lead before the Packers, or Grant, knew what hit them. It would have been easy for Grant, a young player and first year starter for the Packers, to have his confidence shaken and to take himself out of the game psychologically. However, with focus and great intensity, he bounced back and ran like a veteran, racking up over 200 yards on the ground and helping the Packers to a victory over the Seahawks.
One problem with us today is that we often forget we own nothing. Talent, leadership ability, and even the very lives we live are God’s property.
Job lost all he had through no fault of his own. As he struggled to understand why, it became clear that it was not meant for him to know the reasons. How he reacted is paramount—He worshiped God! Today we tend to worship depending on how well life is treating us. Job exemplified a very valuable principle—worship is the lifestyle we lead, not the momentary prevailing mind-set.
Walk it Out. We have to live out our theology through action.
Obey. Every Christian has been called to obedience. Job was known as a man of integrity because he obeyed God.
Hockey Chat: The current engraver, Louise St. Jacques is the engraver of the Stanley Cup every year. During engraving, the Cup is disassembled from the top down. The band being engraved is clamped onto a homemade circular jig that creates a steel background for stamping. Special hammers with different head-weights are used to strike against a letter-punch to sink each letter into the silver. When complete, it is another part of the awesome masterpiece.
Hockey Chat: Being great at hockey skater is not instantaneous. Hockey coaches that teach young kids know that there are stages to learning. It’s starts with balancing on skates then to moving forward, skating backwards, and then eventually backwards crossovers. Each stage is difficult for the student but it builds them up and makes them better.
Some athletes are motivated by challenge, others by the thrill of winning. Others still are provoked to excellence by the fear of losing. What motivates us to compete at our highest levels? How do coaches and teammates stir us to be our best? We’re certainly not all wired the same.
When Laura Wilkinson says she used to be a very quiet and shy person, it’s a little hard to believe. That’s because these days, the outgoing, personable world-class diver is one of sport’s most outspoken Christian athletes.
Wilkinson is also very articulate when it comes to matters of faith. She strives to live with integrity in an effort to maintain solid footing on the broad platform that worldwide notoriety as an Olympic gold medalist has afforded her.
“I’ve had to learn to speak up for God in my life,” Wilkinson says. “I’ve realized that if He has a presence in my heart, He needs to have a presence in everything. If He’s really the center of my life, He’s really going to be involved in everything.”
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