NBA great Jerry West said, “He did not have two sets of rules for his players…they all played under the same rules.” Wooden was true to his faith in Christ, true to his family, and true to his fundamentals of life, which had been taught to him by his parents back in Indiana so many years ago.

If we were to count on our hands the number of times someone has let us down or the number of times we’ve disappointed someone else, we’d definitely run out of fingers! Because we are human, we fail all the time, whether in relationships, careers, or daily disciplines. In fact, our life on earth seems full of opportunities to learn from our mistakes. So it’s a good thing we have promises like Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

A few weeks ago my family travelled to San Francisco to support my dad in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. The athletes actually swam 1.5 miles from Alcatraz Island to the shore, completed an 18-mile bike ride and then finished with an 8-mile run.

Wendy Ward doesn’t know how it happened. All that matters is that she knows it did. She didn’t see her golf ball move, but when she realized that her putt no longer lined up, it was clear that the ball had rotated a mere “dimple or two.” Ward had already grounded her putter, and she immediately knew that the sometimes unforgiving rules of the game were about to cost her a stroke.

But this wasn’t just another average day at an average LPGA tournament. Ward was in the final group playing in the fourth and final round of the 2000 McDonald’s LPGA Championship at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware. She had entered the day in a tie for the lead with legendary golfer Juli Inkster.

Dean Karnazes, the ultra marathon runner, lost his sister in a freak accident. Perhaps the pain of this loss gave him great determination. He was a cross-country runner in high school, but afterward he set aside the sport until the age of thirty. His first run, after resuming, left him bruised and beaten, but he had found his sport. Now he does seventy-five-mile training runs once a month and, just for kicks, he runs at night. Karnazes runs in heat in the Desert Valley; he runs in snow on the highest peak in California.

The Apostle Paul reminded his Corinthian friends that athletes run in such a way as to win the prize (1 Co 9:24), but he used this example to illustrate the most

Now is the time for commitment.  Today is the day of salvation.  God wants you to know that 99 and a half percent won't do.  If you've been a curious onlooker of Jesus and His cross for some time, then it's time to stop looking at the cross and time to get on it.  Die to self, die to your own play book, die to your own game plan.  Give it all to Jesus and take up Jesus life, His play book, and His game plan.  Let Jesus take His rightful place as Coach of your life, not assistant coach as if you're still in charge, but as Head Coach where He is truly in charge.