The time-out. What a great tool! When you realize that your athletes are becoming unnerved, out of breath and in need of a break, a time-out is a great way to stop, reenergize, refocus, reward and reassure them. Something as simple as a water break time-out to reenergize your team is all it takes to get them going again. In the same way, our “thirst” for God requires that we take time-outs in our lives in order to be reenergized by our Coach, Jesus Christ.

My first college football coach had three rules. 1: Walk on the sidewalk. He said if we were supposed to walk on the grass, God would not have created concrete for us to walk on. 2: Don’t wear your hat inside. Wearing a hat inside will make you lose your hair. 3: Do whatever Coach tells you to do. Rule #3 pretty much covered everything else in our lives.

Like every set of rules, there were both good and bad consequences depending on whether or not we followed them. One positive consequence was that a young man could end up with an NFL contract after playing football for Coach. One negative consequence was that a young man could find his scholarship taken away the third time he broke the team rules—any of them.

Alcatraz. The very name conjures up thoughts of hopelessness. This prison sits on an island in the middle of the frigid San Francisco Bay, covered in fog and mystique. It's a foreboding place to visit, but a great place from which to escape.

A few summers ago, a group of FCA Endurance athletes joined about 1,800 others in the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon. We were taken on a boat to the island, and after they dropped anchor, they opened the side doors and yelled, “Go!” We spilled out like paratroopers into the black, choppy, 55-degree water and swam as fast as we could across the 1.5 mile channel. After that tiring swim, we then biked 18 miles of hills and finished off with an 8-mile trail run. It was an absolutely intense experience.

Imagine running a race with your jeans hanging low or while wearing bagging sweat pants. You'll either wind up tripping or waddling like a penguin. Regardless, you are sure to lose the race. However, if you are serious about winning, you will do all that you can to keep yourself from tripping or being slowed down.

Second Timothy 2:4 says, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” The Greek word “empleko” refers to a person who is tangled up in his or her garments or caught in some type of vine. This word was used to describe someone who was running and got his clothes entangled in his legs.

If you’ve never heard of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, don’t feel too badly. Even National Basketball Association (NBA) point guard Luke Ridnour, the town’s most famous product, wouldn’t expect many people to know much (if anything) about his birthplace.

Even though its population is anything but tiny (as of the 2006 census, there were a little over 41,000 inhabitants), only those living in the northwestern United States tend to know much about the city that sits along the edge of the scenic Coeur d’Alene National Forest. And it was in Coeur d’Alene that Ridnour first fell in love with the game of basketball. He lived there until he was seven years old and recalls attending a Christian school where his mother was a teacher.