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It appears that the sports world has been overtaken with the “somebody-owes-me-something-because-I-am-somebody” attitude. The big 10-dollar word for that attitude is “entitlement.” It is the belief that we deserve some reward or benefit because of who we are. Somehow we think everyone owes us, and that we owe nothing in return. If you watch SportsCenter, it sometimes sounds more like CrimeCenter. So many athletes think they can do anything they want—that they are above the law.
As a coach, my faith was wavering. I watched my unpredictable punter jog onto the field, doubt washed over me with every step. I never knew what to expect. It might go 40 yards in a tight spiral, or it could be a 10-yard shank off the side of his foot. Every kick was an unpredictable adventure.
It was late in the game and field position was critical as my team lined up in punt formation. As the punter waited for the snap from center, the unexpected happened. The gentle breeze that had been blowing all night suddenly transformed into a stiff wind. My punter handled the snap cleanly, took two steps and kicked the ball high into the air.
Through the eyes of the world, athletic success is easily defined. It’s a simple pass-fail test that asks only one question: did you win it all? But the University of Nebraska volleyball team sees things differently. Despite its tremendous on-court success, the Cornhuskers remain a team that has learned to go deeper than wins and losses in order to define greatness. But the lesson didn’t come at an easy price.
“…train yourself in godliness, for, the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way...” –1 Timothy 4:7-8
Here within Paul’s wisdom to Timothy lies the driving force behind the FCA Institute: to train excellence in sports ministry. Just as extensive preparations are needed to compete at the highest athletic level, FCA wants their staff to receive a first-rate sports ministry education to better equip them to serve the sports community.
Standing tall at 6’ 7”, Adam Wainwright is an intimidating figure — something that certainly plays to his advantage as a Major League pitcher. But get him talking about his daughter, and you’d never know that the 25-year-old makes a living paralyzing big-league sluggers with his breaking curveball. In fact, when talking about little Baylie Grace, Wainwright barely resembles the man who struck out Detroit’s Brandon Inge for the final out of the 2006 World Series, giving the St. Louis Cardinals their first World Championship since 1982.
For many years and generations, our society has been losing a most valuable ingredient: our men. Why do we see so many insurmountable problems? Why do we see so many perversions come to be accepted as “normal” and “natural”? I believe that most men don’t know what it means to be godly men and fathers. And women long to be women, but when men run away from their responsibilities women are left confused, as well. We must reach a place of brokenness before God to find our true identities.
This year, my son Caleb is playing freshman football at his school, and as he’s discovered, being one of 70 players is tough. He loves the game and enjoys certain drills in practice, but lately his teammates have been the bigger challenge for him. Two of the guys he considered to be his best friends have been verbally mocking him and putting him down. As a teenager, he expects that from some of the guys on the team but not his closest friends. All he wants to do is be his best and help his team in any way he can.
Looking back on the past weekend's FCA 50th Anniversary celebration, I can only think of one word: AMAZING. I am not sure how many people were there, but it does not matter, it was the spirit of fellowship, spirit of unity, and the Spirit of God that was present in Kansas City. All who attended were blessed in a great way.
As a child, I dealt with the embarrassment of having to wear glasses and braces. And to make matters worse, I had problems with my hearing which required me to wear a hearing aid and affected my speech. You can imagine the name-calling that ensued. I remember one day on the way home from school, I was so frustrated that I took off my hearing aid and threw it into a ditch. Needless to say, my parents weren’t too happy about that.
The story of Texas Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton has been well-chronicled. Major League Baseball’s first overall draft pick in 1999, his career and future was derailed by drug and alcohol addiction beginning in 2003. In his own words, he hit rock-bottom on Oct. 5, 2005 when he stood on his grandmother’s porch, having nowhere else to turn after going on a drug binge. She took him in and under her care Hamilton’s heart was opened to God’s love and how much he needed Him to heal the brokenness in his life.
As March Madness winds down, we can clearly see the parity that exists at the highest level of college basketball. It’s been excited to watch the thrilling overtime victories and the games that have been decided by three points or less. Teams have matched up toe-to-toe, scraped, hustled and competed to extend their seasons for one more game. At the end of every game, one team has been left celebrating while the other has left empty-handed, perhaps stunned, that the game got away in the final ticks of the clock.
Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden once said, “A leader’s most powerful ally is his or her own example. There is hypocrisy to the phrase ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ I refused to make demands on my boys that I wasn’t willing to live out in my own life.”
Too often as athletes and coaches, we desire to live a life we know we cannot live. What I mean is that we desire for our external life (the life everyone sees—wins and accomplishments) to be greater than our internal life (our thoughts and desires).
Join Dr. John Ed Mathison as he shares from his 45 years of ministry experience, "How to be an encourager even in discouraging times."
For more about John Ed Mathison, check out his website.
The NHL isn’t full of Christians. It may be surprising, then, to hear me say that my years in pro hockey have been the most influential in my relationship with the Lord. I’ve met some incredible teammates and NHL staff who have encouraged and strengthened me in a proverbial “iron sharpens iron” kind of way.
Due to Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Saints began the 2005 NFL season with more on their minds than winning football games. Katrina caused devastation not only in the lives of many Saints fans, players and families, but also to the whole city of New Orleans. In the season opener, kicker John Carney hit a 47-yard field goal with three seconds left to give the saints a 23-20 victory over the Carolina Panthers. “You don’t want to attach too much importance to it, you know, because it’s still just a football game,” Carney said. “But, sure, there was a sense that we were playing for more than ourselves today."
This week, you’ll hear testimony of basektball great Pete Maravich, the story of Mickey Mantle’s faith conversion and 1960 World Series MVP Bobby Richardson.
John was a great miler. He always liked to take the lead early in the race and run to victory. His coach, however, was concerned about an upcoming race. John's top opponent would be one who liked to come from behind to win.
When the race started, like clockwork, John raced to the lead. His coach told him to move to the inside of lane one, but John ignored him. He liked to run in the first lane, but not always on the inside. Laps two and three, his coach said the same thing, but John only grew upset with him. John knew he had the lead — the victory was his. On lap four, his coach was more insistent that John move to the inside of lane one, but John stayed firm in the middle of the lane.
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?
I like to think the writer of Hebrews was a sports fan.The analogies he uses would certainly lead one to support this idea. Just as the writer referred to great numbers of witnesses, we athletes often compete in front of an audiences of great numbers.
This is also true in the Christian walk. Both believers and nonbelievers comprise our audience. There are those who encourage us: our pastors or our Sunday School teachers; and then there are those who "boo" us, ones who are opposed to any semblance of commitment to our Lord.
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