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The 2009-2010 Butler Bulldogs’ historic run to the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship was a Cinderella story that shocked America. They were overmatched in almost every game, yet they still persevered and defeated the odds. How did Butler accomplish what many national powerhouses failed to? Skill, determination, and school pride were factors in Butler’s success, but the true X-Factor was their coachability.
In my four years of college basketball, one particular weekend stood out to me more than any other. My teammates and I traveled down to Cookson Hills, OK, in the school’s two vans and loaded our luggage into the house where we would be staying. When we got there, however, we realized that the family we would be staying with had been stricken with the flu. We had no choice but to stay there, as other families already had teams they were housing.
As the quarterback drops back and throws, the receiver hesitantly extends his arms toward to the ball. Sensing a defensive player closing in, he’s not eager to complete the catch. His focus is more on protecting himself from the defense’s attack. In situations like this, when a receiver demonstrates partial effort in catching a ball, it can be said he has “alligator arms.” And likewise, our faith can be like having “alligator arms.” At times, we fail to take full advantage of our opportunities to grow in our relationship with Christ or share our faith with others because we are afraid of what the costs may be. We let fear of circumstances control us, because we prefer to stay safe in our “comfort zone” rather than stretching ourselves and trusting in God.
In our pregame talks, we tell our players to “play with heart!” and encourage them to perform their best. The more our players develop such a vision, the deeper their commitment to the sport becomes. This is exactly what Jesus wants from us. He wants to develop a heart in us that will commit to knowing Him in a deeper, more intimate way. As David said in Psalm 51:10, “God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” As we develop this kind of heart, others will notice.
I once worked with a head football coach who had a large sign behind his desk that simply read “No Excuses.” What this meant to his staff and players was that he would not accept any explanations when something went wrong. He wanted them to be personally responsible and not put the blame on any other people or circumstances.
Solitude is a topic that has been on my heart for a long time. It seems like solitude and silence in the presence of God has become optional for us in today’s productivity-driven society. Because we aren’t tangibly achieving anything we can physically see, we don’t think there’s use in it. Or, that if we do take time out to sit silently before the Lord, it’s a waste of time since we’re not getting better at anything or furthering any sort of progress.
“The wait is finally over. The White Sox have won the pennant.” Many people in the organization have had to wait a long time to get to the World Series. Every person on the team and each fan would say it has been worth the wait, but it wasn’t easy in the process. Waiting is one tough job! In sports today, players and teams are waiting … waiting patiently for their time to shine.
In God’s Word, Isaiah wrote in chapter 40 that waiting is a good thing. The word “wait” does not measure time spent, but rather it is a process of strengthening until fulfillment. Let me suggest three reasons why we must wait on the Lord:
Last weekend's dramatic NCAA Regional Championship games have many of us bursting with anticipation for Saturday night's Final Four match-ups. What started as 64 teams has become four. On Monday night, only one will remain above them all.
It was an ancient custom to shoot an arrow or cast a spear into the country which an army intended to invade. We see this in college football when the Florida State Seminole rider hurls the spear into the ground or when the USC Trojan warrior pierces the soil with his sword.
An open window in the pasage above symbolizes a variety of opportunities that come to us during the course of a competitive contest. The release of the arrow in this opportune moment is our ability to capitalize on the opportunity and turn into a surge of momentum for the team. The bow and arrow represent the strategic development of our talents and deployment of our assignments.
The day before last year’s Kansas City marathon, I was meeting with Chris Anderson, our National Director of FCA’s Endurance Ministry. I was fired up for the race but a bit anxious about trying to run a PR. As I was reflecting back on my training leading up to the race, I mentioned to him that I wished I’d done more long runs, more speed work, more conditioning, more everything. I was feeling the pressure. He smiled real big, leaned across the table and said, “Dan, at this point, the hay is in the barn. The race is tomorrow.
In the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, sprinter Bob Hayes tied the Olympic record on his way to winning the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Just a few months later, Hayes was dashing past defensive backs as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. It was a radical idea at the time: taking a world-class sprinter and turning him into a football player. Hayes’s success altered defensive strategy and changed how football was played.
Words, like toothpaste, come out easily but can’t be put back in once they’ve come out. University of Oklahoma baseball coach Larry Cochell learned this firsthand. He was forced to resign from his coaching position for making insensitive remarks. “I am deeply sorry for any pain or embarrassment I have caused any individual or the university,” Cochell said. The individual on the receiving end of Coach Cochell’s words forgave him for the incident and did not want him to resign. “We all say things that we don’t mean,” this person said. “He made a mistake.”
As Christian competitors, we realize that God has called us to serve. But do we understand that we should be consumed to serve? Is there a consuming fire that burns in us to serve others around us who are hurting and to help those who need to experience the love of Christ through us?
A Division I basketball school entered its conference tournament as the number eight seed, which meant a low probability of making it to the NCAA tournament. Despite the odds, they achieved that goal by knocking off the one-, two-, and four-seeded teams, thereby earning entry into the NCAA tournament. As one team member summarized, “We put it together when it counted most.” We all know that falling short of our expectations leads to disappointment both on and off the court. However, if we, like that eighth-seeded team, keep looking forward to even a small hope of success, we’ll often be glad we did.
Johnny was a new student at his school. His parents had taken new jobs out in the suburbs far from his old home in the city. Johnny stood out in the crowd, and he was left alone more often than not. Johnny’s skin color was different than that of most of the students, and he also talked differently. He felt like he was in a foreign country even though he was only 50 miles from his old school. It wasn’t long before he started to despise going to school every day. “Everyone hates me there,” he would tell his folks. That certainly appeared to be true. Except for one boy…
In some ways it was an uncharacteristic win for Tiger Woods at the 2005 Masters. While entering the final 27 holes four shots behind Chris DiMarco, Woods stormed back with four straight birdies to turn the deficit into a two-shot lead. And just when it looked like he might run away with a big victory, DiMarco showed resolve by sticking with Tiger and sinking his par putt on the final hole to force a playoff. "This was one fun victory, but also a lot of work because I was playing with one heck of a competitor," Woods said. "He put up a heck of a fight."
Every season, coaches and players alike try to figure out the “secret formula” for winning a championship. Throughout my years as a player and coach, I’ve learned that every championship team has one thing in common. That one thing is not talent, it’s not size and it’s not intelligence. Time and time again, the common denominator of a championship team is a servant heart. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to believers. Even Jesus, the King of Kings, spent His entire life serving others. Sometimes He served others by listening to them. Sometimes He encouraged them. Sometimes He washed their feet. Ultimately, He served us all by dying on the cross.
There are two sayings that I have heard hundreds of times in my life. One is “You can’t tell a book by its cover,” and the other is an advertising statement that assures us “It’s what’s up front that counts.” I would like to take a little liberty with those two statements and apply them to the world of sports. I think that anyone who has played baseball can attest to the fact that “You can’t tell a baseball by its cover” and “It’s what’s inside that counts.”
I was in graduate school when the dean from a Christian college where I was working asked me to coach the women’s field hockey team (the team’s head coach had fallen ill). Although I loved playing field hockey, I had never considered coaching. But the players were due to arrive in two days, the dean looked desperate, and I didn’t have the heart to say no. I knew the game like a close friend—how hard could it be?
One guarantee every coach can make each season is that at some point the season will come to an end. Coaches see dozens of athletes go through their programs. The truth is that we only have these kids for a short while. What mark will we make on them? What little excellences will they take with them as a result of our influence? Will they have developed skills and talents? Will they have learned the value of teamwork? Will they be more disciplined because of what we taught them? These are great questions that any good coach will ask when evaluating his or her effectiveness as a coach. As Christian coaches, however, we need to be asking ourselves an additional set of questions. Have our athletes been affected for eternity? Have we spent time praying for them?
Elephants are some of the biggest, most powerful, and intelligent animals on the planet. And in certain parts of Asia, farmers still use elephants to do much of the heavy labor. Some countries even hold elephant festivals to
celebrate their strength and intelligence. These festivals always end with a tug-of-war between one elephant and
one hundred men—and you guessed it, the elephant always wins!
But amazingly, the only thing that elephant owners in Asia have to do to control an elephant is tie a rope to its right hind leg and a small wooden post in the ground. That’s it! The elephant won’t move, even though the wooden post and rope is like a toothpick and dental floss to you and me.
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