John was the man. He was the star of every team he played on at his school. Had the best car, the best girl, the best of everything. On the outside, he lacked nothing. Everybody wanted to be like John. His lifestyle was fast and furious. He played hard and partied hard as well. Most people thought it was good to be John. But John was not content. He knew he was missing something in his life. After practice one Wednesday, Bill, a teammate of John's, invited him to come to FCA that night. Bill thought John would never come, but he showed up. John heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, and it made him think. He asked Bill if he could come to church with him that Sunday as well. Something was happening in John's life.

There are great responsibilities that go along with the great privileges of being a champion. NASCAR driver Kurt Busch had a less-than-stellar image prior to winning the series championship in 2004--something he had worked hard to repair in the early part of the 2005 season. However, heading into the Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge, after a couple of relapses by Busch, NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said, "Kurt has a responsibility to the sport and must conduct himself like a champion."

“Coach, I couldn't make it to weight-lifting on time because I had to get my hair cut.”

Apparently there wasn't enough time in the day for this athlete to handle his busy schedule. It's not like there was any other time in the day he could have gotten a haircut. It must have been a life-or-death situation!

How many times has a coach handed us a playbook or drawn a play diagram for us on the board? How many of us ever take our playbook home and look at it before bed just so we have an idea of what is going on? If we don’t understand the plays from the playbook, how many of us ever take the time to ask the coach about the plays and how to execute them properly? I used to be one of the guys who thought he’d learned something just by looking over his playbook.

As Christians many of us do the same thing with our Bibles. We pick them up here and there and look for the right “play” for our situation, or we skim them over hoping that we will gain wisdom by reading without going into depth.

Every now and again a coach comes along who, with a soft voice and humility, is able to inspire players to be greater than they thought they ever could be. Reilly Richey was such a coach. He displayed a quiet confidence and a gentleness of spirit that endeared him to everyone he met. The things that people saw in Reilly—the courtesy, respectfulness, love, and humor—reflected Christ in him. When they looked at Reilly, they saw a man who was all about Christ.

Each summer, Reilly would take me to a conference for coaches and their spouses sponsored by Professional Athletes’ Outreach. At the end of the “Coaches’ Time Out Conference,” we filled out a sheet that had the prompt, “As a result of the PAO Conference, I plan to…”

Los Angeles Angels All-Star Josh Hamilton’s career was initially derailed by the abuse of and addiction to drugs and alcohol. After several stints in rehab, he was still unable to escape those vices under his own power.

Josh admits that at the time, he didn’t realize how he was hurting those closest to him as his life revolved around satisfying his cravings for more. Once he hit bottom at his grandmother’s home in 2005, his heart was opened to God’s love and how much he needed Christ’s help to overcome his addictions and heal the brokenness in his life.