Thoughts from Within

I love sports. Not all sports... just American ones... baseball, American football, basketball. Don't hate me, but you can have your soccer and hockey. Now, as to the aforementioned sports.. they appeal to me. They have for as long as I can remember. I was around ten or eleven when I really began to take note of certain athletes. Ones I aspired to be like. My favorite growing up was Bo Jackson. He was a two-sport athlete -- football and baseball. He was a beast of a man. He was big and powerful, yet, on the ball diamond, he had a grace about him. He took swings that were mighty, yet smooth. His form in the batter's box was impeccable. In the outfield, he could chase down what would normally be gap-bound doubles with ease. If you've followed sports going back to the late '80s and early '90's, you may even remember the highlight of Bo making a catch on the dead run and running up the side of the outfield wall because his momentum couldn't be stopped. On the...

Often times, I wonder if there is a greater opportunity somewhere to spread the gospel. Daily I'm surrounded by people who claim salvation and already know about God and his plan for redemption. It's not like I can share Christ with my lost co-workers because, in the ministry, a personal relationship with Him is a job requirement. We tell our students and their parents daily about God and his goodness. Most of them claim salvation, so I wondered, is there somewhere else God can use me so I can be more effective in sharing the message of salvation to those who need it? Several days ago, my daily Bible reading brought me to Mark 12:28-34. Here Jesus is answering a group of Sadducees who are adamantly trying to trap Him with His words. Jesus admonishes them to uphold God as their first love and to love their neighbors. These, He says are the greatest commandments. Then one scribe acknowledges Jesus' superior answer by reiterating Christ's words, directly correlating th...

  Many folks ignorant of sports lingo probably have no idea what YAC is. YAC, or "Yards After Catch," is a statistic recorded on the football field. You see, in football, a receiver is not only graded by how many receptions he makes, but also by what he does following them. Growing up, I always wanted to be a quarterback. I grew up watching Joe Montana, Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman, and Bret Farve. When I was able to play football in junior high, that is the position I tried out for. It was much tougher than I thought. The QB not only had to remember the proper footwork, play-actions and reads for each play, they were responsible for knowing where every other player was supposed to be and what they were to be doing. I struggled with all that went into being a quarterback, and my coaches took note of that. But they also took note of my good hands. After some one-on-one conversations with the offensive coaches, I was persuaded to take a shot at tight end. I specifically remember...

    "In football they have a huddle. The goal of the huddle is to give you thirty seconds to call the play —that is why they give you a huddle. At a professional football game, there may be 60,000 people watching you huddle; they don’t mind you taking thirty seconds to call the play. They understand that you have to get organized. You have to know where you are going to go, the ends need to know where they are going to go, the quarterback needs to know where he is going to go, and the backs need to know where they are going to go. A huddle is a necessary part of playing the game. But let me inform you, if you do not already know, 60,000 people do not pay $20 a ticket to watch you huddle. See, people don’t come to football games to watch the huddle. They want to see if their team can overcome the opposition who is daring them to snap the ball and move down the field to score. What they want to know is does your practice work? Now what Christians often do is get high on their ...