CHARGER NATION: STATE QUARTERFINALS

Charger Nation,

Well it is finally here.  The game we have all been waiting for has arrived.  Tonight we play Mt. Paran, the team that whipped us good in the state championship game last year.  To say we aren’t looking forward to the game and excited about the opportunity is an understatement.  I am not at all being cocky and arrogant when I say we want to play Mt. Paran.  They are a great team, a great school and they have a great coach.  They are probably the biggest teams we have faced all year (maybe GAC??).  They have a great tailback in #5 who is leading the state in rushing.  It will be an absolute war tonight.  We will have to play flawlessly if we are going to be beat them.  But we are all fired up about it.  A competitor lives to play in games likes these tonight!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday and I hope we can put an exclamation mark on Thanksgiving weekend with a win tonight.   But win or lose tonight, that will never have an impact over the things for which I am truly thankful.  Yesterday as a team had the seniors stand up and tell what they were thankful for and it was good to hear the boys place value in the relationships they have rather than the material things they have.  As I set around and pondered yesterday, here are my top things I am thankful for:

1.) Jesus Christ.  I was lost but have been found.  I was blind but now I see.  Jesus Christ died for me so that I may die to sin and have eternal life.  He is my Creator, Sustainer and Savior.  He has paid the price for my sins.  He opened my eyes up to my sin.  He convicts me of the sin I still commit.  Jesus Christ came so that he may set our paths straight and follow him.  I am thankful that God has drawn my heart to himself and given me the desire to live a surrendered life to him.  “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”  (Psalm 40:4)

2.) I am thankful for my family.   I am thankful for Dee and Uriah.   There is no greater blessing besides Jesus Christ than the family that God gives us.  Dee and Uriah are blessings from the Lord.  As I watch the Lord grow the desire in my wife’s heart to love and serve him I grow more and more thankful.  I pray he does the same work in the life of my son.  I will do my best to raise him in Christ but I know that Christ must change his heart.  

3.) I am thankful for my mom and dad who sacrificed so much for me and were diligent to raise me in the fear of the Lord.  I can remember in high school being mad at my parents because they wouldn’t buy me a car or buy me certain things.  I realize now two things:  1. We didn’t have much money so they couldn’t and 2.) they gave me the only thing that matters at all: teaching me and holding me accountable to Jesus Christ.  I didn’t really get that either until after college but the foundation they laid in my life I know is invaluable! “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

4.) I love coaching football for God’s glory.  God called me into coaching football to help you build your young boys into Godly men.  That is what this game is all about.  I hope we win lots of state championships and region championships but that is not what it is all about.  What I really hope is 10 years from now I look and see your son being a great father, a great husband and a man who is impacting his community for good.  As we challenge them to be Warriors on the football field, the real goal is that they become Warriors in life!  Yep, I have days where I wonder what in the world I am doing coaching high school boys whose brains aren’t fully functional—BUT, could there be a greater calling than investing in the young men who are going to lead their families one day, who are going to lead their community one day, who are going to lead the church one day, who may become leaders of this nation one day?  So even when they really get on my nerves, I count it a great blessing to be a football coach!

5.) Each morning I wake up and get a text from Mr. Chambers (the previous ELCA headmaster) that he sends to a group of men he prays for.  I always see a text also from Coach Phil who is the Washington County chaplain and a leader in that community.  I am so thankful for the Godly men God has put in my path and in the path of others.   The only way we are going to grow spiritually and be unwavering in our character is to surround ourselves with Godly men.  I know the coaching staff we have at ELCA is loves the Lord.  To be able to work with a man like Kenny Dallas who is just as passionate about being a Godly man as he is about shutting down opposing teams offenses is a blessing.  Mr. Gilliam, our headmaster is a great leader for Jesus Christ.  Richard Allen, our principal loves the Lord and loves your boys. I’ve been working with our AD, Coach Queen, for a while now and I know his desire is to serve the Lord and raise his children in the fear of the Lord.  To not name Jerry Barber, Joe Bryan, Drew Walston, Robbie Moore, Seth Graham, Tim Creamer, Dale Albrecht, Anthony Mitchell, Bryan Shockley, Tim Luke specifically would be an injustice.  These men love the Lord and have poured into this football team diligently all year since July.  Just like me, they are much more concerned with your boy as a Godly man than what he does on that field (but what we really care about what he does on that field too!) These men are blessings—not just because they coach but because they are men who love and fear the Lord and influence me. “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13:20, ESV)

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.”  Proverbs 21:31

BEAT Mt. Paran!!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess