CHARGER NATION GAME #2

CHARGER NATION,

       Game #2 is here!  We just started practice four weeks ago and we have already played a scrimmage and about to play our second game.  The season flies by.  Tonight we play Jonesboro.  Jonesboro is an AAAAAA about twenty minutes away in Clayton County.  Last year they were our toughest opponent and we squeaked by 8-2.  They have very good skill players on offense and on defense they are very good.  It will be another battle.  They are not happy they lost to us last year.  We will need to be play great football if we are to win.
      This week we had the great eclipse.  I didn’t pay too much attention to exactly what was supposed to happen.  In my small mind I figured if the moon covers up the sun it will get dark.  I’m sitting there waiting for it to get dark and it really never does.  The moon was blocking something like 98 percent of the sun and it felt like a partly cloudy day.
       To me it was a great example of how sin (darkness) cannot overcome Jesus Christ (light).  I have always thought the sun metaphorically is like Christ.  Without the sun none of us exist.  I’m sure some science teacher will email and correct me on all of this but I think we rotate around the sun and the gravitational pull of the sun holds everything in place.  I could be wrong in all of that---but the point is this: We have life because of God and He is the center of all things and we all should be orbiting around him.  He is light and exposes the darkness.  He causes growth.  Without him there is death.  (**No I don’t worship the sun and in no way think the sun is God.  Everything that God has created points back to him.)
       I looked at the Eclipse and thought this is a great example of the world we live in.  Adam and Eve were lucky enough to live in the midst of the full glory of God.  God shined forth in his full brightness.  Then Adam and Eve sinned and God’s brightness was covered by sin.  Hours before the eclipse the sun is shining forth in its full power with not a cloud in the sky and then suddenly the moon dims the sun.  To me this was sin: When sin came into the world it blocked us from seeing and experience the full majesty and radiance of God.  God didn’t go anywhere but sin separated man from experiencing the full glory and power of God.  We now live in a world that is dim: A world stained by sin.
       When I talk about a world stained by sin I mean the world we see when we turn the news on: Evil.  People hate each other for no reason.  People hate, lie, cheat, steal, etc.  Evil resides in us and then it pours out.  Apart from Christ, people are darkness.  We can see this clearly when we watch the news.  A whole bunch of people residing in darkness makes for a hostile world!
BUT this is what I noticed during the eclipse:  The moon was blocking almost all of the sun and you had to try and notice that it had gotten darker outside.  Everyone is disappointed because they thought the moon was going to fully block the sun and it was going to be dark.  It never got dark which was the huge let down.  2% of the sun is shining and there was very little darkness.  The sun is powerful!  And this to me was the world we now live in.  We live in a world 99 % covered in sin and evil.  But God remains and his 1% shining exposes the darkness.  The Light defeats the darkness.  Just a little bit of God shining forth destroys the darkness!  The darkness tries and covers the light but it cannot.  Satan and evil cannot stop God.  The moon covered up 98% of the sun and if no one would have told us an eclipse was going on we wouldn’t have thought twice about it.  2% of God can destroy 100% of evil. (I’m not saying you only need 2% of Jesus.)
        As a Christian, I live in a sin stained world.  I live in a world in which God’s full radiance and power cannot be experienced in this physical body.  But we still see by his great mercy!  Evil came into the world but it does not prevail.  I long for the day when we can see God in his full power and glory.  The day when we can live in a world not corrupted by sin.  The day when I can live in a body that is not wretched and prone to wonder.
         But until that day, Jesus Christ has come that we may live in the light.  In this world, our physical bodies will never experience the totality of the glory of God, but our hearts and our inner being can.  We can never experience it apart from the sinful flesh, but Christ has come that He may live in our inner being and experience the fullness of God.  If we do not have Christ in our hearts then we are in udder darkness.  We are traveling in this world with the moon covering 100 percent of the sun.  We may be moving in a direction but we do not have a clue where we are going and we are blinded to the swamp we might be walking in and the alligators that will soon eat us.  We even take our families into the swamp with us.  But with Christ living in us, the light prevails and we can now see where we are going and experience the fullness of joy in Christ.  We can navigate through the swampy waters because we can see by the Light that resides in us (Christ).
         The eclipse was a reminder:  Do not live in darkness.  Live in Christ.  Expose every area of your life and have no secrets.  If you are struggling in an area tell a Christian brother and sister and have them hold you accountable.  Surround yourself with like-minded people and do not lie about the sin that dwells in you.  Push each other and challenge each other to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ.  Challenge one another to live life in the Spirit so that darkness will not prevail.  Strive everyday to live more and more in the Spirit.  Expose the darkness that dwells within you through the power of Jesus Christ living in you.  For “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

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

BEAT JONESBORO!


Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess

CHARGER NATION GAME #1

            Game #1 is finally here.  Tonight we start a gauntlet of a tough four game out of region schedule.  But I am excited about it because playing good teams makes us better.  Tonight--Eagle’s Landing looks to have a good team from the film we have seen.  Last week they played against one of the top tailbacks in the state and they shut him down.  I know they are hungry to play us after we beat them convincingly last year.  In fact, this will be the case in every game we play this year.  Each team will want revenge from last year’s loss to us.  We are playing very talented teams each week and every week we must bring out best.  It begins tonight.

            There are many Bible verses that I use in our football program but one that you always see on gameday is Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”  As a Christian, I understand God is Sovereign.  This means he is in control of all things.  He is God.  Nothing happens without him allowing it to happen.  With this logic, we can then conclude that we do not need to do anything because God is sovereign, and what is to be will be.  We don’t need to work too hard because God is going to do what God is going to do.  The football coach could begin to think that he doesn’t need to prepare and coach too hard because God is sovereign.  As a Christian, I don’t need to talk about Jesus too much because if God wants to save someone he will; He is Sovereign. 

            There is danger on the other side as well.  If I do not believe that God is sovereign, then I believe I am in control of everything.  This is a very dangerous belief because in success I glorify myself and in failure I blame others. 

            You have heard many people say let go and let God.  Proverbs 21:31 speaks against this logic.  The first part of the verse says, “The horse is made ready for battle.”   Think about how important a war horse was to a warrior back in those days.   I am sure 1000’s of hours was spent training the horse and then training on the horse.  The command is clear to me:  Work your tail off preparing for battle.  At ELCA, we have a process in which we believe will prepare us most to win.  We practice hard, we workout everyday and we make our boys watch film.  We demand excellence from them at practice and demand they do it the ELCA Way.  There is no shortcut to becoming all we can be.  Becoming better is requires discipline, pain and sacrifice.  Although they try and revolt sometimes, we demand excellence!  God commands us to do everything in our power to control the variables we can control.  He commands we work hard.  We know the toil is going to be grueling because of sins stain in this world (Gen 3:17-19).  We must embrace the hard work.  We must begin to expect the world to be hard, then embrace that hard work, and then rest in the satisfaction of pushing through and working hard.  We must do everything in our power to “Prepare the horse for battle.” 

            Then we have the second part of the verse: “but the victory belongs to the Lord.”  It is my job to work my tail off and do my very best, but I must rest in the fact that God has the final say.  He is in control.  No matter how hard a I work I cannot ever thwart the will of God.  And in a win or a loss, success or failure, God has a plan and a purpose and a teaching moment.  See God’s ultimate goal is not our winning or our success.  God’s ultimate goal is molding us into men and women who bring him Glory.  God’s goal is not ELCA to win a state championship or ELCA to be the best school on the planet.  God’s goal is that all of his people grow and become more and more like him.  God’s goal is not to give me what I believe I need in the flesh: Wins, money, fame, glory, worldy success….No-God’s goal is to make us more like him.  God’s goal is his glory and he is glorified when we become more like him. 

            When I type Proverbs 21:31, “The horse is made ready for battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord,” I always feel God is telling me something like this:  “You better work your tail off in the job I have given you.  It is your duty to your very best because as a Christian you represent me.  But don’t you ever forget, I am in control.  Don’t ever think you are in control.  I am God and you are the creature.  You have life because I will it.  Your heart beats because I command it to do so.  I am the King and you are the servant.  I am the Father and I have adopted you in as a son by my blood.  Yes I command you to work diligently and give your all.  But I have the final say because I am God.  And you can rest in this.  My purpose and my passion is my glory.  My purpose and my passion is that you grow in Jesus Christ.  I will use every situation, whether it be good or bad for you at the moment, for the eternal good.  Work hard.  Trust in me.  Rest in me.”

            We have busted our tails this week.  We have pushed and pushed and worked hard diligently following the ELCA process to victory.  I can confidently say the Horses are ready for battle.  They are eager to get out there and play.  And I rest in God’s sovereignty: “But victory belongs to the Lord.” 

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

Beat Eagle’s Landing!

Wholly for Christ!

Coach Gess

CHARGER NATION 2017-GAME 0

Charger Nation: GAME 0

I think every year I start of saying I can’t believe it is already football season.  The older I get the more I understand the Book of James in the Bible talking about life being just a vapor (James 4:14).  Time moves fast and we always find ourselves in the midst of another season of life.  Tonight, technically is only a scrimmage but we are treating it just like a game.  Football games are so sweet because there are so few of them so I want to make the most of every opportunity we get! 

I love football not because of the actual game.  I love football because it is a microcosm of life in the lives of these young men I coach.  I love football because of the man building process it allows us to have as coaches.  Commitment, sacrifice, selflessness, humility, loyalty, respect, perseverance, ownership, integrity, work ethic, discipline toughness; these are just a few of the character traits football cultivates and instills.  In short, excellence.  To be good at football, to be successful at football; it demands excellence.  If your team lacks some of those character traits it will not be a successful football season.  And if we in our life lack some of these character traits we will never reach our full potential. 

After winning the state championship two years in a row, having a bunch of returning starters, and a huge senior class everyone just assumes ELCA will repeat as state champs.  I met with the seniors last night and I warned them: I believe you actually think all you have to do is show up and win.  You are practicing like all you have to do is show up.  You lack a sense of urgency.  You lack a hunger, a passion, a desire, that is necessary for any team to reach its true potential.  Pride is so sneaky and so subtle.  We can’t see it.  We can’t see that we are plagued by it.  It hides deep in our hearts and pumps out with every heart beat into our entire being.  Pride takes a man who had to work his tail off to earn everything he had and transforms that man into a person who thinks all he has to do is show up and he deserves everything simply because he exists and it has been his before.  Pride screams quietly from the heart: “I am the man and all I have to do is show up and we will be great because I am great.”  But the Lord warns-the Bible warns: “Pride comes before the fall.” 

Coach your being too negative?  The boys need some positive thoughts.  No, they don’t—sometimes they do but when all that have is “I’m great” running through their minds someone needs to give them a reality check!  My job as a coach isn’t to make them feel good about themselves all the time.  My job is to be truthful and point them in the right direction. Sometimes I must warn them that they think too positively of themselves!

The most important thing I do as a coach is not coach football.  I coach character.  I look into a young man’s soul and challenge him to be everything God created him to be.  I warn him about sins grip and enslavement on his life.  I coach him through this.  Football isn’t what I coach and if I find myself only coaching football and not souls, we are in danger.  I coach life and football is the tool.  No man has life apart from Jesus Christ. 

Yes, our goal and our quest is to win.  But it is not our purpose.   Our purpose is to build men for Jesus Christ.  For in Jesus Christ is the only way we truly live.  For if we are not in Christ we are enslaved to things that will destroy and we stare eternal death and wrath in the face. 

As we get rolling this football season I realize that I am going to have so many opportunities to use the game of football to build men for Jesus Christ.  We are going to work our tails off every day to win on the field, but the true battle and war is off the field.  There is a much bigger battle going on in your son’s soul.  Satan wants to destroy him. 

It is easy for us to set our minds on the opponent and think about him as the one to conquer.  But do you know who the real enemy is?  ME!  We all have ourselves to conquer.  We all dwell in an evil house that is our flesh.  We are consumed with self and are therefore utterly and completely selfish.  We like to talk of Jesus but our real gods are money, power, glory, and fame.  This is our master and what we serve daily.  Being enslaved to such a worthless god, we let the flesh entirely consume us: Laziness, slothfulness, anger, wrath, jealousy, envy, pride, covetousness, lust, greed, I can keep going…we are enslaved to our wretched selves!  And this is what I go and coach every day.  We are trying to take a bunch of young men who are consumed with self and make them One.  An almost impossible task!

But we do have a message and there is a way.  And the very same message we have for them about how to become a great teammate and great football player is also one that will empower them to one day become great husbands, great fathers, and men who will impact the community for good.  Young man: strip away the chains of sin that enslave you and be FREE!  The blood of Jesus Christ frees us from the bondage of sin, forgives me, and directs me.  You were not created to be a slave but through the blood of Jesus Christ you are now invited to be a son, an heir, an ambassador for the King of Kings.  We were once slaves to sin and self (the same thing) and capable of no good thing.  We were once slaves to only seeking the good of me.  And now, by the blood of Jesus Christ we have been completely redeemed for a new purpose: Jesus Christ.  And in this purpose of seeking and pursing the glory of God, we become men who will serve and lead others.  And this is freedom.  My chains are gone and I have been set free!

This is what ELCA Football is all about.  And as we begin our journey tonight I pray that God use every practice and every game for one purpose: To point us to Him and then build us into men for Jesus Christ! 

BEAT MT. ZION!

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

                                                                                                -Proverbs 21:31

Win the Day!

Coach Gess