CHARGER NATION 2018: GAME 0
CHARGER NATION,
Once again, football season is here. The boys are excited here at ELCA are excited to finally play and hit someone other than themselves. They have been working hard all year for precious games like tonight. As coaches and fans we have been eagerly waiting the 2018 football season since we watched the 2017 football season come to a close. It is time!
Tonight we go up and scrimmage Marist. Marist has been the most successful private school football team in the state of Georgia since the 1980’s. The reason why they have been so successful is their had coach Alan Chadwick. As you watch the game tonight, know you are watching one of the greatest in his profession. I have great respect for men like Alan Chadwick who has been able to be a successful head coach since 1985 at one school. A man who stays at one school for 33 years is truly a man of loyalty. I do not know him at all, but his reputation as a man of integrity precedes him everywhere he goes. He became Marist’s head coach in 1985 and has compiled a winning record of 364-68. Last year they finished 14-1 and were the state runner ups in AAAA.
Playing Marist tonight was strategic on my part in two ways: 1.) I have found that there is no greater way to learn from a coaching legend than to go play that coach; and 2.) There is no greater way for our boys to become better football players and a better team than to go face an extremely tough challenge right from the get go. We have a great opportunity tonight.
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8
“I don’t taste anything Lord. I don’t understand this verse. I want to taste it, Lord. Lord, I want to know what this means.” These were my thoughts as I read this verse at the beginning of the summer. This past off-season has been strange for me. The spirit within me was not at peace. For whatever reason I was restless and overwhelmed from the beginning of last football season. There was no major sin in my life. I was diligent in my pursuit of Christ. I was diligent in trying to be a good husband and father. I was coming to work everyday and doing my best. But something was off in my inner being. I was blind to what this could be and even blind to that something was off. (*I am not saying I didn’t sin. We all sin daily. There was just nothing egregious going on to cause this restlessness.)
So I came across this verse and I was honest with the Lord: “I don’t taste it.” When you are restless on the inside you don’t have peace. You do not feel freedom and this is a dangerous place to be. But I know that I am supposed to have peace and freedom in Christ. I knew this to be part of tasting and seeing the Lord is good. My relationship with Christ was very much like looking at a chocolate bar and knowing what it supposed to taste like and desiring it very much. But when you bite into it you can’t taste anything. It would be perplexing and confusing, right? I know what this [the chocolate bar] is supposed to taste like, but I do not taste anything.
But, praise God, he opened my eyes. What happens in life is so subtly and sneaky this world creeps in and takes over. Instead of identifying as a Son of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, we allow the world to creep in and identify us. We know not to strive for worldly identity but we blindly do it anyway.
Not arrogantly or on purpose, I had allowed winning and state championships to become my identity. I would never say it out loud but I was consumed with this underlying current in my inner being: “We have to win.” Many coaches suffer from this. Many of you who are successful in what you do, your identity is your success.
We all struggle with this: “I have to …..” complex. You fill in the blank for yourself. And many people might think these things are good and it is why you are successful. But God despises our idols. He despises our “I have to…..” mindset. And if you are a child of God he will foil your attempts for worldly acclaim and glory. He might even give you your “I have to….” just to show you what a wretched and despicable God it is. Make no mistake, you will become a slave to your “I have to….,” and it will destroy you.
It was clear, I could not taste and see that the Lord is good because I was so fat and full of my pursuit of this world: The pursuit of winning. Jesus showed me that you truly cannot serve two masters: “You can serve winning and it will eat you up and spit you out. Or you can serve me and I am the ultimate victor conquering death and saving your soul. What you desire I have in abundance. You were made for my glory, not your own. You will not find rest until you fully surrender to serving me and not yourself. Come and taste that the Lord is good. For you were dead in your sins. You were an enemy of me. You deserved the wrath of the Almighty God whom you rejected. But, through God’s great mercy and grace, He sent is Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins. He who knew no sin became sin for you. You who are not righteous are now proclaimed righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. And while you were dead in your sins I opened your eyes to these wonderful truths and called you to myself. Ponder these things. Pursue these things. Rest in these things. Taste and see the Lord is good.”
And through the struggle and toil of the summer begging God for freedom and to taste and see, he showed me how you cannot dabble with the gods of this world. They will kill your soul. They will destroy your family. They will destroy your relationships with friends. They will slowly enslave you and suffocate you. But praise Jesus, who came to give us freedom from the enslavement of sin.
I don’t say I lost my way but I did lose my perspective. But praise God: He is faithful. He keeps us. He does not allow any of those who are his to wander away. In fact, not only does he keep us, he sanctifies us. He grows us in Christ. He showed me: “You taste that worldly success? It is bitter. It does not satisfy. In fact, you will drown in it. It will suffocate you. It is empty and hollow. Come and live fully for me and I will give you joy, peace and rest.”
I am fired up and excited for tonight. We have worked hard. Our boys are excited and ready. I can’t wait to play!
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” Proverbs 21:31
Wholly for Christ,
Coach Gess
So I came across this verse and I was honest with the Lord: “I don’t taste it.” When you are restless on the inside you don’t have peace. You do not feel freedom and this is a dangerous place to be. But I know that I am supposed to have peace and freedom in Christ. I knew this to be part of tasting and seeing the Lord is good. My relationship with Christ was very much like looking at a chocolate bar and knowing what it supposed to taste like and desiring it very much. But when you bite into it you can’t taste anything. It would be perplexing and confusing, right? I know what this [the chocolate bar] is supposed to taste like, but I do not taste anything.
But, praise God, he opened my eyes. What happens in life is so subtly and sneaky this world creeps in and takes over. Instead of identifying as a Son of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, we allow the world to creep in and identify us. We know not to strive for worldly identity but we blindly do it anyway.
Not arrogantly or on purpose, I had allowed winning and state championships to become my identity. I would never say it out loud but I was consumed with this underlying current in my inner being: “We have to win.” Many coaches suffer from this. Many of you who are successful in what you do, your identity is your success.
We all struggle with this: “I have to …..” complex. You fill in the blank for yourself. And many people might think these things are good and it is why you are successful. But God despises our idols. He despises our “I have to…..” mindset. And if you are a child of God he will foil your attempts for worldly acclaim and glory. He might even give you your “I have to….” just to show you what a wretched and despicable God it is. Make no mistake, you will become a slave to your “I have to….,” and it will destroy you.
It was clear, I could not taste and see that the Lord is good because I was so fat and full of my pursuit of this world: The pursuit of winning. Jesus showed me that you truly cannot serve two masters: “You can serve winning and it will eat you up and spit you out. Or you can serve me and I am the ultimate victor conquering death and saving your soul. What you desire I have in abundance. You were made for my glory, not your own. You will not find rest until you fully surrender to serving me and not yourself. Come and taste that the Lord is good. For you were dead in your sins. You were an enemy of me. You deserved the wrath of the Almighty God whom you rejected. But, through God’s great mercy and grace, He sent is Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins. He who knew no sin became sin for you. You who are not righteous are now proclaimed righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. And while you were dead in your sins I opened your eyes to these wonderful truths and called you to myself. Ponder these things. Pursue these things. Rest in these things. Taste and see the Lord is good.”
And through the struggle and toil of the summer begging God for freedom and to taste and see, he showed me how you cannot dabble with the gods of this world. They will kill your soul. They will destroy your family. They will destroy your relationships with friends. They will slowly enslave you and suffocate you. But praise Jesus, who came to give us freedom from the enslavement of sin.
I don’t say I lost my way but I did lose my perspective. But praise God: He is faithful. He keeps us. He does not allow any of those who are his to wander away. In fact, not only does he keep us, he sanctifies us. He grows us in Christ. He showed me: “You taste that worldly success? It is bitter. It does not satisfy. In fact, you will drown in it. It will suffocate you. It is empty and hollow. Come and live fully for me and I will give you joy, peace and rest.”
I am fired up and excited for tonight. We have worked hard. Our boys are excited and ready. I can’t wait to play!
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” Proverbs 21:31
Wholly for Christ,
Coach Gess
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