Charger Nation,
I want to
congratulate our middle school team on beating Pace last night. Pace is the team that beat us last week so
I’m glad our middle school could make things right (in a small way at least). Tom Mertz is the head coach and does a fantastic
job with those boys. I see many good
players on that team and look forward to coaching them in the future.
Tonight we
have Heritage High School in Conyers.
They are a school very close to ELCA and I am excited to play the game
tonight. They are a AAAAAA school and
have very talented players and big players as well. (Some of you don’t understand all the A’s-The
more students a school has in its student body the more A’s they get. We are single A because we have 360 students
in high school. They are AAAAAA because
they have roughly 2,000 students in high school. It makes a difference because you have more
boys to choose from to play football.
That is why there are different classifications.) Their best player on
offense on film is #13. He is a wide
receiver who won the state AAAAAA high jump champion. He is a great athlete and they want the ball
in his hands. And if he gets the ball he
can score at any time. On defense their
best player is #53. He plays noseguard
and very good. He is disruptive. They have many good players but those are two
to watch.
“Count it all joy, my
brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing
of your faith produces stead-fastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4
Every
Friday night that we have a game I know it is an opportunity for me to
represent Christ. My goal in life is to
live for Jesus Christ: To serve and live
for him well. I always pray that I would
be humble in victory and gracious in defeat.
I was really enjoying the humble in victory part. That is easy.
I would walk across the field and say good job coach and try and say a
positive word to players that played well.
I would say there was zero challenge in being humble in victory (on the
surface anyway.)
But last
week God gave me the opportunity to be gracious in defeat. What does that mean? To be gracious in defeat means to show honor
to the team that beat you. It is hard to
do. I am a sinful man. My flesh rages against showing another team honor
or another coach honor. What I want to
do in defeat is blame everyone in the world for the loss. Our flesh tells us it’s not our fault. Our indwelling sin tells us to blame everyone
else. But the Holy Spirit whispers, “Die
to your sinful self and show honor to the other team because it is due to them.” The Holy Spirit convicts me to make no excuse
and to take ownership. I obey but it
hurts.
I often say
that football is a microcosm of life. In
one season you go through winning and losing just like life. In one season you go through adversity and
affliction just like life. Rather it be
winning or losing a football game, a young man winning or losing a starting
position, there are many trials and challenges over the course of a
season. A player and coach will feel
many different emotions. There will be
circumstances to be high and circumstances to be low. How a person manages these emotions and
circumstances will dictate the overall success he will have. Just like life, football season is a journey;
it is not a one-time event. The goal is
to have a successful journey, to finish the journey well. In any journey that is worth talking about
there will be trials and triumphs. There
will be many circumstances that cause man to quit and give in. However, it is the steadfast man who will
prevail. It is the steadfast man that
will finish well.
Many people
will say that God doesn’t care about football and it is just a game. I would agree with them. However, what God does care about is his
children. For those who love God, who
have surrendered their life to him, who follow him whole heartedly, we are
children of God. And, as his children,
God is intimately involved in our lives.
Football is what I do. It is
important to me because it is what I have been called to do as a means to build
men for Jesus Christ. I do not coach
everyday for us to lose. I do not work
diligently everyday on practice plans and film study so that we may go out and
make mistakes on Friday night. We work
80-100 hours a week and it is not to lose.
Being a
Christian, I believe in the Sovereign hand of God. I believe that every situation and
circumstance I find myself in is from God.
I am fully responsible for my actions and yet God is Sovereign over them
all. I do not understand how this works
but it is clear in scripture it all is true.
I came before the Lord all weekend last week and I’m fully taking
ownership for my responsibility in the loss but praying to the Lord to show me
what I need to learn from the loss. I
know my mistakes caused the loss and I know God is sovereign and allowed many
things to happen and not happen on that night for us to lose. On the take ownership side of things I’m
watching film and studying what I did wrong and where I can become a better
coach. On the spiritual side I’m praying
and asking God to show me what I need to see about myself through that loss. And this is life, right? It may not be football, but we find ourselves
in this predicament a lot.
Since the
loss and this day, it is clear to me that God is constantly working in his
people to be steadfast. As I prayed
yesterday morning the definition of steadfast became clear. It gave me peace and unwavering
confidence. I don’t know what this world
has for me but I live life in total confidence in Jesus Christ. I will end this with my final thoughts on the
loss that I wrote down. These thoughts
are from the Holy Spirit and a guide for me on how to live life, a lesson in
steadfastness. God doesn’t promise worldly
success in this life, but he does promise us that in Him we will overcome the
world.
“The lesson: to remains
steadfast. Christ’s love for me is
unchanging. He loves me. I have eternal life through the blood of
Jesus Christ. I am a son of God through
Christ. The Lord will never leave me or
forsake me. As the Lord’s love for me is
and pursuit of me is unchanging, steadfast; my devotion, trust and faith in him
is to be steadfast. My pursuit of
Christ and my love for Christ and my faith in Christ cannot waver based upon my
worldly circumstances. No, either in
life or death, riches or poverty, winning or losing, Christ is my ALL in
ALL. I will be confident; I will be
strong in Christ. I will be steadfast in
my successes and in my failures. Walk
with me Lord. Come what may, my faith is
strong as it is rooted in Christ and what he has done. Me, myself, I am not strong. Be strong in the Lord. Put your hope in the Almighty God of the
Universe. Do you trust me? Do you
believe in me? Rest in me! Whatever may come your way, go with
Confidence: I will be with you. “
We have had a phenomenal week of
practice. Our boys have been steadfast
through affliction. I love their
attitudes and their spirit. This is one
of the most pleasant teams I have coached in a while. I don’t care what happened last week and I
don’t care what happens tonight. They
are winners. We will keep chopping. We will never give in. Come what may, our strength is in the
Lord. Let’s get after it tonight and
have fun!
Beat Heritage!
“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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