CHARGER NATION,
Tonight is our last regular season home game and senior night. It seems like just yesterday we were getting started. I am very proud of our football team and this group of seniors. They have come to work each and every day and done everything we have asked them to do. What else can you do? Winning is never guaranteed. I believe success is becoming the absolute best you can become with the talent God has given you. I believe this team is working toward that end. We have often challenged the seniors to do more and to lead better and they have always responded the right way. They have a desire to excel.
Tonight we play Mt. Vernon. Mt. Vernon has some very good football players. They are 6-2. We have been preparing for a battle all week. The talent they have has our football teams attention. I am good friends with their coaches and have a lot of respect for them. They do things the right way and coach their boys hard. It will be a great challenge tonight. We have had a good week of practice and now it is time to go play!
This week the word diligence was on the mind of our defensive coordinator, Brett Collier. He came down to the weight room sighting me the definition of diligence: “steady, earnest, and energetic effort: persevering application.” It is a great word. The Bible has this to say about diligence: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4). Another good verse that says the same thing: “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).
I’ve only met one man that as anxious and stressed out as me Sunday afternoon through Wednesday and that is Brett. We are anxious and stressed because that is when all of our game planning is done. It is not an unhealthy anxiety and stress driven by worrying. We want to get our plan right. Working and solving the problems relieves the anxiety and the stress. The anxiety and the stress drive the work. The diligent man works. The non-diligent man talks: “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23).
For Brett and me, and our coaching staff, our diligent days are Sunday afternoon until Thursday around 5. We are watching film and developing a gameplan. We then move into watching practice film and perfecting our plan. Usually we feel horrible Monday, bad on Tuesday, ok on Wednesday, and then good on Thursday after breaking down Wednesday practice film with the boys Thursday morning. For me by Thursday afternoon my anxiety and stress are gone and I’m ready to play. People often think that Friday is a stressful day for me. Friday is a day of agony cause I’m ready to play. But I’m not stressed out. I’m ready due to the diligent preparation done during the week. (*now I am battling being anxious today because of the rain. The rain creates variables we do not control. But Mt. Vernon has to deal with the rain too. It is not an excuse. Sometimes in life we have a great plan but we are thrown variables we can’t control. So here is another great life lesson. No excuses-get it done!)
This diligent work that we put in Sunday through Thursday is absolutely necessary because we want to win on Friday night. Our job as coaches is to put our players in position to win. We are to provide them with the tools and instruction to win. It is our job to have a plan of preparation that will lead them to victory if they execute our plan correctly. It is our job to demand that practice appropriately so they can win. This desire to win on Friday night provides a sense of urgency Sunday through Thursday. The byproduct of this urgency is diligent work and preparation. Here is my diligent quote: “What I do today determines my success tomorrow.”
My question to myself this week as Brett stood their talking about diligence is, “Why do I not live with the same sense of urgency for Jesus Christ and his Kingdom? “ I sit here and kill myself all week long to win a game that is going to come and go. I have a sense of urgency about a football game because I know it is coming. I can taste it and I can see it. I must work! But the Kingdom of God and eternal life is infinitely more important than a football game. It is a matter of our souls in eternity. The salvation of my friends and my family, the gospel going out to everyone around me is so much more important than a football game. Why do I not have the same sense of urgency when it comes the things of God?
The answer is simple. I do believe in Jesus Christ. I do live for Jesus Christ. I have surrendered my life to Christ. I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. However, I do not see my days as numbered and I do not always walk “seeking the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God,” and I do not always walk with my mind “on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). Since I do not live thinking my death is imminent (whether it be today or 50 years from now), I do not live with the sense of urgency I should. Since I do not always walk with an attitude of gratitude for Jesus Christ and what he has done in saving me from death and the wrath of God by dying on the cross for my sins, I do not live with a sense of urgency to tell people of this amazing grace and mercy in, by and through Jesus Christ.
My goal is not to be a more diligent coach. My goal is to be more diligent in my pursuit of Christ and proclaiming the good news of the gospel. I constantly tell the boys to not be the “coulda” guy or “shoulda” guy. You know who I’m talking about: The guy that constantly says I could have done this or I should have done that. He is the guy that never did anything so he constantly says he could have done. I don’t want to die and wish I would have done this or should have done that. I don’t want to leave this life and wish I would have pursued Christ more and I should have proclaimed Christ more.
During the week we are diligently preparing in hopes when that final whistle blows on Friday night there will be no regrets and that we will be victorious. This vision drives us to work with diligence. It is more important that we live our lives knowing that one day we will stand before the Creator of the Universe. We will give an account of our lives and our pursuits. We must live today in preparation for that day. When that final whistle blows on our life here on this year, may we stand victorious.
The only way we stand victorious is through the blood of Jesus Christ. We were all dead in our sins. We rebelled against a Holy God and rejected him. We rejected God because we wanted to be god. We are guilty of the highest treaston against a Holy God. We stand condemned and deserve the eternal wrath of a Holy God we rejected. BUT GOD-- in our rejection of God, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
For those who accept this and believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation will stand victorious. And as we accept Jesus Christ as Lord, he transforms us in this life in preparation for that great day when we will stand victorious when our time on this earth is done. I pray we believe this and I pray we diligently spread this good news.
Our boys are ready! Rain or shine: I can’t wait to play! NO EXCUSES. Let’s get it done!
Beat Mt. Vernon!
“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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