CHARGER NATION: GAME #8

Chargers,

            I want to congratulate our JV football team last night for beating Woodward.  It was a very fun football game.  Our boys played hard and fought.  We scored the winning touchdown with about a minute to go in the game.  I want to thank Jerry Barber, Dale Albrecht and Bryan Shockley for the investment they put into those boys.  I count it as a great blessing that God has put it on the hearts of those men to coach our JV.  Each of them has their own business and could be working or doing something else but they choose to help ELCA Football.  I am grateful.

            In the life of ELCA football tonight is a big football game.  Landmark and ELCA is always a big game because it seems to always have region championship implications.  We both are usually in the top 10 so this only makes it a bigger deal.  They are led by a very big offensive line, a great quarterback and a great tailback.   They bring an offense tonight that is averaging over 40 points per game. 

            I believe our boys are fired up and ready for the challenge.  This game tonight is what high school football is all about.  Some of my greatest memories come from beating Landmark.  Beating them 43-0 the year after they upset us in the playoffs was a game I will never forget.  Beating them last year when they were ranked #3 or #2 after everyone had written us off will go down as one of my all time favorites.   I can’t wait to watch our boys tonight!

            One word I always hear being thrown around is the word excellence.  People like to use it but no one ever really defines it.  When I first started coaching I started saying DEMAND EXCELLENCE.  We can’t sit around and ask our kids to be excellent.  We must demand it.  Asking for it seems so passive to me as a coach.  Yeah, I get I need to ask them for it and define it for them, but then I need to meet them half way by demanding it.  It’s the same way in parenting.  You can ask your kid not to do something but if you don’t meet him or her half way with enforcing it be done they will surely fail. 

            I believe the world has a hard time with describing what excellent character and behavior is apart from Jesus Christ.  I don’t know why lying and cheating isn’t a good thing.  It seems to get people far in life.  Even though it is destructive to people in the long run it seems to get individuals worldly success.  If I view the world with a self-centered vision lying and cheating make sense.  I don’t care if I hurt people around me, as long as I get what I want.  

            I have a chart I discuss with our boys and we call it the Path to Excellence.   It’s a complicated looking chart but basically it’s a triangle that is broken into five sections.  The base of the triangle is titled “DEMAND EXCELLENCE.”  I define excellence as seeking to bring God glory and honor by giving perfect effort to become your absolute best with the talent God has given you in ALL that God has called you to do.  Jesus Christ is the standard of Excellence.  He is excellence.

            The base of the triangle represents the foundation of a man.  It is our character.  The triangle rests upon the base.  A pyramid would not stand if it were not for the base.  In the same way, if a man or woman does not have a solid foundation nothing can be built upon them.  Yes, they may achieve a little worldly success for a time but their ability to lead others and make others around them better is lost.  In fact, people who lack the foundation of excellence usually end up hurting or damaging those around them.  They are me centered people and me centered people lack character.   

            So at ELCA and within ELCA football we have an excellent standard in our conduct.  I told the boys this week that before they do anything they should stop and ask themselves this question: “Is this excellent?”  Since Jesus Christ is the standard of excellence we have his word to lead and guide us in the way we should go.  In fact, Christ promises himself to lead and guide us in the way we should go (Psalm 32:8).  If we will build our character around Jesus Christ and pursue excellence with all diligence then we will become leaders and impact others in our life for good.   We will quit worrying about our personal success and ourselves and become consumed with helping and serving others. 

            Demanding excellence on the football field is a grind.  We must demand perfection to the smallest detail.  We must push our players everyday to become the very best they can possibly be on the football field.  We cannot be ok with a bad day or poor performance.  We cannot get tired and not address poor effort.  Everyday and every rep we must demand things be done with excellence.  If we don’t do this as coaches we are wasting our time and our players time.  Our team will not achieve its total potential. 

            How much more important is it that we demand excellence from our conduct and our thoughts?  On our football team, we are going to have the highest standard of excellence in our character.  I am not going to waiver in demanding excellence from our boys in how they act and how they talk.  I know they get aggravated with me because I tell them they can’t do this and they can’t do that.  It seems like everyday I am fighting a battle that has nothing to do with football but everything to do with character and who they are as people.  And this is ok—annoying but  ok!  Cause the most important thing is investing in the souls of the players.

            It’s interesting:  After we lose a football game my soul is never grieved by an individual because he played poorly.  I’m just mad that we lost and sit around aggravated with myself.  I don’t blame you or your son.  A kid could lose the game for us but I would not be grieved or upset with that person.  However, when I find out kids are acting foolishly or making a mockery of sin my soul is grieved.  When I find out a kid has poor character and is leading others around him into sin I get very disappointed.  When I find out a kid is choosing to hang around the wrong people I hurt due to those choices.  Winning or losing a football game will never lead to a destructive lifestyle.  But poor character will lead to failure in life in everything that is important to God—our families and influencing others around us for good. 

            May we at ELCA and as parents never grow weary of demanding excellence in the character of our souls.  We have a great definition of excellence: Jesus Christ.  May we follow him and abide in him. 

           

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

BEAT LANDMARK!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess