Charger Nation,

            Game #1 is here!  I know the boys are excited to play in a game tonight.  Everyone involved in the program has put a lot of time, effort, and energy into getting them ready for this tonight.  There is nothing left we can do to prepare.   It is time to go play! 

 

            We do not know much about Eagle’s Landing.  We have no game film of them this year because their scrimmage got rained out.  The coaching staff has built the game plan off the last three games they played last year.  If they changed defenses or offenses we will just have to react.  We worked the past three weeks preparing our boys for multiple scenarios so I believe we have answers for anything we might see.  Our offensive and defensive system adjusts to what another team does.  How good are they?  We have no idea.  How good are we?  We don’t know that either…we find out new things each week!  This should be an exciting game.

            In the life of this 2016 football team, we have a bunch of players that are learning how to lead.  I wouldn’t call them leaders at this point, but boys with the potential to lead.  It’s not a bad thing.  A teenage boy is learning to lead; they are not necessarily leaders.  Football is the tool to teach them to lead.  As coaches we are spending a great deal of time talking with kids about leading, pushing themselves, being motivated from within, etc.  I think the boys are getting it and starting to understand how to lead, but I see a constant battle in the minds of the boys.  Their hearts are telling them to lead, but their flesh has some rebellion in it.  As a coach, I’m excited to help them in this battle!

As we began practice this week, we did not have a very good Monday practice.  The coaching staff of this football team has very high expectations when it comes to practice.  I believe we expect just as much on Monday as we do on Friday night.  This fits right into our Win the Day philosophy.   Our leaders are learning this and I think they are learning to battle their feelings and emotions and push themselves to have a great day.  They are learning to not let their mood affect their performance.  It’s a process.  As coaches, we are not just teachers of X’s and O’s.  In fact, probably the most important thing we can teach kids is to work hard and be excellent in spite of how they “feel.”

            I watched a few kids check out Monday.  I could see the battle brewing within the minds of some players.  They didn’t want to practice.  I can always tell how practice is going to go by whether or not Coach Graham is yelling real loud 15 minutes into practice.  I heard him yelling about five minutes in and I knew Monday was not going to be a good day.  Many players made a decision to not practice hard.  They decided they were just going to get through the day.  As a coach, I was disgusted and frustrated.  I had players willingly melt.  They willingly tapped out and didn’t push themselves and get better.  They were just going through the motions.  It wasn’t just one---it was many.  Mondays are hard and they are rough, I get it.  But that is what Mondays are all about with these boys: To teach them to overcome the adversity and rebellion that is going on in their minds and demand excellence from themselves.  We lost—we didn’t do it.  In my world if you don’t win Monday you are not winning Friday.  If we have a bad practice and lose Monday, I am at home with the exact same feeling I have after a loss on Friday. 

            As I woke up Tuesday morning, I started reading Hosea in the Old Testament.  Hosea is a book in the Old Testament where God uses Hosea to tell Israel what is going to happen to them for their open rebellion against God.  As I was reading I felt God showing me that practice Monday was a good example of how I act towards God sometimes.  The very same things I was frustrated with players about, I do to God.  When players don’t practice hard and don’t do what I ask, I feel like it is open rebellion against the standards of the football team.  We are going to Win the Day.  We are going to give perfect effort, work hard, and aren’t going to make excuses for anything.  When you violate one of those you are in open rebellion.  You are rejecting the ideals of the team and serving yourself.  As I was reading Tuesday morning, God opened up my eyes to my own sin.  He showed me that I do the very same thing to him.  Sometimes I chose to sin and reject the commands of God.  This is exactly what sin is: Rejecting God and doing it your own way.  This is what the people were doing in Hosea’s day. 

            All of us are born into sin so all of us have rebellion in our flesh.  Even though I am a Christian and want nothing more than to serve Jesus Christ perfectly, I have sin in my heart and in my body.  My body and my mind sometimes want to rebel against the law of God and serve my own interests.  The same battle these boys fight at practice each day is a battle I fight in my relationship with Jesus Christ.  The very same thing I was upset about with them, their open rebellion to not practice hard and reject the ideals of the team, I do this to God. 

            Way more important than Winning the Day on that practice field is Winning the Day for Jesus Christ.  I have days where I am right on point.  I have days where God should kick me off the team.  So I set there Tuesday morning condemned.  It was only right to beg God for forgiveness for my open rebellion to him at times.  It was then only right to forgive some of the players who did not give their all. 

            By Wednesday morning, even though my offensive line didn’t practice how I wanted them to, I was rejoicing (but not in the film session Wednesday morning with the OLINE!).  God is an amazingly good God.  He is full of grace and mercy.   Even when I reject him and defy him, He forgives me and restores me as I come to him begging for forgiveness.  I come to him asking for forgiveness because he showed me where I was wrong.  What an amazing God this is:  This God I serve, the King of the Universe, the Creator of all things, the Author of Life, He gave his only Son, who willingly came to die on the cross for my sins so that I may have eternal life.  Even though I am a sinner, God showed his great love for me by giving me Jesus.  How could God show his great love for us?  By sending his Son to us that we may have eternal life and be free from the dominion of sin.  The Lord fights for me.  He fights for you.  There is victory for those who are in Christ Jesus.  **You know why I fight for the souls of your boys alongside of you and don’t quit on them?  Because I serve a God who fights for mine and doesn’t quit on me!

            I love football because of what it teaches us about ourselves.  To me, it is why it is the greatest game.  Getting better at the game of football, growing as a leader, and growing in my relationship with Jesus Christ, it all is a process.  We must stay committed to it.  I praise God that he allows me to fight the battle of life with your son.  No matter what I’ll never quit on them.  We are here to create men for Jesus Christ.  Every day we will roll up our sleeves and go to war as God uses us to build men for his glory.  Thank you for letting us coach your boys!

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

-Proverbs 21:31

Win the Day!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess