CHARGER NATION: GAME #7

Charger Nation,

Game #7 has arrived.  Tonight we play Our Lady of Mercy.  Mercy doesn’t have many players on their team but they always have 4-6 guys that are very good athletes and football players.  They don’t have quantity but they have quality.  They are coming off a big win verse Landmark so they will come in with plenty of confidence.  From a speed standpoint, this probably will be the team that matches up with our speed better than anyone else.  We have had a good week of practice and I believe our boys are ready to go.  Now all that is left is to come out and do it! 

One of the most important qualities of a Christian is the ability to plod.  This word means a slow heavy walk.  In life we all get consumed with the next big event and we set our minds on it and we live for that day.  We don’t even work hard during the days leading to that event because we are so consumed with that event we are so excited about.  We crave pleasure and relaxation.  There is no doubt there is a time to relax but it certainly is not a regular basis.  There is work to be done before the vacation.  There is work to be done before the weekend.  We must embrace the hard work and move forward.

One of the hardest things to teach a young man is to take Winning the Day seriously.  Monday is critical and being focused on Monday could determine winning or losing Friday.  With this team I coach they have big goals.  They want to go undefeated.  They want to win the state championship.  And these goals are good.  But if I have these goals but fail to have a greater goal in being my best today those long term goals may never happen.  It’s like the young man that wants to make an A but doesn’t pay attention in class.  What a dumb goal; he isn’t doing the things necessary to reach the goal.

This is where the great skill of plodding comes in.  The boys might just think going to the state championship is a lock.  They might just think a Friday night win is a lock.  With this thinking they get excited about Friday night and 9 weeks from now.  The danger in all of that is failing to consider this day is important.  Yes, there is nothing fun about Monday’s practice.  Nothing exciting.  BUT—it is vital they work hard and get better.  Football season is a journey and everyday matters.  You have to plod.  You have to put one foot in front of the other.  For when you stop, you lose.  When you fail to win the day you are in reality failing in the pursuit of your long term dreams.  It’s good to have goals, but I must wake up daily with the short term goal of giving my best today.

You’re hot, you’re tired, you’re bored—PLOD!  Keep putting one foot in front of the other and getting better.  Keep improving.  Make today the only day that matters.  Have your long term goals but realize those are just dreams without winning this day!  It is the teams that continue to put one foot in front of the other during this middle season stretch that get better and put themselves in a favorable position for the post season.  Dreaming is not a skill or even that important.  Everyone has dreams.  Everyone has goals.  It is the ability to plod that separates the dreamers from the doers!

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:12-14

The Christian man and woman is a plodder.  This world is hard and it is a grind.  Living for Christ is hard.  Dying to the flesh and living in Jesus Chris is easier said than done.  Not only do we war against the flesh but also against the evil forces that exist in this world through Satan and his army of evil.  I feel like all Christians can fall into the same trap the football players fall into.  They just want Friday nights.  They don’t want the grind of the week. (**NOTE-they are doing a good job of working!) Christians want to go to church on Sunday and get an emotional rush and feel good about themselves but they do not embrace the weekly grind of pursuing Christ, putting on Christ and fighting sin and temptation.  We want the pregame speech but we don’t want the practices.  We want godliness but we don’t want the practice of godliness.  We lack the ability to plod.  And just as football teams who want Friday but not the practice end up getting beat, so it is for us as Christians, we end up falling away from Christ. 

As Paul says, we must press on.  We must strain forward.  These are plodding words.  Pressing on is hard.  Straining forward is hard.  But to become the man and woman of God you were created to be it requires a daily pressing on and straining forward.  It requires an intense focus of putting our eyes on Christ and dying to the flesh and this world.  Just as I teach the boys they can’t just look forward to Friday night, they must diligently prepare and work Monday-Thursday.  They must press on each day.  They must strain forward each day.  So it is so much more important for us a Christians.  Sunday won’t carry us through the week.  The great Bible study won’t carry us through the next day.  We must press on each day in our pursuit of Jesus Christ: Growing in him and living for him.  May we PRESS ON!

Beat Our Lady of Mercy!

“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