CHARGER NATION GAME #10

CHARGER NATION,

            I want to congratulate our 6^th grade football team for going 10-0 and winning the regular season championship last night.  Tom Mertz is the head coach and he and his staff do an awesome job with the boys.  They sacrifice a whole lot of their time to invest in the boys.  We appreciate them!  I want to thank all of our youth football coaches and middle school coaches.  They all have done a fantastic job this year.  It is great that these men are investing in the next generation.  At ELCA, football is a tool that we use to preach Jesus Christ and build men.   Every coach in our program believes in this philosophy and I thank them.

            Tonight we play Landmark.  Landmark has for the longest time been our conference rival.  Last week our boys wrapped up the region championship.  However, tonight our boys are playing for a perfect regular season and a chance to be the top seed in the playoffs.  There is plenty to play for.  They have worked hard this week.  They are ready! 

            One saying I use at ELCA is the phrase “wholly for Christ.”  I don’t think that is even an actual word but I read it somewhere from a great missionary and it stuck.  I understand:  Wholly means 100% of me.  God has created us in his image and for his glory.  He demands, deserves and expects me to give him all of myself for his glory.  He is the Creator and I am the created.  I get it: The God of this universe wants me to wholly serve him.  This is not an evil command.  This is not a narcissistic command like some people claim.  In this command we find life.  We were created with the purpose to glorify God.  When we find this as our purpose we find life.  Until then, we will constantly run and chase after all the world has to offer.  We will never catch it.  We will never be satisfied.  It is like chasing the wind.

            It is a natural human tendency to do things half way (not wholly).  We don’t really want to go ALL IN on anything.  We don’t want to do anything wholly.  It’s not even a conscious decision that we make not to do something wholly.  It’s just a natural action.  For example: Our Thursday practices are very easy.  We get after it Monday-Wednesday and Thursday is really just a day to get out there and move around for a little bit.  It is a very relaxed environment.  However, I still want the kids wholly there.  I want all of their minds and for them to lock in and execute properly.  But every week I have to say,  “tie your shoes, put your jersey on right, and why do you have your cell phone in your pocket.”   They come to practice already completely checked out.  Who puts their jersey on half way?  Who comes to practice without their shoes tied?  Who brings their cell phone to practice?  They did none of those things intentionally.  It is a natural human tendency to do things half way.   

            Since practice is not intense and it’s pretty relaxed I don’t make crazy rules about practice attire.  In fact, I like to sit back and see which kids purposefully do the opposite of what I ask each week.  And I don’ t think it is purposefully they defy the rule.  I think it is a natural human tendency to do things half way.  But I love to see the kids that come out exactly how they are supposed to.  I like to see who will do it right and who won’t.  To me it says much about that kid.  Some of our best players do it wrong every Thursday so it has nothing to do with how good they are on Friday nights.   But I like to see who understand wholly without it being forced.  By sitting back and watching the kids I can see who understands wholly and who does not. 

            It’s annoying for me when kids refuse to do things wholly.   It is annoying for the teacher when the students refuse to pay attention during class and then expect good grades.   As teachers and coaches we all of the kids focus and attention: Not because I am a dictator coach, but because they only way the kids will become there best is to practice with 100 percent focus.  I need all of them.  I want all of them---WHOLLY! 

If I want this and demand this as a coach, how much more does the Almighty God of the Universe demand and want this.  I hate to say God wants anything.  He is God and he can have whatever he wants.   He is the God of the universe so of course he demands it and expects us to give ourselves fully to him.  But I believe he prefers us to want to give ourselves wholly to him.  Not just for his glory but for our benefit.

As a coach, I will make a player meet my expectations or he won’t play.  But he would be so much better if I didn’t have to make him and he did it on his own.  This would be wholly committing to the process.  God is much the same way.  He doesn’t need us for anything.  He is God.  However, he desires for us to serve him and to live for him.  He can make us do this.  The Bible says that every knee will bow to the King of Kings.  But life will go so much better for us if we wholly surrender to Christ and willfully give everything to him.  This demanding all of us is God loving us.  He knows our purpose and for what we have been created.  He knows that when we live our lives wholly for Jesus Christ we will have found our reason for existence. 

            When we find Christ we find life.  When we surrender ourselves wholly to Christ we find out purpose.  It’s easier said than done.  You would think putting on a jersey correctly is an easy task.  But in our natural sinful state we don’ t do anything right.  Christ promises to transform our hearts and our minds so that we live a life committed to our true purpose: Jesus Christ.  May we be men and women wholly for Christ. 

Beat Landmark!

“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