CHARGER NATION: GAME #5

Charger Nation,

            I hope everyone has had a great week.  I want to congratulate both our middle school and our JV for winning games yesterday.  Being fall break, it was an awkward week being out of school but our boys still worked hard in practice and then yesterday in their games.  I appreciate the coaches of both teams being there all week preparing the boys.  I appreciate the parents for working around your schedules to have the boys at practice!  They worked hard this week and played well yesterday.  Both teams are 4-0!

            Tonight the varsity is playing game #5.  This marks the midpoint of our football season.  At this point the great teams start to distinguish themselves from each other.  The bad teams have stopped getting better after about two weeks of practice.  The average teams stop getting better at the midpoint of the season.  The great teams push through and continue to get better each and every week well beyond seasons mid-point.   Great teams/great players have the ability to look into the future and see what they want to become and then channel that vision into a daily commitment to giving their all to become what they envisioned.  I think we all have visions of what we want to be, but very few people have the daily commitment to make those visions become a reality.  The dream is the easy part.  The work is what gets everyone!

                As you look out and see what is going on in college football and high school football, the teams that seem to be the best at this point might not be the best 10 weeks from now.  There is no way for us to see this, but it is the team that is committed to daily excellence, to daily working hard and getting better, that is going to be the best team 10 weeks from now when it matters.  I say this all the time but it is so true: Winning on Friday night is a by-product of winning Monday through Thursday at practice.  Poor practice habits will eventually catch up with us.  It is imperative that we take every day seriously:  What we do today will impact our tomorrow! 

            As we finished practice yesterday we had a little discussion on how sin can and will destroy your life.  I don’t stand before the boys and tell them that sin isn’t fun in the moment.  In the moment, sin is good and enjoyable.  The problem is that sin destroys.  This is why God calls it sin.  God did not make laws for us that were harmful for us.  He made laws for us so that we would not fall into the damaging effects of sin, the destroying effects of sin.  His law is given to us to save us.  People hear God’s laws and think it is so restrictive.  But it is the opposite: God’s law is given to us to set us free from sin, free from death.  The law of the flesh (sin), it is what enslaves and destroys.  It is what is restrictive. 

            When we are at practice and a starter is loafing and the coaches get on to them sometimes they look at us like we are clueless.  If they are having a really bad day they will be disrespectful to us in their own little way.  Here we are as coaches warning them that if they do not give their all they will never become all they can become and it will catch up with them.  But their flesh is telling them to loaf and that there coaches are idiots.  As coaches, we know what is coming if pride and poor effort take over a team.  However, often times, a young man is blind to his pride and his poor effort.  He is also blind to the damaging effects of these two sins.  We are here to warn him but he thinks we are stupid.  If he won’t listen to us then he will have to learn his lesson from the master teacher: Actual failure in life.  In our case that would be losing a football game or the player having a really bad game.  Winning hides poor performance though so usually it has to be losing that makes a team or player aware of their sin.  As coaches we are doing everything we can to show them the right way.  But it ultimately comes down to the team and its leadership choosing to take our advice and purse daily excellence.

            This picture I just gave of a coach and a player is exactly what Christ has done for us.  Christ shows us how to live our life through his Word.  He has sent his Holy Spirit to work in us and further teach our spirits in the way we should go and lead us in the right direction.  Just like it is that player’s choice to follow his coach’s instruction, it is our choice as to whether or not we will follow Christ.  Christ came to save us from ourselves and bring to us eternal life.  He gave us rules, laws and statutes that are not oppressive but empower our future and set us free from the enslaving nature of sin.  Sin whispers into that player’s ear that his coaches are fools and he need not listen to our instruction.  Sin whispers into our ear that we need not follow God’s law.  Death knocks on our door but it is beautiful and seductive.  God warns don’t open the door.  Who will we follow?  What will we do?  May we choose Christ.

            As I coach this great game, I see the daily battle of sin in each player’s lives.  You know why so much evil exists in this world?  Because of the individual battles lost in each person’s life.  The only thing that transforms is Jesus Christ.  Without him and without his power working in and through us, we all lose and become men and women he did not create.  When we choose sin over Christ we choose to be the son and daughter of death.   The end result is chaos.  So when we see chaos in our world what we are really seeing is A.) A rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and then the end result of this: B.) Sons and daughters of death.

            May it never be for us!  May you and I be lights in this world for Jesus Christ.  May you and I choose to be sons and daughters of the Most High.  Surrendering all to Jesus Christ is beginning act towards a life of freedom and power.

“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 

            

CHARGER NATION: GAME #4

Charger Nation,

            I want to congratulate our JV team for winning last night against Therrell 32-0.  This puts them at 3-0 for the season.  Our 5^th and 6^th grade team won 8-7 in the last .2 seconds of the game last night to continue an undefeated season.   I appreciate these coaches and the boys for all the time, effort and energy they put into being excellent.  To be 3-0 takes a whole lot of work.  Our coaches are teaching our young men excellence and the price that must be paid to achieve it.  I am thankful!  We had to go to Mike Cameron’s facility Monday cause of the rain for practice and guess who was waiting on us to finish so they could get their work in? The 5^th and 6^th grade team.  You have to pay the price!  Also, please be in prayer for Joe Bryan.  Joe is a critical piece to our coaching staff on the varsity level and he is in the hospital right now.  Pray that he get healthy and pray for his family while he is in the hospital. 

"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lam and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)

One thing we say around our program is DEMAND EXCELLENCE.  Here is how I define excellence:  Excellence is 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.  It is very easy for us to understand what excellence looks like from a football perspective and academic perspective.  ** I said looks like—very hard to actually implement.  My challenge with the boys each day is Win the Day.  What I am really saying when I say that is give your absolute best to today to become all God has created you to be.  Not just on the football field but everywhere.  In the classroom, in your conduct, in your thoughts, in how you treat others; in every area of our life we should be striving for excellence. 

            Becoming all that God has created us to be is not easy.  It is not easy to excel in the classroom.  Because excelling in the classroom requires attentiveness each day.  It requires being diligent doing homework.  These things are hard.  I was watching a young man yesterday copy his math homework from a picture on his phone.  His friend took a picture of the homework he or she did and sent it to him and he copied it.  I told the kid that he is never going to be smart-that his mind will never become all that God intended it to become because he is taking short cuts.  Getting the quick and easy A for completed homework will mean nothing in the long run because he didn’t pay the price to earn that A.  Taking shortcuts will eventually catch up with us.  Maybe not this day, but it will catch up with us (probably test day).  We learn through the struggle and grind of working out math problems.  It is the student who will go home and battle with the math problem for hours who will eventually have a sharp intellectual mind.  But if we refuse to work and we consistently choose the easy road we will never become all that God intended us to be. 

            It is the same way on the practice field.  That kid was copying someone else’s math work, which is cheating and being lazy.  When young men come to the practice field and they are not giving their best they are cheating themselves and their teammates.  They are telling me they are ok with being mediocre.  They refuse to put the extra effort in to be great.  Of course they will tell me they want to be great and I’m sure they will be excited Friday night.  But the problem is if they do not live with a daily drive to be great Monday through Thursday eventually it will catch up with them.  They will not become their very best.

            This is so true in our Christian walk.  I saw a shirt the other day and it said this: “I love Jesus but I cuss a little.”  This is exactly why people see Christians as hypocrites.  To the young man that says he wants to be all that God created him to be but he cheats on his homework and he doesn’t practice hard, we see him as a hypocrite.  His actions do not align with his words.  He is living a false reality.  He is the opposite of what he proclaims.  It is the same way for Christians.  As a Christian my desire is Holiness, Righteousness, and Godliness.  These are terms of Excellence in the Christian life.  In my pursuit of excellence there is no justification or acceptance of sin.  I will never say my sin is ok.  As a football coach I will never tell a young man that poor effort is ok.  It is something a young man must fight against each day.  In the same way a Christian must fight to be Holy, Righteous and Godly each day.  Will we live a perfect life free from sin?  No way.  We are sinners and on this side of heaven will continue to struggle with sin.  But we can never justify sin and tell ourselves it is ok.  We will sin but when we allow ourselves to become ok with our sin and even wear our sin on our t-shirt we are in trouble.  When we catch ourselves beginning to justify our poor effort at practice or our lack of focus at practice, we are beginning a slide into mediocrity.  In our Christian walk, when we begin to justify sin we are beginning the slide into being hypocrites.  You can proclaim you wan to be great at something all day but if your actions to no align with your words you are the opposite of what you say you are.  It is the same as Christians.  I can say I am a Christian but if my actions and attitude is not aligned with God’s standards then I am a liar.  I am the opposite of what I say I am.  

             God did not create us in his image and for his glory so that we can live a life of mediocrity, or live a lie.  In all that we do we are to pursue excellence, more so, in our pursuit of living a life worthy of Jesus Christ.  To put the name of Jesus on a shirt that justifies using profanity is foolish.  To claim Christ but not work tirelessly to become all that one can become in the classroom is foolish.  To claim Christ but go to the practice field and give poor effort is foolish.  God has called Christians to be different and set apart from this evil world.  We are to be lights.  We cannot conform to the world’s standards (which is exactly what that shirt was proclaiming) but must be men and women of resolve and fortitude who live a life pursuing the excellence of Jesus Christ. As soon as we begin to justify sin we have blown our light out and can no longer influence the world for Jesus Christ.  We can call ourselves Christians but we are powerless to influence. 

"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that the may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  (Matthew 5:14-16)

"THE HORSE IS MADE READY FOR THE DAY OF BATTLE BUT VICTORY BELONGS TO THE LORD." Proverbs 21:31

BEAT HOLY INNOCENTS!

WHOLLY FOR CHRIST,

COACH GESS

Charger Nation: Game #3

CHARGER NATION: Game #3

Charger Nation,

            I want to congratulate our middle school team for winning 26-20 last night.  It was a very exciting game won in the last minute of the game.  Our JV took the field after them and won 30-0.  It’s always good and fun to win.  These coaches and players are putting a lot into winning Monday through Wednesday at practice and I think this is making all the difference.

            I am looking forward to tonight’s game, especially after a week off.  Tonight we play Hart County.  Everyone always asks me where are they located.  Hart County is right at the Georgia/South Carolina boarder on your way to Clemson.  I could be wrong but it has to be near Lake Hartwell.  They have a long tradition of success in the class AAA division.  They tied Elbert County (a AAA semifinalist team last year) in their first game and then got beat pretty good verse a very big program from South Carolina.  The best player they have is #1 their qb. He got hurt vs Elbert early and didn’t play in their second game.  I have no idea if he is playing tonight.  He makes them different and we prepared as if he was playing.

            Tonight we will be giving shirts out to our TD members that have a War Horse on them and say FULLY CHARGED.  In history, a Charger is a War Horse.  I think the San Diego Chargers made it a lightning bolt, which we have adopted and copied.  I like the lightning bolt and theme of a storm and Bolt Up and stuff like this.  But I also love the idea of our boys adopting the mentality of War Horse. 

            The purpose of a War Horse (Charger) is clearly identified in scripture.  Job is a book about suffering.  Job, a man who had it all and was a firm believer in God, was allowed by God to be tested and see if he would deny God if all was taken from him.  All things—his family, his wealth, his status—all of it was taken from him to see if he would deny God.  He didn’t know he was being tested to see if he would deny God, all he knew is he lost everything.  Job gives us a behind the scenes look into what was going on between God and Satan as Job is suffering.  Job doesn’t see this.  Satan said Job would deny God and only loved God because of the abundance God had given him.  God said Job would be faithful to him if he took everything away.  God allows Satan to take Job’s family, money, power and health.  God has a purpose—he is proving that Job’s faith is genuine.  Job can’t see it but remaining faithful in the midst of suffering brought glory to God. 

As Job is suffering and deliberating back and forth with God, God begins to reveal to Job why he should not question God but have full and complete trust in God.  God uses the War Horse and how he has created him as an example of his omnipotent power:

            -------FULLY CHARGED-----

        “Do you give the horse his might?

                        Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

            Do you make him leap like the locust?

                        His majestic snorting is terrifying.

            He paws in the valley and exults in his strength;

                        he goes out to meet the weapons.

            He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

                        he does not turn back from the sword.

            Upon him rattle the quiver,

                        the flashing spear, and the javelin.

            With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;

                        he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

            When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’

                        He smells the battle from afar,

                        the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. -Job 39:19-25

            I could read that to our football team 100 times hoping they adopt that mindset of a War Horse.  I hope I cant adopt this mindset.  I love that picture of the War Horse.  He runs to war.  He has no fear.  He attacks without hesitation.  The thought of failing never enters into his mind.  As all this is running through my mind, I have something else that jumps out at me: God made the horse this way.

            We live in an age where everyone tells us that everything has evolved over millions of years.  The world tells us there is no God and, therefore, no Creator.  Nothing has a purpose and things have just happened over all this time.  Here God is speaking clearly against this thought process.  He has made everything with a very specific purpose, even the War Horse. 

This world did just not happen.  This is one of Satan’s greatest lies to man.  We are fools to believe this lie.  How does the eye see?  How does the heart beat?  How does the body breath?  How does the nose smell?  How does the ear hear?  How does the tongue taste?  How does the body repair itself?  How does life even begin in the first place?  Why does the War Horse run to battle with no reservation?  I could go on and on--Just think about these things and you will see the hand of an Almighty and Powerful God.  Keep pondering over it and you will find Jesus Christ—the Author or Life and Savior of Man.  Do not blindly believe what this world is telling us.  It is a lie and will lead us to destruction. 

            So Chargers, as you see shirts that have a War Horse on them, may we all have two thoughts as we see this: 1.) We hope our boys play the game of football and live a life with the mindset of the War Horse [FULLY CHARGED]; and 2.) The War Horse is a great example of God’s intentional hand in Creation.  Do not be deceived by the lies of Satan and this world that everything just is and there is no reason for anything.  You and your son do not just exist and then die.  You didn’t just evolve.  What a lie!!!  You were created for a very specific purpose and your soul is eternal.  Find Christ and you will find your purpose.  Find Christ and you will find everlasting life for your soul and your sons soul 

 The Warriors Battle Cry:

The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
       but the victory belongs to the LORD.  –Proverbs 21:31

 Beat Hart County!

 Wholly for Christ,

 Coach Gess

CHARGER NATION: GAME #2

 

Charger Nation,

            It is Game Day! Game #2 is upon us!  Tonight we play Jonesboro High School.  Jonesboro has been a program that has put out amazing football players.  They will have talented football players tonight.  The top corner in the nation is Cam Sutton from Tennessee and he played at Jonesboro.  There are many more I could mention.  I believe our boys are excited and prepared to take on the challenge.  I look forward to the game tonight.

            I want to congratulate Coach Tom Mertz, John Buckley, and Al Hosford and the rest of the 5^th/6^th coaches for their big win last night.  Our 5^th/6^th grade team looked real good and was well prepared.  The defense was dominant and set the tone and that is how you win football games.  Our youth football coaches and middle school coaches work hard with the boys in our program and I am very appreciative for this.  There is a culture of excellence all the way down into our youth football teams and it is beautiful to see! 

            Before the season began we chose 1 Corinthians 13:11 as our team verse: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”  Our young men battle to understand what is a REAL man.  I battle many days in living out the mandate to be a REAL man.  The world says a man is someone who does everything in his power to reach his dreams and selfish ambitions.  Christ says a REAL man dies to self for the greater good of all of those around him.  We are on a mission this football season to show and challenge our young men to be REAL.  We are calling it Operation REAL.

            As a football coach, I feel like my biggest battle is not X’s and O’s but to demand our young men became REAL men.  Being a REAL man is being a man of Jesus Christ.  Being a man is putting on Christ and living in a way that will bring glory and honor to God.  What does a REAL man look like?  God gives example after example in the Bible to understand what a REAL man is.  We simply define it as a man who sacrifices all the things of this world to be a faithful husband, loving father, and man who will impact the world for the glory of God.  In those three things is packed a whole lot of responsibility.  In those three things are packed many opportunities for failure. 

            For men in this sinful world it is hard to be a faithful husband.  It is hard to be  loving father.  It is hard to be a man who impacts the world for God’s glory.  Why?  Because we are selfish.  We want what we want.  We want to chase our dreams, desires, and passions at all costs.  Why do we chase these things when it damages the things that really matter?  For our own glory—it’s man greatest sin—chasing glory (pride).  You, me, the boys I coach, we are all about us.  My glory, my fame, me, me, me—it is the sinful side of all of us!  A REAL man is a man who rejects the sinful side of oneself and the pursuit of the world to put on and pursue Christ.  A REAL man is a man who lives by Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  A REAL man does not trust in his own knowledge and understanding, but is led by Christ who will lead him to find the correct way.

            So what does REAL look like for a 13-18 year old boy?  We do expect our 17-18 year olds to be more mature than our 13-15 year olds but we expect a growth in maturity from all of the boys in our program.  For us, a REAL man comes to practice each and everyday with a focused mind to get better.  A REAL man takes ownership of his actions and strives to grow from every situation.  A REAL man goes to school everyday and gives his teachers and administrators great respect.  A REAL man seeks to become the very best student he can become in the classroom.  A REAL man is respectful to his mother and his father at all times.  A REAL man is humble.  A REAL man dies to self and puts on Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I know live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

            Due to our sin nature and the sinfulness of this world, it is impossible to be a REAL man.  As adults our selfishness and pride, our sin, drives a wedge in our marriages, in our relationship with our children, and in the community in which we live.  It makes the kids we coach uncoachable as everyone has a better way.  Praise be to Jesus Christ.  With man it is impossible to be REAL, but with God all things are possible.  It is only when I surrender all things to Christ that he can make my paths straight.  God will put in our hearts a desire to serve others and not self, to live for others and not self. 

            As we come to Christ and accept him as our Lord and Savior and give him our lives understand this: It is not where you have been or what you have done, but it is all about where you are going and what you will do.  When we are in Christ we do not live in the sins of the past.  As I coach high school boys we have great days and we have bad days.  We practice good some days and then other days are awful.  The objective is to learn from the mistakes of yesterday and use them to empower our future.  If we are going to be REAL, we cannot let the sins of yesterday determine our future.  We must repent and as we move forward and live in the power and strength of Jesus Christ as he abides in us.  Just because I have had a messed up marriage in the past does not mean this is who I am moving forward.  Just because my relationship with my children was out of balance in the past, does not mean this is who I am moving forward.  Just because I did nothing in the community to be a light for Jesus Christ in the past, does not mean this is who I am moving forward.   In Christ we are new creations.  My sins of yesterday do not define who I am today.   God will meet us right where are at this moment and make our paths straight as we entrust all things to him.  He will make us REAL! 

            This is exactly what we preach to the boys we coach and to ourselves as coaches.  Everyday is a learning opportunity to become REAL men.  We have a sign in our locker room that says: “Our past failures FUEL our future.”  Our failures of yesterday serve as learning moments for our football team.  We evaluate and analyze our mistakes and we make a commitment to fix the areas that need improvement that led to those mistakes.  This is what a REAL man does.  We come to Christ in humility and we ask him to show us our sin, show us our areas of weakness and to show us the areas we are not measuring up as children of God.  As King David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” 

            For this football team, both in how we play the game and in our pursuit of becoming REAL men:  It is not where we have been but rather where we are going.  It is not what we have done but rather what we are going to do.  Our failures of the past must not define us, but must fuel us to become a better team and better men.  We are on a quest to become REAL!

 

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

Proverbs 21:31, ESV

 

Wholly for Christ,

 

Coach Gess

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

 

2016 ELCA FOOTBALL

Charger Nation,

ELCA 2016 Football is here.  We get started tonight in our scrimmage against Mt. Zion High School.  I know our boys are excited to finally get to play and hit against another team.  The coaches are excited to see where we stand at this point.  We have worked hard and prepared hard up to this point, and now the journey begins!

I love the game of football.  However, I think I love the game of football more for what it can teach a young man more than the actual game itself.  Football is a microcosm of life.  In life, for people who desire success, the objective is to grow and get better each day.  There are times of prosperity in life and there are times of adversity.  You will have your good days and you will certainly have your bad days.   We all can look back on our lives and we can see areas of failure and areas of success.  Where we are today stems from how we responded and handled those periods of success and periods of failure.  Each day of our life and how we handled what happened that day has led to where we are at this point. 

A football season is the same way.  At this point, eight padded practices into the season, this football team is in its toddler stage.   Each day is a learning experience for them and for the coaches.  We are slowly figuring out who we are: Who are our leaders? What is our identity (what do we do well offensively, defensively, and on special teams)? How do we handle success?  How do we respond to adversity?  Everyday serves as a learning experience and everyday is an opportunity for improvement.   My goal as a coach is that we see continual growth and maturation throughout the entire football season.  I want us to get better each day and grow from what we learned yesterday.  I want this football team to learn to value each day: What I do today impacts my tomorrow!  The teams that remain at the end are the teams that get better each day.  It is not the team that starts off the fastest, but it is the team that steadily improves each day that will remain in the end.  This is the goal.

Not only is football a microcosm of life, it also helps me see more clearly the sanctification process as a believer of Jesus Christ.  Sanctification is a daily growth in Jesus Christ.  It is the process of becoming more and more like Christ daily.   Christ is the ultimate standard: He is King, He is God, He is our Savior, and He is Perfect.  Pursuing Christ is chasing Excellence.  The Bible commands that we are to grow and become like Jesus.  When we accepted Christ our eyes were opened to the sinfulness and wretchedness that enslaved our souls, minds, and bodies.  We saw the pride and evil that existed in us as Jesus revealed the ugliness of it all.  In the same moment He revealed to us the solution: Jesus Christ, God and King, came down to earth as a man and died on the cross for our sins.  He freed us from the punishment of sin, empowered us to overcome sins rule in our life, and gave us access to the God of the universe—all by the Blood he shed on the cross.  So when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we came to him full of sin and we surrendered this life to Christ.  Accepting Christ is full surrender of myself.  When we surrendered all, the sanctification process began.  God takes a sinful person and begins to do a good work in that person transforming him or her into the image of Christ. 

As I coach this team each day, I’m always hoping that this day everything will be perfect.  I quickly find out it is not.  I get so frustrated.  Tuesday and Wednesday I went home just full of anxiety and stress because practice was not flawless.  I quickly remind myself: “IT IS A PROCESS!  Day by day!  Fix the mistakes of yesterday and improve each day.   Be patient.  Work Hard!  Win the Day!”  The sinful side of my competitive gets a hold of me and I go crazy---but I hear God saying “RELAX! Calm down. I am the One that is in control, not you!  Be Still.  Day by Day.” 

This is a reality as we grow in Christ as well.  God doesn’t snap his fingers and we are perfect beings.  I wish.  Our struggle with sin will never go away.  In fact, no man will be perfect on this earth this side of heaven—there was only One who was perfect.  But what God’s plan for us is that each day we grow in Christ.  That we abide more and more in him so that he rules our life, not our flesh or this world.  God tells us to set our eyes on heaven, where Christ is seated, and to take our eyes off of this world.  This sanctification process for believers is a daily process.  So it is in our quest to become the best football team that we can become.  I learn from my mistakes yesterday and press forward with great hope in what God will do with me in the future. 

So you can see, football is much bigger than football!  I love to win and my desire to win.  I am a very competitive person.  I want our team to be the best.  But this is not why I coach this game.  This game is a tool.  I believe with all my heart that the things we are teaching your sons through the game of football is going to help them become men of Jesus Christ.  The #1 goal of ELCA Football is not to win a state championship or to get your son a football scholarship.  The #1 goal of ELCA football is to make your son a man of Jesus Christ.   A state championship, a scholarship, etc., these are all secondary: They will not be the reason we exist—they will not be our idols!   You might think: “Coach that doesn’t make sense?” Here is what the world does not understand:  When you place the things of this world as more important that Christ, they own you.  You have created gods in your life that are not supposed to be there.  The idols we create for ourselves will never satisfy.  If we place our hope and trust in the idols we have created will live a life of misery and chaos.  Even when you get your idols you will find that they are empty.  We have two state championships and all I want is another one—they never satisfy.  Therefore, we will invest in those things that are eternal and provide everlasting happiness:  Your son is growing up and will be a husband one day.  He will be a daddy one day.  He will be a man who has influence in the community one day.  When we coach them this is what we see.  May God use this program to build men for His glory: Men who will grow up to be faithful husbands, loving fathers, and men who impact the community for God’s glory!  Want the world to change?  Then let’s commit to making men like that!

Put your hope in Christ and allow him to lead the way.  Trust his process and his plan.  When you put Christ first everything will fall into place exactly how God intended it to be.  Believe me, I feel like I’m talking to myself way more than I’m talking to you! 

Beat Mt. Zion!

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

                                                                                    -Proverbs 21:31

Win the Day!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess