This past Saturday I just finished coaching a team of young men that I will never forget. Along with Coach Kurt Brown and Coach Chuck Kinnamon, I had the honor of being able to associate with a group of 13 and 14 year old men that displayed incredible character.
In late July a group of 8 young men came together to form a football team. About half of those young men had never played football before in their lives. Thinking we might not even have enough players to make a team we slowly saw another handful of men added to the line up. As the season began with four straight losses. We were all beginning to think this team would never have a chance.
These young men never gave up! Over the course of the year we lost six players to injury and yet they hung together and worked harder every week. At the half way point in the season we had our first win and won every game after that until the first round of the play offs. We even finished the regular season beating the undefeated team in the league. These young men are real warriors! They never gave up and they demonstrated incredible resolve and strength. It was a real honor to coach such a team. The team that nobody gave a chance became the team to beat!
This football team reminds me of another team of guys that beat the odds. They are mentioned in the Bible. Acts 4: 13 describes them this way, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled and ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus." The team of disciples also beat the odds. Jesus used this rag tag uneducated group of nobodies to change the world.
God is still in the business of changing the world through nobodies. He wants to use people like me and you to make a difference in the world for him. God specializes in building teams that never had a chance and using them to impact the world. God's team is one team you don't want to miss out on!
2 comments:
Hey Ken-- I just wanted to point out that "The Team that Never Had a Chance" would never had have a chance if it wasn't for the incredible leadership they had. The coaches were the ones that set the bar for these young men (Just as Jesus sets the standard for us). Thank you to all of the Coaches/Dad's that were willing to lead these guys to victory... You all have taught them many lessons about facing adversity, overcoming challenges and just plain perserverence that they will take with them to face whatever comes their way...
Our Packer experience has been incredible... so thankful God provided the opportunity for Josh (and me :))to grow through it. As I read your blog, I couldn't help but think the young men on that Packers' team will be the next generation's "Peter and John"... My prayer is that they will continue to be young men who are known as those that "have been with Jesus".
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