Football and Love?

So I just watched a video from HBO sports about a football coach in the Baltimore area who coaches in a very unique way. He is a former NFL football player and this is how he coaches — with love. It was strange to hear things like, “It’s our job as coaches to love you and it’s your job to love each other as players.” It was amazing to hear coaches and players repeat this phrase in unison. The coach’s reasoning: “I want to develop men…true masculinity…wins and losses don’t matter, what matters is what kind of husband and father you will be.”

What’s even more crazy? This team hasn’t lost in 3 years! That is amazing! To have high school players using words like, “love” and seeing that they are loved by their coaches and win is definitely interesting. It has really made me think about my coaching style…I tend to use yelling to motivate people. What if I simply loved players?

So, what can we learn about obedience here? If you’re like me at all, it’s very hard to obey demanding, mean, cranky people who constantly measure you and your performance and don’t show a lot of grace or love. If you have ever had a coach, teacher…someone in authority…who was constantly gaging your performance and making you feel bad about yourself, it’s very hard to want to be around that kind of person…let alone obey them. This past week has been amazing to me. To remember that God is not constantly measuring my performance and loves me is huge…and relieves a ton of pressure. Thank goodness that God is a good Father…who simply loves us and wants us to love each other. The coach in Baltimore loves his players and wants what is best for them in life — to be good men, amazing fathers and husbands. Does that coach deserve to be obeyed? You bet. Why? Because he wants what is best for his players’ lives. That’s a good coach…that’s a good father. Sound familiar?

 

Finally have a blog!

So the wife has been trying to get me to blog. Here it is:

I got to hang out with my good friend Tony Steward today. It is always a great time hanging out with Tony. He and his family moved to Southern California from Ohio several years ago to begin a new adventure. When Tony comes around, we usually talk about the Church, the changes that are necessary in ministry, where we think God is calling us, and of course…social media. Tony is a machine when it comes to social media. He owns his own company Contagious Solutions and knows a ton about instant communication and how to effectively be a part of the World’s on-line community. Tony is really on the front line of some things that the Church needs to take a hold of as the future breaks into the present and technology continues to change our lives. As I hung out with Tony, he rattled off all of the projects he was working on and did some networking on his Mac. I however, struggled to keep my church issued PC from freezing, just trying to print off a Word document. Talk about a difference in media effectiveness! My computer is totally inadequate to engage in the social media world!

This whole day made me think how inadequate we can all feel sometimes in trying to help expand the Kingdom of God. With all the questions my generation has about the Church and our effectiveness in sharing the Gospel and encountering the Kingdom of God breaking in, it’s nice to know that God is good…that God is faithful. It’s refreshing to know that God, in His good character, looks at me…at all of us…with our imperfections and inadequacies and says, “this is VERY good.” Something that has always struck me is that we are the PINNACLE of God’s creation. Not second rate (like a run-down Dell vs. a Mac) but God’s prized possession and invention. Thank goodness for God’s love…for His patience…and for His movement among young leaders in the Church. May we all live by the Spirit and let Him guide us towards His plan for reaching the World for Him…even with our inadequacies.