It’s been a while since I was in high school, but I still vividly recall one day during my junior year. It was the day my coach called me into his office and told me he was moving me from fullback to tackle. As a sophomore, I had weighed 200 pounds and was pretty fast. I gained 35 pounds over the summer and was a little slower at that weight. The coach told me I was too good of a player to sit on the bench, but that I was now too slow to be a running back. He asked me to make a personal sacrifice and move to a new position on the line so that I could help the team have a chance at the conference title.

Hockey Chat:  You can score a lot of goals playing hockey without an opposing team skating against you.  Nobody to knock you down either.  When you get into a game you find that goal is not just to get the puck in the back of the net, but to get past your opponents first and foremost.  It is then that you realize what the game is really about.

We all have times when we feel unmotivated to do our work. It’s not that we don’t love coaching, or the athletes, or the sport, but we do get discouraged by what often seems like a fruitless and tedious process. We feel burdened by the monotony of working, and this detracts from the joy that Jesus Christ gave us.

Hockey Lesson:  In our recreational games, sometimes we’re on the receiving end of a stinging wack or some harsh words.  You have two choices.  First forget that you came there to play hockey, let rage overtake reason, and go after the guy.  Or second, remember all the wacks and words that you’ve dished out in the past and got away with, and play on.  The choice of what to do is totally yours, but the reactions for your actions (fighting, getting hurt much worse, ejected from the game) are not.

Hockey Chat:  Brain Buckets.  The 79-80 season was when the NHL made new comers wear the head gear.  Prior to that it wasn’t thought of to be a need.  But ask anyone whose taken a wack without it how much it is needed.  It’s one of those things that we don’t really use in the game (head-butting a puck into the goal is not very effective).  But when a stick comes up to high, or our skate slips out from under us, those hockey helmets are what saves us from a potentially deadly injury.

Hockey Chat:  Knowing what to count on from your line mates also helps them to know what to count on from you.  You’ve probably seen guys that work great together and always seem to be in the right place.  That’s because the treat their linemate as an extension of themselves by being where they are needed and making the play happen knowing that others will be there too. 

It’s the start of practice. Everyone has high hopes, goals, and expectations for the upcoming season. As Christians, the biggest goals are the ones God has for us as coaches and the athletes He has entrusted to our care.

God has created each one of our team members, the coaching staff, parents, and all those connected with our programs. Twice in the verses above we are reminded of Jesus’ work in creating all things. In fact, today’s passage tells us that all things were created not only by Him, but also for Him. He also promises to hold thing—all things—together. This may not mean victory, or lack of challenges, but things will be  held together to accomplish His perfect plan and will in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

“Back in ’82, I used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile. How much you want to make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains? Yeah. If coach would've put me in fourth quarter... We'd have been state champions, no doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things would have been different. I'd have gone pro...in a heartbeat. I'd be makin' millions of dollars and...livin' in a... big ol' mansion somewhere.” - Uncle Rico, “Napoleon Dynamite”

As a young and inexperienced basketball coach, I was a little worried about my practices and if they would be effective. My mentor encouraged me to always make a practice plan and stick to it. My first attempts at planning were disorganized and often resulted in my practices looking more like a fire drill than a basketball practice. This complete chaos led to a junior high team that did not have a prayer of winning. After much trial and error, I have finally learned what it takes to make my practices both efficient and organized and what it takes to make my teams successful. This applies to our lives as well.

When you see a glass half-filled with water, what do you think? Is it half empty, or is it half full? It all depends on your perspective. So many different circumstances and situations happen in life. Uncertainties and challenges make life difficult, but attitude or perspective can make a positive difference. If you have the right perspective you can experience God's presence, power, promises and peace.

In Philippians 4:9, Paul said to learn from him, to put into practice the right perspective of faith in God no matter what your situation. There are three things we can learn from Paul when it comes to proper perspective.

Hockey Chat:  “He was yelling pretty urgently. There’s different pitches of yell and he was screaming.” - Jarome Iginla on Sidney Crosby calling for the puck prior to scoring the game-winner in OT of the gold medal game on February 28th 2010.