I was approached the other day and asked if I was fat. Well, as a former athlete and coach who has put on a few since his glory days, I was taken aback. “I may be fat, but you’re ugly,” I kidded him. He laughed and responded, “Not that kind of fat!” I was interested to see how he would get out of this one.

He told me that the “FAT” he was referring to stood for faithful, available, and teachable. He told me that we need FAT people in ministry. What a great thought! We certainly do need FAT people in every area of life. Athletes need to be FAT. Coaches need to be FAT. Pastors need to be FAT. The list goes on. We must each ask ourselves if we are FAT.

Hockey Chat:  There are treasured skaters out there on the ice.  We can play for ourselves and have a great game and still walk away losers.  Or we can share our treasured skills with the team and win every time.  One of my favorite teams was the Florida Panthers when they first made it to the playoffs years ago.  Although they had some great players, not a single one of their players were in the top 20 of the NHL goal scorers. They all stored their treasures in the team not themselves and made it to the finals.  Where they stored their treasure, they made it while all the great individuals were eliminated.

Hockey Chat:  There are the guys on the team that wear the “C” on their sweater representing that they are the Captain.  They’ve given their best at putting forth the qualities of a leader.  The management of the team sees those actions and gives this prestigious reward to the top man who has earned it.  It’s an honor given to them because of what they gave to the team.

Every year I look at the schedule during the pre-season and start to calculate wins and losses. We can beat them . . . We’ll probably lose there . . . This one is a toss-up . . . We’d better beat them! I’m sure all of us lie in bed at night and dream about championships and MVP awards. What’s exciting to me is that God can do immeasurably more than even those things.

In Ephesians 3:20, Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think—according to the power that works in you.” How much can we ask or imagine? How big are our dreams? No matter the dream, God’s reality is even bigger!

As a baseball coach for twenty years, I often had to maximize the skills of my players and play “small ball” since my teams were not always blessed with great power. Consequently, the sacrificial bunt was an important part of our offensive arsenal.

Amazingly, the sacrificial bunt, which should be one of baseball’s easiest skills to master, was for some players the most difficult. Most of the players could square around, get the bat out over the plate, and with a relatively loose grip, let the ball hit the bat. But some failed because the player was not willing to “sacrifice” himself and give himself up to move his teammate forward.

Less than six months after he was hired to take over the University of Alabama football program, coach Mike Price was fired because his behavior failed to coincide with university policies. While Price admitted to “making mistakes and at times inappropriate behavior,” he did not agree with the firing, saying, “I don’t think the punishment fits the crime.” When we make poor choices in life we (and sometimes those around us) will have to pay the price for our actions. It may not always be as big as losing our job, but rest assured there is a price to pay. So how can we honor God with our behavior?

Hockey Chat: In 1896, George Merritt of the Winnipeg Victorias was the first goalie to sport ordinary crickett pads during the Stanley Cup playoffs to help him stop pucks. Soon after, crickett pads were used by all goalies.

Hockey Chat:  Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers in the 1930’s won the Lady Bing Trophy for most sportsmanlike conduct 7 times.  Lady Bing herself actually gave him the trophy to keep permanently because he had won it so often.  You would think with that kind of clout he could get away with stuff on the ice saying, “But I am considered a good guy by my awards so I can’t be in penalty trouble for something I did.”  That didn’t work to well. He still tallied up 20 penalty minutes in just 44 games in one season after winning the award and that being the only year he was denied it within 8 years.

Hockey Chat:  When Martin Brodeur first started playing goalie in a game when he was six years old, he didn’t know what he was in for.  He moved in ways he hadn’t had to move when he was playing forward.  Skaters charged him like never before, and at that age they don’t all have the stopping thing down to good.

The first thing anyone asks a coach is, “How are things with your team?” When someone meets me and finds out that I am a coach, he usually asks, “Is your team good?” When I walk down the street after a game, people stop me to say, “Great win coach!” I always have a quick response, sharing all of the positive things that are going on in our program and painting our team in the best light.

The player was struggling, missing foul shot after foul shot in practice. Obviously frustrated, the player continued after practice working on her game. Her coach sat idly by, watching. He got up to watch more closely. Rebounding miss after miss he offered, "Do you want me to help you?" "No, I do not. I can fix my own problem," she shot back. He smiled and continued to rebound.