Hockey Chat: The Stanley Cup is the only trophy in professional sports that has the names of winning players, coaches, management and club staff engraved and passed to the new winner year after year.

As a coach it can be easy to get caught up in the details of our sport. We can spend more time with our coaching staff and student athletes than our own family, and we find ourselves weighed down with worry and becoming overworked in effort to keep our jobs. Some coaches are famous for the number of hours that they put in to secure a position. But in Matthew 6, Jesus gives us specific instructions not to worry about the details of life. This got my attention. Worrying about our jobs is like worrying about what we will eat or wear; they are all provided by God.

Wright College had a football team of 100 players. Every player knew the system, except for one. He was lost. A freshman who had never played football before, and had walked on to the team. He thought it would be fun, but he was lost. Everything seemed foreign to him. On plays, he would go one way, and everyone else another. He was always last in drills and always making his unit run for his struggles. Many players did not like this freshman, but he was still part of the team — the body. Ninety-nine players and one who was lost.

After the third preseason game of an NFL team, many players find out where they stand in trying to make the cut. One such player, Jason, found out some bad news. Before his third game, he was told that he was cut. Jason drove home, obviously disappointed in not making the team.

Sometimes I wonder why it is so difficult for coaches to be still and listen. We have no problem knowing how to lead, direct others or give commands. But to whom do we look when we need direction? Who helps us make tough decisions?

We don’t have to look far in Scripture to find a leader with similar challenges. Joshua was a brilliant military leader and had a strong spiritual influence, but his success came because he had learned whom to go to when he faced difficult choices. Joshua knew that unless he first submitted to God, he would never accomplish what he’d been given to do. So when God spoke, Joshua listened and obeyed.

According to society’s standards, a coach’s status is based on his or her win-loss record. Unfortunately, a coach’s personal worth is often tied into this same evaluation. The scoreboard is a clear-cut way to determine playoff selections, but it is a dangerous barometer for a coach to use as the measure of personal success. 

Maintaining integrity these days is one of the hardest jobs for us as Christians. You just look at the moral standing of our world and the stuff that you see on TV and all the things that young people are exposed to today. It was hard when I was in middle school and high school to stand firm on my principles. I can only imagine how much harder it is now. Christian values and Christian morals are getting increasingly further away from the norm in society. That’s why you have to cling to God and cling to the things that you know to be true in terms of the Word. You’ve got to find something like FCA to get involved with and try to find people who are like-minded with you.