Listen To The Coach!

Over the weekend I had the privilege to enjoy watching my youngest son coach his first spring football game. The team he lends his talents to is his former high school, which is interesting because he gets to rub shoulders with some of his old coaches. After the scrimmage we sat down and had a review on what could be done better, and several of his old coaches stopped by to say hello and renew old acquaintances. During the conversation, my son commented on how much he appreciated what they had gone through teaching him, as now he was on their side of the fence and had a different perspective. Here's why this hit me....

As a coach, my son brings to the table a Pop Warner National Championship, he was voted Defensive Back of the decade for his efforts during his high school career, he then went on to college where he set school records, and finally advanced to the rank of a football player who was paid to play the game he loved. One might say he has the "fruit on the tree," when it comes to success on the field. Yet despite the accomplishments, there are those who he mentors as a coach that disregard what he advises them to do as a player to improve their game. Apparently, in spite of contrary input from one who has excelled at the level they are performing at, those players believe they have a better way. Interestingly enough there are also some that take the input willingly, and also find a better level of success on the field. So not only do some choose to disregard mentoring from one who has walked the path they are on, they also ignore when others listen and achieve better results. There are so many ways to apply this lesson, but here's this is where it took me....

A child was born on this earth, the son of our Creator, who walked the earth and modeled the perfect life. He knew exactly the path to take to achieve success and gain His place in heaven. Yet most of us ignore His teachings because we think we have a better way. We dismiss the little tweaks we need to make to improve ourselves in the eyes of the Lord, even though we had a mentor show us the proper technique. We own the results, just like those football players who choose to ignore input own their lack of success on the field. Jesus has the "fruit on the tree," so why would one dismiss His example?

Like my son learned this weekend, we all need to change our perspective.

God Bless!
Capt. Bill