The most important thing I learned and I hope the boys picked up on has to do just as much with life as it does wrestling.

Great teams are great because they have great leaders and those leaders are great because they have incredible coaches

How did I learn this from wrestling, you might ask?

Moving The Team From Good To Great
Wrestling is just as much a team sport as it is an individual sport. The matches are individual but scoring involves the entire team. And the team at my son’s school is truly a family. I think that two things make a team great. The first is community: real community… There was story after story how the team came together to support, teach, and encourage one another.

What blew me away was the stories of how the high school students, after their practice, came to the middle school to help these new wrestlers learn and grow. They were at the middle school matches cheering them on even coaching them. That’s Family. That’s not normal, it’s unique! Dare I say special. It’s like the big brother who cares enough to teach and encourage the younger brothers on.

The second is great leaders. After introducing the entire team the coaches then introduced the four team captains. These captains were chosen because their skill but also because of their leadership skills both on and off the court. It is this kind of leadership example along with real family-like community that moves a team from being good to being great.

Developing Great Leaders
I don’t want to brag about our wrestling coaches, but I say this to explain one key element in developing key leaders. It has to do with the quality of your coaches. At both the middle school and high school level, we have coaches of very high caliber and quality.

The only way I could explain it is to compare it to sports I know more about. Think of it as Brett Farve, talented NFL Quaterback, teaching your son to throw a football or Babe Ruth teaching your son how to hit a homerun or Michelle Kwan teaching your kids how to ice skate. These guys have national and in some cases international success in wrestling.

Basically what I am saying here is Great Coaches develop Great Leaders. They share their wisdom and encouragement while constantly pushing the team to do their best both on and off the field. It’s this kind of father-like love and devotion that makes this team unique from any other sports team my son has been on so far.

Summing it up
It all comes down to this, great coaches inspire – inspired team members lead – Well led teams bond and grow from good to great.

This evening I was inspired by a by a great family like team that had great role model students leading because of coaches that cared enough to dedicate themselves to being inspirational and motivational.

Thanks From A Proud Parent of the FHC Wrestling Family…

Gotta love life lessons that apply to all areas….

Now I can’t go into detail about all that I’ve experienced this week for privacy reasons, but what I’ve learned will not soon leave me…

The importance of living our best life today…

•  
  • Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15, NIV 
     
  • We never know what the future may bring for sure, we can plan but ultimately it’s God who guides our steps. “ Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3, NIV
      
  • The power of a painful situation to unify a group together to push through.
     
  • The power of social media among our kids to organize together and honor others

 The power of forgiveness and love

•  
  • the importance of living what you say you believe and the power that can have on those around you

  • Investing heavily in those closest to you – Just having fun and spending time together
  • “Trust is like a piece of paper, Once it’s crumbled it can never be perfect again” 

Matthew 24:3-13

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Revelation 6 – The First Four Seals

1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Birth pains increase in intensity and frequency over time. This video illustrates that in a very powerful way just by looking at the last 100 years. Confirming bible prophecy is not the purpose of this video but it certainly does a good job of showing it in one 10 minute video.

What do you think of this? Are we coming up on the return of Christ in your opinion?

I happened to walk back into the room right as Luke was in the swamp with Yoda. Yoda was moving the x-wing fighter out of the swamp and onto land. After this, Luke looks at Yoda and, surprised that a small creature could move a giant spaceship, says, “I don’t believe it!!” To which Yoda responds, “That is why you fail…”

How many times do we as Christians fail for the same reason? We go to church and listen to sermons week after week. We study the Bible trying to understand what God’s will is for our lives. We have no shortage of knowledge, but having knowledge does to equate to belief.

To truly believe something, is to both know and to experience it to the point that you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt…

James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote that Abraham was an example of this type of belief. It was his faith and his action that combined to both confirm and prove His absolute trust in God…

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. (James 2:20-24 NIV)

Luke did not fully believe in the strength of the force because he had very little experience with the force itself. How many Christians know a whole bunch about God and “think” they believe but are lacking the action which is the true evidence of a truly faithful heart.

And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times. You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race. (Psalm 12:6-8 NIV)

There were a couple of things that stood out to me in
this passage. The first two are obvious but are good reminders for all of us as we move through our days.

1. the words of the Lord are flawless
2. You, Lord will keep the need safe and will protect us

For many Christians, these are obvious truths that we know, but how often do we take them for granted? When was the last time you took a look at the core truths from the Bible and really took them to heart?

God’s word is FLAWLESS… We can trust it… We can grow from it… God uses His word to communicate to us what we need to hear.

God does and continues to protect us every minute of our lives. We are his precious children and he wants to keep us safe and see us grow. Again, I know this is obvious and you’ve probably heard it a million times but have you ever really focused on it… Have you thought about what that really means?

The God of the Universe LOVES you and PROTECTS you… If He is for us, who can be against us… An important truth to remember in the days ahead…

The final truth that struck me this morning is the last verse in Psalm 12…

the wicked, who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race.

This description of the wicked by the Psalmist, probably written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, speaks volumes about the world we live in today…

This statement speaks to the flawless word of God. Unfortunately in 21st century America we live in a time when the vial is honored by humans. Things the Bible speaks against directly are looked upon as okay in our society. Because of that, the “wicked” gain confidence and do strut around freely trying to mold our world into their differing view of what is right and good.

We need to be willing to stand up no matter the cost. If something is wrong, don’t shy away and hide your views in the corner – It does no good. We are living in times where passive Christianity is not an option anymore – It’s time to pick a side and actively defend it at all costs.

Which side of the fence are you on? You can’t play the middle of the road any more… Choose today whom you will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…

The first was on humility, the second on gratitude, and the third on generosity. All of these are key elements in growing your relationship with God and becoming more like Jesus. I encourage you to go to adabible.org and listen to all three messages, they were all great.

God provided a great opportunity last night as I watched a movie that seem to summarize and visualize what it means to see these three characteristics working in concert together. I watched the hallmark movie The Christmas Shoes (bring tissues if you watch it). It’s an amazing story of both a mans journey from selfish workaholic to self less humility, generosity, and gratitude, and a boys journey to give his mom one last special gift before she goes to meet Jesus.

As these two stories continually cross paths, you are taken through a journey that helps better understand how God is in control and everything happens for a reason. More importantly you see love, forgiveness, and transformation happen. It is one of the better depictions of what Christian character and these three characteristics I have seen in a long time.

Along with the sermons mentioned above, I recommend this movie as well. This is the type of thing we all need to do more of. Love and serve others and serve others in their times of need and trust that God will take care of us.

Each of the different instruments have their part to play and sometimes it is beautiful and some times it seems like just a series of notes. But when it all comes together and everyone is playing it is an amazing sound….

Each one of us is unique and has a specific purpose in God’s plan… Individually your part may seem boring or difficult but without that part the musical piece God is creating is not complete…your part is just as vital as the one “playing the beautiful melody.” don’t ever doubt your,significance in God’s masterpiece.

When you take the Word of God and combined it with the lives of other guys – it’s amazing how God’s Word, yet again, can transform your life.

I would concur with some of the guys comments this morning after finishing a discussion on chapter 31.

For me, The Story was a great way to get the overall story of the Bible from a “50,000″ foot level in most cases and it was the community of guys that really brought it down to a more personal impact level.

I enjoyed exploring the many stories of faith, both highs and lows, and ultimately the hopeful victory in the end – that is, the Bible.

If you’re like me, and you just can’t get through the Bible from cover to cover, I would definitely recommend reading The Story from Zondervan… Two Thumbs Up!!

This verse came into my inbox this morning after my previous post…. I thought it fit well…

I know i struggle to love others well…How well do you love others?