Sports

He’s back! Here’s Josh Knipple with one of his “family “ devos. I love how he teaches is life lessons via his family! Thx Josh. You da man!

Sports.  They have a way of teaching us valuable life lessons.  Today I want to highlight two of our kids, even though I could brag about all 4, who have taught me more about faith as I have been coaching.  (For some reason we thought we needed to add more to our already busy schedule, so I signed up to be assistant coach for two different soccer teams and a baseball team.). Even with the chaotic schedule,  I truly couldn’t have more joy than watching our kids “get it” as they have grown throughout the season.

First off, let me talk about Evie, one of our twin girls.  This season when we asked what sport they wanted to play, Evie and Ellie both chose soccer, I think mostly because that is what their older brother Eli plays.  Now, if you have ever watched 5 and 6 year olds play soccer, it is more like magnet ball, kick it once, get a drink, comedy hour more than it is a game.  Throughout the game we will find the kids behind the bench dancing, finding the nearest mud pit, and occasionally, yes, scoring a goal.  It may sound far-fetched but these were all common especially the first few games of the season.  At one point Ellie was even playing “goalie,” but as the other team rushed towards her, she was more interested in dancing in the net.  Needless to say her foot got stuck behind her in the netting causing her to fall and the other team kicked the ball right past her.  At least we all got a good laugh out of it.  As the third or fourth game of the year came around, a lightbulb went off in Evie’s mind realizing that she can run through kids, and then outrun them to the goal.  It was truly her aha moment, like I can do this, with a newfound boldness.  From that point on, she has taken over the scoring for her team and she has not gone a game without getting a goal since.  Every time she scores of course she has to run off the field to get her hi fives from her proud family cheering section watching on.  All it took was that aha moment, and everything changed.  

For Silas, playing baseball this season has been a growing year.  He is now in kid pitch, which lets just be honest and say most kids pitching have absolutely no control, meaning getting hit by a pitch is inevitable.   In our back yard practicing as I am pitching to him, the kid can smack the ball around.  He has form, bent knees, elbows back, and a focus.  He can hear my voice, focus on me, and connect.  The first few games of the year, as other kids are starting to pitch and other coaches are yelling advice at him, you would think he had never swung a bat before.  Knees locking up, looking all over the place and just leisurely “hacking” at the pitch instead of swinging.  When I asked him what was wrong as he would cry about striking out, he gave me a blunt honest answer, “Dad, there are to many voices telling me what to do that I can’t hear anyone.”  Trying to use wisdom in this moment, the best advice I could tell him was to pretend it was just me and him in the backyard.  After that, again, it was like a lightbulb went off, a confidence coming back.  Does He still strike out at times?  Of course, even the best MLB players still do, but at least now if he does he is doing it with confidence.  He is getting up there, focusing on my voice, getting his form back, and making contact.  And yes, as a proud dad, I can say the hits are starting to come around.  It has just taken him drowning out all the other voices and being able to focus on a voice he trusts, the voice of his father.

Let’s take a moment and think about Silas and Evie through the eyes of faith.  Maybe for you the game of soccer is like sharing your faith or learning to pray for someone else.  We run around all over the place, seeing the goal in front of us, knowing we want to score, but not knowing how to.  So instead we talk ourselves out of it, get focused on other things, or make excuses of why we can’t. All it took for her was that first time, and the lightbulb aha moment and now it is all she wants to do.  What if we as believers started sharing that way with such confidence, going my Heavenly Father is proud of me and I can do this.  Will we still miss the goal at times, of course.  Will the goalie stop us at times, rejecting us, for sure, but we still gotta keep shooting.  The only way to score a goal is to take the shot.  Now let’s tie that together with Silas and hearing the Father’s voice.  I guarantee there are a lot of you out there reading this right now who have the confidence that you want to take the shot, you want to swing the bat, you want to share.  Maybe even leaving a church service or a small group you tell yourself, “I got this.”  Then you get into the situation, you have prayed over it, and then you start hearing all the other voices around telling you that you cant.  It could even be the voices of fear in your own head that are reminding you how you struck out before.  That confidence you had only a few moments prior has now disappeared and your knees are locking up.  Refocus, look up and hear the Father’s voice coaching you.  He will guide you, and lead your words.  God is calling us as believers to step up to the plate, score the goal, get on the field.  Trust His voice above all else.  

I promise you the more you learn to pray with people, share your story with others, and listen, the more you find yourself wanting to.  That is how we will see the world changed, by us speaking Jesus.  

One final thought, for some of you, speaking may still be out of your comfort zone.  As St Francis of Assisi once said, “Speak the Gospel always, if necessary use words.”  

Acts 4:13, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Make it a Winning Wednesday! God is good…