Coach

“He says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalms 46:10 NIV

Have you ever heard stories about coaches who spend several decades impacting young people.  I love sports and have my own memories of several who impacted me.  Coach Gleichman was our high school football coach and he was one of the biggest characters I can still remember over 40 years later.  I have always thought that would be a cool way to not just make a living, but to impact people.

Hays has had several coaches with long tenures and I was fortunate enough to know more than one of them as an adult.  One of them I will just call coach K.  I never had a child play for him but nearly everyone in Hays did.  He directly impacted literally thousands of young people during his career. 

Our church used to take annual trips to Promise Keepers Men’s Conferences, and Coach K went on a few of those.  I saw positive change in many men through these trips and some of that centered around Coach spending time with each one.  He knew his impact was large and he did not shy away from it.  If he noticed a man who needed him, he would just take a seat next to them and coach.

Coach had a long battle with cancer and he fought.  You got used to seeing him with an oxygen tank.  I remember being a little surprised when he signed up for a seat on the bus though.  I should not have been. 

Those conferences were always general admission seating, and we always had a plan to get as close as possible.  That year was no different.  Probably 60 guys ended up on the front few rows that year.  It was perfect.  The night went seemingly normal until later when coach started sharing with the group what he had experienced that night. 

The speaker was talking about the noise in your life, about all of the distractions that can take away from what you really want to concentrate on.  To make his point he had a boom box on stage.  He turned it on so that it would distract us from what he was saying.  To make a dramatic point he raised it above his head and smashed it to the ground.  Parts flew off of it.  One of those parts was a single C cell battery.  It flew toward our seats and literally rolled toward us.  A hand reached out for it and handed it to Coach, who promptly grabbed it. 

What he explained still impacts me.  When we sat down that night, we were early, we had to be to get those seats.  As he sat there with us Coach explained that shortly after sitting down, he noticed an indicator on his portable oxygen, it was a “Low battery” indicator.  He explained that he normally had a spare with him, but not that night.  He told a few people who were sitting around him so they could look for one.  We were on an arena floor filled with 15,000 people.  We found no batteries. 

He told us that he knew if we tried to get him back to the bus the extra exertion would probably cause what battery he had left to be used up faster, so he sat still.  He told us that knew if he sat still, God would do something.  I know 60 men that night who heard him speak and none of us will forget it.  Facing loss of oxygen, he sat still and waited for the Help he knew was coming.  Could you do that?  Me, not so much.

Facing less obvious barriers, I can easily let myself “panic” about situations in my life.  Do you?

Of all the details God foresees and knows, why does He sometimes initially cut us off from solutions He already knows are on the way?

When I returned from that trip I checked in my house.  Kids toys require batteries.  I found AA batteries, AAA batteries and D cell batteries, but not one C cell.  That is still the case today.  They are unique.

Challenge:  The verse says, “Be still” and “I will be exalted in the earth”.  For that to happen, circumstances have to be far enough above our pay grade to require looking to Him, while we respond in faith, not panic.  Sit still and let God work when you know you are in a situation you see no way out of.  He’s still working. 

Rick Claiborn