25 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Rugby
This headline from ESPN seems to cast Sir Clive Woodward in the role of raining on Head England Coach Stuart Lancaster’s parade, but the article is better than that.
The challenge ahead of Lancaster and thoughts on England’s World Cup campaign all get an airing.
Worth a look.
22 Sunday Jan 2012
Posted in Bible Study, God, Mark, Sunday Gospel
The Gospel Reading.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’” (Mark 1:1-3 ESV)
What Does It Say?.
Compared to the other Gospel beginnings, Mark starts quickly from the whistle. He isn’t interested in long beginnings, genealogies, or stories about the miraculous birth. His audience was the Romans and they needed hustle, they needed the plot now, they needed to walk and talk.
Mark gives it to them. This is where the Gospel – the good news – of Jesus Christ begins. ‘Christ’ is a title, not Jesus’ last name It means ‘Messiah’, which in turn means, a prophet or priest or king. This was the figure in Jewish eyes who was to save Israel from the Roman tyranny, just as Moses had done for them in the time of the captivity in Egypt and leading to the Exodus.
But the Christ, or Messiah, was to be far more than another Moses, he was the Son of God. Mark’s first sentence is like scoring a try from the kick-off, breaking the 100m world record time in the first heat, a home-run off the first pitch. This guy Jesus, he was the Son of God! The Romans were ultimately business men and they liked to get to the deal quickly.
Mark doesn’t stray too far from his heritage though and follows up that explosive first sentence with a bit of scriptural and prophetic heritage. God promises to send a messenger ahead of the Messiah, who will prepare his way. This person would make his paths straight, or level and passable. He was to prepare the people for what lay ahead. He was the conditioning coach getting the players warmed up for the match, taking them through exercises which would prepare their bodies for what they needed to do.
The messenger was not just preparing their bodies, however, but their minds as well. As we shall see next week, the crowds gather and prepare for the arrival of their Messiah, not by readying themselves as warriors to fight, but by washing themselves, cleansing their bodies and minds from everything negative.
The Takeaway.
Until Roger Banister ran the first sub-4 minute mile, no one else had. But once he had, many people have followed in his path. The current world record in the mile is 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco on July 7, 1999.
In sports, as in all walks of life, there are path finders, trail blazers, athletes who do what wasn’t done before. You may not be one of these ‘messengers’ now, but at one point in time neither was Mark. He had his heart and mind prepared to what was possible, not what was not possible.
Take a look at your thinking. Is it can-do, or can-not? What wall have you come to in your training or competitions? Seek out a ‘messenger’ to help you. Look for the inspiration to lift you out of your dip.
To the Faithful.
What kind of God are you seeking? What results do you expect? Do they match what God wants or expects? It is easy to lose your place and follow a winding road. Focus on God and He will make your paths straight.
19 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in Day to Day, Men, Tim Tebow
Tags
Check out this great blog post by Gordon Theissen, Director of Training and Resources at Nebraska FCA, about how Tim Tebow handles loss.
As well as being a very well written piece, Gordon focuses on a number of key elements essential to every Christian player and coach.
Every training session, every game, is an opportunity to thank the Lord for the platform we are given and the ability to lead by example.
Win or loss, we honour God.
18 Wednesday Jan 2012
Check out this post on Tim Tebow by Carlos Whittaker, ‘Embarrassed by Tebow‘.
Los does it again.
He has a habit of writing what you are thinking – have a root through the rest of his site and you’ll see what I mean.
Embarrassed by Tebow – you bet! Encouraged by Tebow – you bet!
Wanna be more like Tim Tebow?
Sure. A genuine Christian who wears his faith on his sleeve. I can go for that. Does he have it easy? Nope. And neither do I – how about you? Having your faith front and centre in any environment is difficult and Tim Tebow stands as a witness that most of us could do better!
16 Monday Jan 2012
A few things surprised me this weekend.
I chose 5 to share with you.
1. The San Francisco 49ers outscoring the New Orleans Saints! (Okay this is a nice surprise as the Niners are my team – all the way to the Super Bowl baby!)
2. Ulster thumping Leicester Tigers – 41 points to 7! Talk about taming the tiger!
3. The referee only producing a yellow card for a tackle in the Perpignan-Dragons game where the Dragons player was not only lifted and upended, but also dropped as well! Any Welshmen out there thinking about Sam Warburton’s red card as well?
4. I can buy 4 different types of cake from the shop and not get one which my wife likes! (Okay she did like the biscuit-style gingerbread men, once she tried them!)
5. My next level Rugby League coaching qualification course is only two weeks away!
What surprised you this weekend?
14 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in American Football, God, Sport
Another post from Jon Acuff, which I like!
SCLQ – Does God care about football? | Stuff Christians Like – Jon Acuff.
14 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in Church
Check out this great guest post by Tor Constantino on Jon Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like.
Penalty flags in church: Service Referees | Stuff Christians Like – Jon Acuff.
A ‘what if?’ you had referees in church services.
It works off the premise of having NFL-type referees in church but, even if you are not an American Football aficionado, you should still get it.
13 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in Drew Brees, NFL
To win one game: Brady or Brees?.
Check out NFL Network analyst and former team mate of Tom Brady, Heath Evans, answer.
My view?
I would go for Drew Brees!
Forget 3 superbowls to 1.
Focus on the passing yards this season and Brees’ composure and mobility in the pocket.
As on the field leaders, I think it is a tie, but Brees edges it in off the field leadership.
Just my view of course.
12 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in Depression, Sport
Check out ‘State of Mind’ Rugby for information on mental health issues in rugby.
12 Thursday Jan 2012
Posted in Sport
Sportsmen and women are our heroes.
Those fellow people that achieve incredible feats.
Win championships and gold medals.
Bring us joy and euphoria that ‘we’ are the best in the country or the world.
We know them.
We are close to them.
We see them everyday on the television, in the newspapers and magazines, online and in super digital 3D.
Freddie Flintoff takes the lid off this perfect sporting world and begins to show us that these giants of sport have frailties too.
We may not want to know that, but in a powerful tv programme the former England Cricket captain, highlights why we should know it.
If you are viewing this in the UK then you can view the programme in the iPlayer link in the article (I’m not sure about outside the UK – sorry!)
Honest and candid, as you expect Freddie to be, this programme puts the ‘taboo’ of depression ‘out there’.
With the loss of Rugby League’s Terry Newton and Football’s Gary Speed recently, this subject is more pressing than we think.
It would be nice to see a follow-up to this and see more about how people can receive help for this potentially fatal illness.
