Glen Coffee's New Plans

It's not often you get players that up and leave a good career to follow Christ, but that's what Glen Coffee did. A backup runningback for the 49ers brought on to help Frank Gore out, Coffee was considered a fine NFL football player with a promising future. Back in August though, Coffee elected to quit football altogether because he said he felt like God had been calling him away from the game for a long time.

Go home to your friends and tell them how much the LORD has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. -- Acts 5:19

Though we may have talents in sports, God does not always work through the things we find fun. Yes, I believe often that God does, but God will use you the way he wants. If he knows you'll do amazing things by going out of your element, then he'll have you do it. If he wants you to do what you have been doing your whole life, he'll make that clear too. The glory of God living in us is that he gives us the power to do everything he wants us to do. God does not delegate tasks and leave us to fulfill them; he empowers us to do them. God works this way so that the world will see him working, loving, living, and breathing in such a way that the events that transpire are wholly divine in nature.

Glen Coffee saw this. He saw that God used football to take him to college, where he would learn about Jesus' death and resurrection. Now that he has come to know God, Glen believes that God is using his life in new, more adventurous. It's almost certainly more difficult to abandon a life of fortune, fame, skill, and worldly prize for one of service, but God wants his people where he wants them. Whatever God's reasons are, we know that they are more amazing than anything we could think of. Continue to pray that God shows you what he wants you to do, and you too may find yourself somehow, by known of your own merit, accomplishing spectacular tasks you never thought you'd embark on.

God's House

Yet the most high does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things? -- Acts 7:48-50

It's a good thing that the Lord doesn't rely on the crafts of my hands, because that house at this point would be shoddy, ugly, and nowhere close to finished. Still, there is work to be done on the earth.

As an athlete takes the field, sometimes they may wonder if this is the work they should be doing. I imagine often that sports are thought of as a distraction from the real goal, and at times we may even hope that God is averting his gaze for a short time while we have a little fun, but it doesn't have to be this way. If we go into sport (as with all daily activities) with the mindset to give it to God, then it can become a joyful, godly activity. How can we do this?

1) Remember that the Lord is above all the earth. The Lord doesn't want to just control the spiritual part of your life; he wants it all. The Lord created us the way we are so that we can be beacons for him in our daily lives. Jesus encourages people many times (Mark 2:11, 5:19) to take the healing given and go into the world and proclaim it. This does mean our purpose has changed; it does not mean our activities need to change. While we should pursue God in everything we do, and some harmful activities need to be plucked out, sports can be done with the idea that we are growing close to other people in order to show them God's love. God is with you in sports just as much as everything else.

2) We can create God's house within sports. If you frequent this blog at all, you may know that this can be done either overtly (Josh Hamilton) or subtly (Brad Ziegler.) There's no reason to think of sports as outside God's realm. We need to remember the community that grows through sports, and we can use that to propel God's word into the kingdom at large. Make sure everyone knows how much of God's glory you take in when you finish a long run, or take the field in the bottom of the ninth, or nail your 5th free throw in a row, and people will eventually notice that you're getting something out of it that they're missing out on, and they'll gravitate toward it.

3) Remember that God made sports and wants them included as a material for his house. God made you the person you are, he made you the witness you've become, and he gave you the activities you enjoy for the purpose of glorifying him. If we think of sports as God's personal ministry he's entrusted to us, then it gives us that sense of purpose we may have been dodging or seeking for a long time.

Team Unity

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the LORD added to their number day by day those who were being saved. -- Acts 2:44-47

Sports are naturally social events. We train with, are coached by, interact with, and compete against other people at all times. Even the most solitary of athletes has coaches overseeing them and other theoretical athletes putting up records that become goals to reach. The spirit of competition breeds fierce individualism in some, but nearly every athlete has memories of great communities in which they've seen a lot of growth. Just as the Bible commands us to work towards furthering a community, we should work towards building greater community with others involved in their sports.

The above quote comes from Acts, just after Jesus ascended into heaven and commisioned the disciples to spread the gospel. Jesus had trained them for this, and sent them out in pairs to learn how to do this (Mark 6:7) The Lord encourages us to participate in community, for he knows that others can compensate for our weaknesses and embolden our spirits in the difficult times. We can apply this mentality to sports. God has placed us in the lives of our team members to strengthen them, help them, and compliment them (and they for us.)

If you're on a team, get to know the other members of the team. Learn what drives them, entertains them, and helps them so that you can establish commonalities and a relationship with them. Through teamwork not only can we accomplish our athletic goals, but we can accomplish our spiritual goals. The above passage tells us that the members of the Church had all things in common--not just a love for Jesus, Baseball, or whatever. The more we establish community with people that enjoy the same things as we do and find delight in the same earthly activities as well, the more we can find tangible ways to evangelize in the world.

Start today. Find someone whom you work with, practice with, compete with, and try to find something new about them which you can relate to. Reach out to them and try to figure out a way to grow in your friendship with them through that activity, and then pray for God to guide you through this time as you grow in community. Most of all, pray that God can use the time for his glory, and that you can eventually show your faith to your friend. For when people meet in community and are passionate for the Lord, then their numbers multiply by the grace of God, and we can happily begin the same process anew.