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Quote of the Week
“The hands-down most important spiritual discipline is getting into God’s Word on a daily basis. When you open the Bible, God opens His mouth.” - Mark Batterson
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A Word from DistinXion
Weekly Devotional
Worldly optimism is not based on faith in God. Many unbelievers simply refuse to worry because life is more pleasant that way. “Don’t worry; be happy” is their motto. This may work temporarily, but it is a misplaced optimism with no real foundation. Optimistic people find more enjoyment in life and are usually more pleasant to be around because they refuse to worry about things they cannot control. However, simply because a person appears optimistic does not mean that he has great faith in God or that her faith is appropriately placed. Biblical optimism is the result of faith in the character of God. When we hope in God, we put our trust in His sovereign plan above what our circumstances tell us.“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” - Romans 15:13
Question 1
What/who do you put your hope in?
Question 2
How can you change from having worldly optimism to Godly optimism?
Article From All-Pro Dad
Teaching Your Son How to Become a Man
When I was in my mid-thirties I had a life-changing epiphany. I worked on the road a lot as a financial advisor, but on this day I was in the office on my computer. When my boss walked in I buried my face into the computer screen as she spoke with others. I was filled with anxiety and hoped I would go unnoticed. I realized at that moment that was how I normally responded to my bosses. Then a question reverberated in my brain, Why are you hiding? I wanted to find out why I was afraid of the authority figures in my life.
Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that I didn't feel like an adult. Physically, I was in my thirties, but internally, I felt like I was twelve and I was afraid they would find out. That fear kept me from being comfortable with my true self. Instead, I would try to play the part I thought they wanted in order to mask what was going on inside. I would always be in awe of those I felt like had the keys to a kingdom of which I didn't have access.
Sons need their dad to show them how to be a man. My dad was amazing in so many ways. He taught me a lot. I loved him, he loved me, and I wouldn't have wanted anyone else as a father. There were many reasons I felt the way I did that had nothing to do with him. However, somewhere along the way, there were things that were missed in bringing me into manhood. As I have studied what I was missing, I have narrowed down the following things in teaching a son how to become a man.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.
Drill of the Week from Dr. Dish
Drive and Kick Team Drills
Message from Coach Thompson
Do the Laundry
Coaching can take its toll on the family. The best advice that I ever received was from a good friend of mine who was a former coach and AD. He told me during the season you may say that family comes first, but you really know better. Your family has to make tremendous sacrifices. We as coaches have to make tremendous sacrifices. His advice was to make time to communicate with your wife and kids every single day and to look for little things to do for your wife and with your kids to take the stress off of them. This helps us to combat confrontation of being gone all the time.
Having regular communication keeps channels open and my wife and I on the same page most of the time (except when I forget to tell her when Thanksgiving dinner is at my parents’ home until three days before). James 1:19 tells us, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” Make time to listen to them tell you about their day and communicate with them what is going on in your life.
Ephesians 5:22-23 provides a great guide to us as coaches and spouses. I’ve taken this advice from scripture and the advice from my friend and tried to apply it. The thing that I have tried to do around the house is our laundry. My wife really hates to do laundry and it’s something I don’t mind to do. It also allows me to communicate with my kids as the laundry is part of their chores. Maybe it’s not the laundry that you find to help your wife/husband with, but whatever it is make sure you find something. It will make walking into the house much easier.
Good luck this week and remember to do the laundry!
Message from Jason Brand & Billy Holder, SW Indiana FCA
Seek to Understand
Ready
"Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another." - 1 John 4:10-11
Set
As coaches and as athletes, I think it's safe to say that we all have difficulty relating to at least one teammate or player each season. And when compared to those we have some type of affinity to, they are usually much more difficult to love.
In college, I had a teammate who was completely different from me in everything from personality to cultural background. We believed different things, had different ways of communicating, and approached most aspects of life with different perspectives. My initial hope was to convince her to adopt my way of thinking. I quickly found out though, that she wasn't very interested in changing her perspective on things, which was frustrating for me. I had to, instead, learn to love her without an agenda or timetable.
Then, as a coach, I realized something in a similar way last season. One of our players, who was arguably the most talented on the team, was also the most up and down in attitude and effort. I spent much of my time being angry and frustrated with her, wondering why she had to be so rude and show such blatant disregard for her teammates. So much of me wanted to write her attitude off as irrevocably selfish and stop trying to help her improve. Yet, the more I studied and learned from others about the life and teachings of Jesus, the more I saw that neither trying to convince people nor writing them off were in His Game Plan.
Jesus knew the love of the Father in its abundance (John 14:7) and was able to see others as being made in that love, which allowed Him to lead people into His redemption. They responded because He loved them. He didn't cast them off.
Author Brennan Manning made a great statement about the process of loving others to Christ: "Being accepted, enamored, and loved by God comes first, motivating the disciple to live the law of love. We are to love, then, because he loved us first (1 John 4:19)."
There is always more to others than what we see. We need to remember that we haven't walked in their shoes and have no idea where they've been or what they've endured. They may have experienced any number of things that have contributed to their behavior. When we realize that and try to understand their hearts, it will be easier to love them.
Think of that teammate or player you have trouble connecting with today. Pray for them and ask God to help you seek to understand them over seeking to be understood by them. Then let His Spirit fill you with the patience and grace you need as you love them for Him.
Go
1. Who is the person on your team you need to start loving and seeking to understand through God's eyes?
2. How can you lean on other Christians to live out this kind of love?
3. How can your understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit help you to persevere in relating to this teammate or player?
Workout
John 14:7-11; James 1:19-22; 1 John 4:11-21
2019 FCA Banquet
You're invited to join us at the Bauerhaus on February 21st for a dinner with former University of Evansville Men's Basketball Coach Jim Crews! Join us to celebrate what God is doing in our community through the FCA ministry. There is no cost to attend this event, however this is a fundraising event and there will be a financial ask. This event helps support FCA's ministry in Southwest Indiana.
Contact Us
Coach Thompson - coachthompson44@gmail.com - @coachthompson44Luke Zeller - lukezeller@distinxion.org - @lukezeller40 and @distinxion
Nick Bartlett - nick@drdishbasketball.com
Dave Hudson - dhudson@fca.org
Jason Brand - jbrand@fca.org
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