Enough Talent to Win

“You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone.” Herb Brooks

As I was editing this weekend, I thought to myself “What does it take to win in this?” I was reminded of Herb Brooks quote to his 1980 gold medal hockey team. In video production I don’t have enough talent to win on my own. At some point I have to let go and let God step in and take over. I think the sooner that this happens the better off I will be. When I am working on a wedding, I am not and cannot be doing it for myself. It has to be for the glory of God. I think that so often it is easy to forget as Christians that every time we suit up for the game we go out there and represent God. We are on his team. I know in my own life it is easy for me to go out there and represent myself. What a selfish thing to do. It has been said many times to many teams, “there is no I in Team”. We cannot claim any victories in our life as our own. All praise and honor and glory go to God.
In life it is not always about winning or losing. I believe that score should be kept and results tracked. At the end of the day though what truly matters, is did you give your all, and more importantly, did you give your all for God.
Every team has two things, a coach and a playbook. It is the job of the coach to write the playbook. It is the job of every player to know the playbook inside and out, front to back. In that regard the Christian life is no different. I think that the Holy Spirit, as part of the triune God, can be considered to be our coach. We have been given the ultimate playbook in the Bible. It is our responsibility to know this book cover to cover.
In my work with the JV boys in AWANA this year I have been trying to impress upon them the importance of scripture memorization, of hiding God’s word in their hearts. Almost every single one of these young plays some sort of sport in school. They all have memorized their playbook for their sport. They can quote sports stats and player stats from every major league sport to you all day long. Yet, as professing Christians they do not see the need or have the desire to memorize God’s word. If they understood that there is only one game in life worth playing. The stakes to that game are eternal life for the winners and eternal hell for the losers. It is the game of life itself. There are two coaches. The thing is, there is a guaranteed outcome. One of the coaches most definitely will win and won most definitely will lose. We already know who will win and who will lose. All that is really left to determine is which team you will play for. Right now the losing team has far more players. Right now the team that will ultimately lose, they seem to be winning. Some of that may be because the winning team does not always act like a winning team. They don’t all know the playbook as they should. They are not teaching their fellow teammates the play book as they should be.
In order to win, I need to listen to my coach. I need to be studying my playbook every day. That is how we can be victorious. The battle is still raging, but the victory is sure.