Family

The skit in Sunday's service got me thinking about my family. Isn't family great? I have been blessed with an awesome family. Not just great parents and siblings, but awesome aunts, uncles, and cousins. Every holiday, my entire family gets together. We all gather in one household to celebrate together. There are about 30 people - ranging in age from 20 months to 82 years old- coming together. A family get together like that can usually spell chaos and disaster. Maybe to outsiders, it looks like a bunch of chaos, but there is nothing in this world I love more than gathering with my family. My parents and my aunt & uncle have done a phenomonel job of creating a family centered on God, laughter, and definately the importance of good food.

During this Christmas season, I wanted to take a chance and blog about the blessing family has been in my life. Without such a tight-knit family, adversity would be much tougher to get through, but it has never failed that when adversity comes, that everyone in my family is ready to support each other. Over the past 4 years, we have faced a lot of adversity with dad. Going through the process of Alzheimer's has not been easy on anyone. Without family, things would have been nearly impossible. With family, we have gotten through. With the passing of dad in August, family has gathered around mom to support her. God has blessed me with a family that is amazing! We certainly aren't perfect, but in each of my family members I can see a servant's heart. What a blessing!

If nothing else, it is on account of mom, dad, Aunt Charlene, and Uncle Larry that God's heart shows through. Mom has always been the tough one in our family. She has always held it all together and always stressed the importance of getting through things together. Thank you mom! Without your strength and values, our family would not have grown into what it is today. I am truly thankful to God for blessing me with such an awesome family and nothing like the Christmas season can remind me of this more.

Failure

Failure can be a scary thing. Too often in life, we live in the shadow of failure, whether that is the fear of failure or the allowance of letting failure define us as a person. Isn't this all too true in the sporting world? We've based all of our practice and time around succeeding. We've become accustomed to success. When one obstacle is thrown in our way, we tend to question our value on the field, court, or whatever sports venue it is. A key fumble, a couple of missed free throws, or a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game devastate us. A person story of my own life:

My final minutes on the basketball court in my competitive career were filled with disappointment. As a DII college basketball player, I had experienced a lot of success on the basketball court. One of my final goals was to go to the National Tournament. In the conference championship, we were winning by a single point with less than 10 seconds left in the game. I had just secured a rebound a was fouled. During my senior season, I was an 85% free throw shooter. If I made both of these free throws, the worst that could happen is the other team could make a desperation 3-pointer to send the game into overtime. I stepped to the line and missed both free throws. The other team raced to the other end and hit a shot with 0.6 second remaining. We lost the game by 1 point. The defeat was crushing to me. It made me question my basketball career. This failure was poised to mare my memories. I could have let this event define me as a basketball player. In looking back, it took some time to realize that no single event could define me.

Whether it is sports, a job, your family, or anything else that holds significance in your life, there will be many obstacles that are thrown in your way. There will be failures along the way that cause you to question yourself. There will be failures that seem like they define you as a person. "Failure is an event- it's not personal." It is the same with God. There are days when I have failed miserable in my walk with Christ. There are times when I seem at the bottom of the rollercoaster and wonder how I can love God the way I am supposed to. We must develop persistence. There is no single event that will change the way God feels about us. You only fail when you quit! We only fail when we quit trying to grow closer. There will be obstacles and failures in our lives, but Coach Tressel states, "Every obstacle presents an opportunity."

Your life and your walk with Christ is not defined by one event. If you ever get the feeling that you're defined by one failure, don't believe it for a second!

Attitude

"An athlete with a good attitude is coachable. He welcomes criticism, constantly seeks to learn, and avoids criticizing his coach or teammates."
-#7 on list for Having a Proper Attitude

Coach Tressel devotes an entire section, and even bases a large part of the Ohio State University football program, to having a proper attitude. There is no substitute in life for gratitude, humility, and enthusiasm. At the heart of these characteristics is the desire to put the team and the goal first.

How often in life are we "coachable"? Do we welcome criticism, seek to learn, and avoid the pitfall of blaming and criticising others? I am guilty of failing at all three of these often. When I feel stressed or something in life just hasn't gone my way, I am the last person who wants to hear criticism. It is in my human nature to put the blame on other circumstances or even on someone else. I don't feel like being willing to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes, I even buy into the lie that I already have the right answers and I can fix the problem myself. When I succumb to any of these, I am putting myself ahead of the "goal" and ahead of the people around me. Attitude is a virus. Whether it is my team, my family, my department, or anything else I lead, my attitude is infectious. A team that constantly throws blame at each other and is unwilling to learn from each other is doomed for failure. When we model an attitude of humility, one that allows us to say that we are at fault and we are in need of teaching from someone who is more knowledgable, that attitude begins to spread and we are headed towards growth (both individually and as a community/team/family/department). In Proverbs it is written, "Humility precedes honor." God calls us to practice an attitude of humility.

Do I have the humility to be coachable?

The Winner's Manual

Today, I began reading Jim Tressel's new book. Actually, it is not that new at all. Coach Tressel began giving "The Winner's Manual" to his players back in 1986. Now, he has published a book with many of the pieces of that manual.

If you're like me, you best relate to life with sports analogies and comparisons. For the next four weeks, I will randomly be putting up posts that are reflections and thoughts from this book.

If you're an Ohio State football fan, a sports fan, or just looking for some tidbits in regards to attitude, discipline, excellence, faith, handling adversity, love, reponsiblity, and team, this book should provide it.

"If the game of life ended tonight, would you be a winner?"

New Beginning

Monday marked the first day for a sports league here at NewPointe. It was an exciting day for many reasons. First, I asked God to supply the people if we were going to make this happen. I asked God for 35 people for the first volleyball league. A week before the league started, we were at 24 people. It looked bleak! By the time 6:00 Monday night rolled around, we were at 48 people and I actually had to put 15 people on a waiting list. Although it may seem small, it just proves that God has a hand in everything and he can turn the dismal situations around.

On top of this, we are getting to introduce new people to NewPointe and hopefully to God.

Be on the lookout for more updates. We are starting our Armor Basketball League for boys and girls in grades 1st through 6th on October 11. If you are looking for a place to serve or haven't signed your kids up yet, this is a great opportunity!

Hello Blog World

Ben Carver here with Dave DAngelo - just set up my new blog. And this is my very first post.

Ok that's it for now. Wow - right?