June/July 2010

Cruise Ship or Battleship?

I recently had the pleasure of hearing legendary football coach Bobby Bowden speak about his many experiences and the lessons he learned during his outstanding career. The majority of his coaching years were spent at Florida State University where he coached his final game this past January.

It certainly was an illustrious run for him, but I can’t help but think that, in spite of his hundreds of wins, two national titles and all of the personal awards, there’s still another barometer of success to be considered when it comes to Bowden and others like him: the barometer of spiritual success.

When it comes to success in God’s dictionary, I think we coaches need to ask ourselves a question that, at first, may not sound like it relates to sports but truly does when we examine it: As coaches, are we on cruise ships or battleships?

I’ve been on several cruises in my life, a few of them even with FCA. On a cruise you get to eat galore, sleep like a fat cat and just plain chill. While I definitely think there’s a time and place for cruise vacations, I want us to imagine what it would be like if one of those cruise ships landed at a post where war was being waged.

Imagine you’re on a cruise ship and you sleepily roll out of bed in your PJ’s. You look out your cabin window anticipating a great day of sightseeing in the sun, but, instead, see the billowing smoke of bombs. You awake to the deafening noise of explosions and machine guns firing on the ship and see people from the post running onboard fully armed and shouting? War is difficult enough when someone is prepared for it, but when it’s unexpected, it can be both shocking and paralyzing.

Many of the biblical authors that God used to pen the Bible wrote in the context of battle, but it wasn’t always physical. Often, the battle was spiritual.

Consider the danger and murdering of God’s prophets and the executions of most of the Apostles and faithful disciples. Do you think they were on cruise ships or battleships? Think about our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been martyred or persecuted for publicly expressing their faith in Christ—cruise ships or battleships? Consider a highly decorated coach like Bobby Bowden who dared to present Christ to his football players on a campus that generally opposes that kind of Christian influence. Was he on a cruise ship or a battleship?

I believe Coach Bowden was on a battleship and he knew it. Thanks for battling, Coach Bowden.

So, what about you and me, coaches? Are we on cruise ships or battleships?

“In this profession, we take hits from folks all the time. Surely we can take hits for Christ!”

Over the past few years, FCA has dramatically increased its emphasis on coaches. Why? Because we are not on cruise ships! We are on battleships in the midst of intense spiritual war!

I truly believe that Satan has a stronghold on school campuses in this country. Schools have slowly but surely become bastions of opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Make no mistake about it—if God has called us to coach at a school or campus, we are called to be generals in His army. Therefore, we must understand that we have been sovereignly placed at that school to advance the gospel. All that junk about not being able to share Christ at public schools is nonsense. We have been placed on this earth to share the gospel intentionally and strategically with discernment and non-negotiable clarity. That’s what good soldiers do.

Consider Paul’s words from 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV, parenthesis mine): “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs (or spiritual cruise-ship thinking)—he wants to please his commanding officer.”

Guess what, Coach? If you and I have trusted Christ, we have been enlisted on a battleship. We’ve been given the privilege of using sports as a spiritual military weapon to advance Jesus Christ on what has become enemy territory. Like good soldiers, we must be willing to take hits in order to forward the gospel.

Let’s face it, Coach. In this profession, we take hits from folks all the time. Surely we can take hits for Christ! I believe that our Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus, speaks to Christian coaches regularly—just as He does all believers (see John 10:3-5). We should all be carving out daily windows of time to hear Him and talk to Him through prayer, Bible study and meditation. The intimacy created will lead to insight, instruction and an intense courage to lay it all on the line. Y’all coaches know what laying it on the line means when it comes to challenging and inspiring your athletes. Let’s bring that concept into our lives as men and women of God!

Based on what I’ve discerned from my personal time with God, I believe that I’m to share daily from Proverbs with my tight ends at the University of Nebraska. They may not all be Christians, but I want them to hear and see the difference between that which is God’s and that which is not. Seeing as how I’m on a battleship, I realize that I may get fired on (or just plain fired) but I must obey God.

When it comes to your own battleship, Coach, what is God asking of you? I pray that today you will listen, seek and respond to His call to battle. It’s time to get off the cruise and into the fight!

--For more stories about faith and sport, visit www.sharingthevictory.com, the official magazine of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To subscribe to STV, click here.