Lessons From Watching Wrestling!

Saturday my son wrestled in the district championships for his school district. He has only wrestled for two seasons, but he finished fourth in his weight class, so I'm obviously proud of him!  As I watched, I noticed four basic outcomes that repeated themselves thru out the day.  It occurred to me that they resembled scenarios we often face in life.

The first example is when one wrestler thoroughly dominated the other and pins his or her (yes there were plenty of girls participating) opponent.  It reminded me that in life, there are certain tasks or positive habits that we have mastered and we are easily able to maneuver ourselves through those areas in life.  Some people work out without fail and don't have to think twice about whether to exercise or not.  It has become such a habit that they feel incomplete if they do not work out. 

The next example is when you are on the losing end of the domination.  You get tossed all over the mat and eventually lose by a large point disadvantage, or you get pinned by the opponent.  It reminded me that there are bad habits or other situation; some created by our own actions, that seem to just hover over our lives and won’t go away.  It seems there is no use in fighting because the opposition is so strong.  It is here where we can do the easy thing and quit, or we can try to figure out why we feel so powerless, identify our weaknesses that are preventing us from overcoming, focus on strengthening our weak points and look to God to handle what we can’t.  Take the easy way out and we will constantly find ourselves battling and losing to the same opponent every time.

The last two examples involve the back and forth battles between two equal opponents.  They wrestle back and forth, each of them scoring points as they try to out maneuver each other.  While both are comparable athletes, it is either a mistake by one wrestler, or a successful move by the other that often determines the outcome.  This reminded me that in life, we win some and we lose some.  We do the right thing and our efforts are rewarded.  Sometimes we make mistakes and suffer the consequences as a result.  We struggle against old bad habits and sometimes we succumb to temptation.  The upside is that we are struggling now and are sometimes victorious, whereas before we were dominated by the habit or temptation and didn't even bother fighting it.  We have grown to the point where we realize that when we win, we must stay humble, because we are human and a setback may be around the corner.  Perhaps more importantly, we realize that our setbacks do not need to be permanent, so we rise again knowing we have a chance to redeem ourselves next time.

I suspect there are areas in our lives that fit each of the examples I listed.  Take some time and do a little self analysis. Be conscience of what allowed you to achieve victory so you can keep dominating those areas of life.  Strengthen your weak points so you can reach a level where you can fight back against your struggles.  Finally, whatever you do, don't give up when you stumble or fail!  Keep getting back up after every defeat, because in the game of life, just getting back up can be a victory in itself!


Thanks for reading!  If you want something else to read, click here for my last post!  Go Fix It

Go Fix It!

If we step away from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives and look around, we will see that there things all around us that are in need of fixing.  From the graffiti on the wall, to the kid at your children's school who has no jacket in the middle of the winter, to the elderly lady next door whose fence is in disrepair, the opportunities to love our neighbors and to let God's love shine in the world are endless.

Have ever see a situation and wondered, "Why doesn't someone do something about it?"? We wait for government to find a solution, but our government representatives seem to be more concerned about their own pet projects, or their future political aspirations.  We look to churches to assist, but many church organizations are too busy trying to increase membership to focus on truly ministering to the needs of our communities.  But who is the government?  Who are the members of the church?  I thought it was "we the people" and in the church, I thought that "we are the body of Christ"!

I would like to issue the challenge to anyone who took the time to read this.  Next time you see a need, don't wait for government to come up with a new program, YOU be the program that provides a solution.  Next time there is a person who needs a helping hand, BE Jesus’ representative and minister to their need yourself.  We can cry and complain that "someone ought to do something", or worse yet, see a need and act like we didn't notice, or we can call a few friends, roll up our sleeves and go fix it.

To fix it or not to fix it, the choice is yours! 

Because You Just Never Know!

Two extremely high profile traffic accidents took place in the Fresno area within the last few days.  Saturday night, a mom and her four children were headed to celebrate one of the kids birthday when they were killed after another driver apparently ran through a stop sign and struck their vehicle.  Her husband and the father of the children was in another vehicle behind them and desperately tried to save them from their vehicle that had exploded into flames.  Now this man is left to carry on without his wife and children.  Monday morning two California Patrol Officers were killed when they crashed while responding to an accident.  The victims in both collisions left behind friends and family and the officers also left behind their brothers and sisters in the law enforcement and first responder community.

I could not help but think about a few things as a result of these tragedies.  I'm sure the man who lost his family never thought he was seeing his family alive for the last time when they got into their vehicles to go celebrate.  The nature of law enforcement work makes the possibility of severe injury or death more likely, but I imagine the families of those officers fully expected them to return home following their shift.  I am guilty of taking life for granted.  I am guilty of taking my family and friends for granted.  Every time our family members walk out of the door to go to work, to go shopping or simply to walk down the street to get the mail, there is the potential that it could be the last time we see them alive.  Certainly we would do things differently if we knew that we would no longer see them again, but we live under the constant assumption that they will return every time.

So today, I dedicate this post to the memory of the victims of these tragic accidents and encourage you to join me and learn something from these horrific accidents.  Think about it next time you are about to leave the house angry at your spouse or a family member.  Think about it when you have an argument with a friend and walk away in anger.  Think about it as you pack your kids up for school in the morning and are too busy to hug and kiss them goodbye.  Think about it seriously, because you just never know when that goodbye will be the final goodbye.

 

Careful, The Kids Are Watching!

Last Friday afternoon I attended my sons wrestling match at a local elementary school.  He won his bout by forfeit and then quickly pinned a teammate in a friendly competition that allowed them to participate at the event.  The real story however, was the opposing schools coach. 

This guy was very animated throughout the competition and it quickly became clear that he had a bit of a temper.  Keep in mind that these are fourth through sixth grade kids, with parents who think they are coaches themselves, so as one of his wrestlers found himself being beaten pretty handily, he began yelling louder and louder at the kid.  One could argue that he was trying to yell over the parents and other wrestlers who were also shouting their own instructions, but what happened next was out of line.  The kid made a mistake and found himself pinned.  The coach yelled out, then spun around angrily and kicked a box that was nearby!  Everyone in the gym saw the outburst including all the kids.

It reminded me that whether we realize it or not, our actions are often seen by others.  While teachers and preachers, coaches and cops seem to have more responsibility in the public arena, in my opinion, we are all responsible for our reactions to situations and what people, especially kids see as a result.  I get that we are not perfect, but if a coach kicks a box in anger, how can we get mad at a kid for punching someone when something is done to them that they don't like?

So, next time you lose control of your temper, or are tempted to litter, cheat, steal, lie or commit some other error in judgment, remember to be careful because the kids may be watching!

Thanks for reading!  Click this link Don't Use a Hammer When A Flyswatter Will Do! to read another post about over reacting.

Stop Talking And Start Loving!

So this post is directed to anyone who considers themselves a believer in Christ.  Obviously everyone is welcome to read, but I wanted to make that point clear since this is not directed at everyone who will read this.  I'm not throwing stones, just making a point from something that I have been wrestling with myself.

We have a tendency to talk a lot about Jesus, but have harder time acting like Him.  We want to hit people with "what the Bible says", but we ourselves often fail at living what it says.  It is easy to tell someone, "Jesus loves you!", but often times we ourselves can't love that same person.

My point is quite simple today and comes in the form of a challenge.  What if starting today, for just one week, we stopped talking to people about Jesus and simply started to love people like He did?  He asked us to love our neighbors.  What if we just did that? What if we didn't just tell people about His mercy, but we actually showed mercy like he did to the woman who was caught in adultery?  What if we stopped trying to shove our verbal message down everyone's throat and simply stepped back, humbled ourselves and allow His love to reflect from us by our actions?

So I wonder, and hope you do too, what would happen if we just stopped talking and started loving?