Weight Room
One of the biggest changes in sports over the years is the amount of focus placed on the weight room. With every coach and athlete looking for an advantage over their opponent, strength and power have become the name of the game.
One of the easiest ways to remove an opponent’s skill advantage is to physically whip them. The higher level you go, the more physical the game becomes. The old theory of bigger, faster, stronger has only gotten bigger, faster, and stronger.
There has been such an advantage gained in this area, that nearly every contact sport has had to change the rules to combat against physical play. Basketball and football are two prime examples of this.
There is a mental weight room as well. Verbal battles and intimidation have crossed the line to the point that sportsmanship has taken a back seat to self promotion. SportsCenter and social media celebrate athletes that beat their chest or show up their opponent. Their goal is to put fear in you.
As a Christian athlete or coach, how do you respond to the war in the trenches? So many times as Christians an emphasis is placed on turning the other cheek and loving your enemy. As a result, the Christian athlete faces a tough decision of how to respond to the physical war sports have become, especially when some coaches teach athletes to cross the line and take advantage of your opponents weakness no matter the cost.
In a world of moral decline, the line of sportsmanship and character is disappearing just as it is in society. The filth you hear in songs and see and hear on tv and on social media is repeated by youth who idolize professional athletes, artists, and actors.
Let me offer a new weight room called Kingdom Approach. The King promises that following this strength and conditioning plan will cause you to never fail.
As a Christian kid brought up in a lower income neighborhood attending one of the rougher elementary schools in town, recess was not a place for the weak of heart. Full contact was part of every game played. I struggled with how to handle bullying. I was taught to turn the other cheek and to avoid a fight at all cost.
This was not because my parents had done so, actually it is just the opposite. They fought a lot growing up. They were not bullies, they spoke to me of fighting bullies to protect others. From their experience though, my parents taught me that choosing to fight, when there are other options available, will always lead down a road to regret.
For the longest time, I felt that fighting was a sin and it placed fear in me that fighting for any reason, even protecting myself, would upset God. Punching someone in the face in anger just seemed deeply wrong to me.
This predicament led me to loving sports. On the football field or basketball court, I could hit someone or use the skills I developed within the rules allowed to beat my opponent without the fear of making God upset or crossing the line of poor sportsmanship or faulty character. It did not stop the bullying off the court, but it became an escape for me to fight back.
As I advanced through high school and college sports, this challenge never changed. I still faced the same demons, and even bigger demons, and I still turned to the courts to do my fighting. I got in the weight room and became physically stronger. I became mentally tough. My father knew he had to prepare me to overcome the challenges of the world. He never cursed, but he constantly challenged me to be mentally and physically stronger.
Dad was a Clint Eastwood like presence. He was the ultimate underdog in life overcoming brutal obstacles to become a great husband, father, and leader in all he did. He was a foreman of a bricklaying crew who built large buildings. While in high school and college, I worked for him as a labor which built my physical strength and stamina. I saw how he treated his workers and how much they appreciated him. I watched him coach men’s softball and basketball teams. I saw how much his players respected him. Dad was my source for mental and physical strength.
It was my mother who my source of spiritual strength. Ask anyone that knows her and they would acknowledge that she is a spiritual warrior. She knew how to grow and strengthen my most important man, my Spirit man. We are all three men in one: Body, Mind, and Spirit. The one we strengthen the most will dominate the other two! Only one will last forever. It would be wise to focus first on this man, your Spirit man!
This process of sonship and mentorship is something I often hated growing up. I became frustrated by how my father was always pushing me and why I had to go to church every time the doors were open. Today, I am so thankful for everything my parents taught me. They taught me what true freedom is, the value of hard work, and faith in Jesus above all things is the key to life.
Through adversity, I grew as a young man and as a young coach. When in a pit or valley, we tend to call out for help finally choosing to go beyond our own capabilities. Why we rely on our own strength until this moment is a mystery, but sadly we do. I did.
As a young high school coach, I thought I was capable of outworking everyone. I believed that I could climb on my own strength up the ladder of success. I found myself having limited success, but it wasn’t until back to back miscarriages that I finally cried out for help from above. Adversity led me to finally place God at the top of my priority list, family second, and that is when coaching became my ministry. It was not until I removed basketball from my main priority, that I was finally able to enjoy at the highest level the gift and love for the game that God had placed in me.
It made no sense, the math did not add up, but it wasn’t until then that the byproduct of my actions became uncommon success at an extraordinary level. I did all I knew to help my players become strong, physical, and skilled, but the addition of showing them how to walk in faith was the only thing that allowed us to cross into the Promised Land.
After I made the next jump to college coaching, I found myself busy again chasing my new dream instead of seeking God for the answer to my issues. I had three full time jobs and now three amazing miracle children. Yet at the end of the season, I found myself year after year beating my head on the wall falling short of reaching my dreams.
I found myself once again crying out to my Father. We just graduated eight seniors that almost helped us reach the post season, but we had fallen short over and over. Now facing starting over, I felt weaker than ever. Pressure was increasing and I started doubting and questioning my decision to get into college coaching, my own ability to provide for my family, and my ability to reach my dream of becoming a successful head college coach.
I came to a place called Luz. It is another of my Bethel moments in life. If you are unfamiliar with these two places, research for yourself about them from the Bible.
One morning at a FCA breakfast, the person leading the devotional spoke on meekness. I never used the word meek. I knew one verse in the Bible, Matthew 5:5, that used the word meek. It said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” To me and most of the English speaking United States, meek meant weak, timid, or soft. Meek in my mind had zero to do with power or strength on the court or field. I ignored that verse like it was the plague.
That morning the speaker in his devotional defined meekness as it was intended when written in the Bible. He defined it as “Power under control”. He declared as Christians we have the ultimate power, the Holy Spirit, in us and all we have to do is unleash this power. Refusing to allow our human nature to become timid or angry, both of which are sins, we are to be the example of Jesus Christ for all to see. This changed my approach to physical play and it ignited a fire inside me to show the world my Gods power through my life and my teams.
When they see followers of Jesus on the court or field, we should be something every young athlete desires to become. Christian athletes should be powerful beyond measure, not giving an inch, strong in every way. Owning the meek line! Never being timid, never throwing a cheap shot, but displaying a physical presence that the world longs to see.
The Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary entry builds on the notion of meekness: “It describes strong people who are placed in positions of weakness who keep going without sinking into bitterness or a desire for vengeance.”
Once again, when I cried out, my Father responded. He sent young powerfully skilled recruits led by a young spiritual warrior named Brandon Cole. What followed was all God. Crazy success and another gift from God in my fourth child, my son Kade. Born on the same day as my first son. Another Championship season, just one of many to come once I learned to hit the Spiritual weight room and seek God first.
Let’s talk Spiritual Weight room for a minute. The mightiest of warriors were not made to bench press shame. The world has used shame to silence believers. We can’t be shamed into allowing immorality to rise. We must remain humble and avoid being judgmental, but we must speak and stand strong on the Truth. We are called to rise and shine.
Depression, anxiety, panic, and most of all the spirit of fear are not supposed to be strength training devices that we wrestle to overcome. Jesus, the best teammate we will ever have, defeated all of these weapons of the enemy along with the demons that carry them. This truth allows us to focus on Jesus and on sharing His Gospel! He has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to defeat all that come against us.
We have a supernatural power longing to be seen through each and every follower of Jesus Christ! It is time we put on a display of His power and Spirit that the world is unfamiliar with. It is time for the meek to awake and arise! It is time to place our main focus on the spiritual weight room, so that we can unleash the Power of God in us in such a display of God’s glory that the world will take notice and choose to follow our Undefeated All-Powerful Almighty Risen King! Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
Cover Photo is of Joshua Caleb Gentry. A former player of mine at OKWU and SAGU. A true warrior who used the weight room to shine for his King! Here is another pic of him and his two brothers that played for me as well. Micah and Jason Gentry. Three of the greatest warriors I have been blessed to coach. The tattoo on Caleb’s arm is a picture he drew of David holding Goliath’s head after God empowered him to slay the giant. He can do the same for you.
