The college football national championship was played last night. Because of that, my brain is a little fuzzy, it feels like my head is full of AstroTurf. The game went late, and I’m up early for a meeting.
It was worth it!
It was a fantastic game.
The Georgia Bulldogs dominated the first half. But then, the Alabama Crimson Tide came back for a pretty exciting overtime win.
I didn’t really have a dog, or dawg, in the fight. I’m a Oklahoma State/East Carolina fan. But, I was rooting for Georgia, because I think their mascot is cool and I love the peach state.
I was a little bummed when the dawgs didn’t pull it off.
It was still really fun to watch.
But, I have to confess, I was a bit distracted…
There was something happening on the sidelines that confused and confounded me…
As the Georgia coach, Kirby Smart, enthusiastically strutted down the sideline he was followed by a large bald man, who occasionally grabbed him by the back of his pants…
WHAAA?!
It was a little awkward to watch.
One man grabbing another man from behind just seems wrong.
The backside grabber’s name is Scott Sinclair. Most of the time, he is in charge of Georgia’s strength and conditioning program. But on game days, Sinclair is in charge of grabbing Kirby Smart’s pants. It’s not glamorous work, but he does it to keep his head coach from incurring a penalty on his team.
There is something familiar about Coach Smart’s situation.
I’ve heard this story before.
A man is so consumed by his passion that he becomes blind to the boundaries.
He has to be held back. He just can’t control himself and he needs outside help.
He is so caught up in the game that he forgets about the lines that he isn’t meant to cross.
It happens…
to all of us.
Coach Smart knows he needs an anchor.
Smart people ask for outside help. (See what I did there?)
We need outside (and inside) help.
Character is all about the inside stuff.
Community is there for the outside help.
We ALL need both!
For the inside stuff, we aren’t alone. We have the chance to have the Holy Spirit as our companion, comforter, and character builder.
The Holy Spirit can be our personal strength and conditioning coach. If we let him, he grabs us when we are blind to the boundaries. He builds character into our lives.
We got to be willing to be reigned in. That usually requires swallowing our pride and asking for help. We have to be more concerned about our character than what people think.
We also need community. We need real friends who are willing to grab us by the back of our pants if necessary. It’s not glamorous work, it requires people brave and bold enough to keep a friend from crossing the line. We need speakers of truth and hope.
Life is a team sport.
There are wins and losses.
There are boundaries and red zones.
We all need help.
We need character, we need community.
carbonated joy 