Put Me In Coach!

If you knew me in the 90’s I believe you would understand that I loved to watch my kids play sports. Baseball was a game that I detested, much like golf. Watching it was torture and I avoided it at all costs. Until my son started playing. 

Basketball was a foreign activity. My great-grandmother had a huge pennant in her living room she won playing the game in 1922, that now adorns a wall in my home, and my grandmother played too, so I tried because I was tall...but I didn’t like all the running and really never understood the game until my daughter played. I learned pretty quick that size didn’t really matter in basketball. That little toot was a firecracker and I enjoyed watching her play her heart out on an all girls team that played against only boys! 

Football was always part of my life, I was almost born at a football game after all! As a big sister, I took pride in making sure my brother’s pads were correctly inserted into his practice pants, I practiced with him, cheered for him and even walked him to practice. My grandfather talked and watched football all the time. He’d even drive to all my brother’s games and it wasn’t a big surprise if you’d spot him off at a distance during practices. He loved the game.

I used to say that there had to be football in heaven and I’d be on the team once I got there. 

When I was watching my son play, there was nothing else going on in the world. I didn’t want to miss one single movement. Warm ups, every play, every down...running through the tunnel. I’ve endured hours of practices in the Texas heat, rain, mud, snow. Once I piled blankets on top of my daughter and prayed no one would plop down on her as we waited for a game in the snow. I even offended a close family member when I wouldn’t talk or listen to her during a college game. I couldn’t miss a breath! I wanted to take in every bit of it. 

The passion that I had for watching the game was mostly because of the passion I knew that went into it. The work, the camaraderie, the togetherness. I loved having all those kids around me and in my home. Their energy fueled me and I loved to see how they worked together for the same goal.

I thought baseball was a huge waste of time, until I understood it and then I began to cherish every game, every practice, all the hours of tossing the ball, running, hauling kids, washing uniforms, oiling gloves, buying equipment…Once I understood what was going on I hardly contained myself during any game, my kids or the ones I watched professionals play on TV! I even drug the kids to afternoon Ranger’s games toting my own hot dogs and sodas back in the days when you were allowed to carry your own cooler into the stadium! 

I’m sure I would have grown to like golf too if my kids had played it. I just don’t understand it. 

Is that how the Bible is to some people? Is that why I love it so much? 

Boys smell. They eat tons of food and drink enough Gatorade that could fill the oceans, but I am so thankful I learned about the game, took an active part and watched everything my eyes could take in. I memorized those moments and plastered them on my heart. 

Just like I’m doing with the Word of God.

I’ve been told about Jesus, sang about how He loves me, watched walking with Jesus lived out my whole life thankfully, but it wasn’t until I started learning the Word that I fell in love. 

My grandmother’s and my aunt tried to force feed the Word to me, but I just took it in and never savored it. I tried to be like them, but it didn’t make sense to me. I read the Bible, went to church and could tell when I was doing wrong, but I never understood how important those words were to my life until I understood the love that was written in those words. 

It wasn’t about the lineage at first. All I saw were the laws, I missed the point of the stories. 

Once I learned, understood and accepted the Truth my heart changed. Now I cannot get enough. I want to dive in and soak up all of it. I want to learn all the details, the play-by-play! I want to be an active participant! 

I want to live out the WORD! I want to be the TRUTH! 

I do not want to sit on the sidelines and take it all in, this time I want to be on the roster! I want to suit up!!!!!

And now, every single day I do that to the best of my ability. I suit up. I listen to my coach and I anticipate the call He will make. I’m ready, but I’m still learning. He gives me the book, and I study and learn. Every day I add to my arsenal and put on my uniform. Then I march out onto the field and wait to see what He calls. I’m ready. 

But this isn’t a game, this is a duty. 

Because one day He will say, “Ready or not, HERE I COME!” 

I believe I hear Him warming up! I’m excited! I’m ready! My heart is beating fast and my adrenaline is pumping! Put me in coach! I’m ready. Are you? 

Hoooraaaayyy!