In the past year and a half, I have had a decent number of learning experiences which have affected my life.

One of the biggest though was when I resigned from the football team at the University of Nebraska.

I resigned from the football team in February of 2009. I did this because I felt like the Lord was calling me in a different direction than the one I was headed. There were a few interactions and relationships that I did not agree with, along with certain situations I was put in.

At this point, I thought my collegiate football career was over, and I was OK with that. If that was what the Lord wanted, than that is what the plan was going to be.

However, I finished the 09′ spring semester at Nebraska, and then worked and took classes during the summer in Lincoln. I then proceeded to get in contact with a private coach I worked with throughout High School and told him that I wanted to keep in contact with him and that if he ever needed any help with camps or anything, to keep me in mind (because one day I want to coach as well).

He gave me a call about a week after I sent him this e-mail. We talked about why I decided to discontinue playing and what my plans were for the near future.

He asked me, “Well, I have one question though, do you still want to play.”

I proceeded to tell him that, “I did still have the desire to play football, however, it was not that big of a deal to me. I didn’t want to just go somewhere just to go somewhere to play football, there had to be a purpose for it.”

He suggested that I could possibly transfer to the University of Kansas, but, if I had done that, I would have had to sit out a year, and lose a year of eligibility due to NCAA rules. And then, if I decided to transfer to a Division II school, I would not have to sit out, and I could play immediately. But again, I didn’t feel the need to just go anywhere, there had to be a purpose and a reason.

So, to make a long story short, the door opened for me to play football again at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. Two weeks before school started, and three days before fall camp, I hopped into my car from Lincoln, Nebraska and I drove to Abilene, Texas to visit the campus and meet with Head Coach Chris Thomsen. To say the least, the moment I walked on campus, I knew ACU was where I was supposed to be. It’s a crazy story, but in the end, I drove to Abilene Christian University from Nebraska out of the blue, not knowing anything, and I never looked backed.

But, now that you have a bit of context to this story, I want to make my point.

Today during spring football practice, it wasn’t the best practice we’ve ever had, and I think that could be credited to the fact that we have been practicing for about 6 days straight.

As an athlete, you are always going to have days and practices where you don’t feel like practicing at the level you know you should and are capable of.

But, if it is one thing I have learned, and Coach T says this all the time, is that,

You can’t let what you feel control what you know.

And I have taken that to heart.

But today in the middle of practice, it hit me. While everyone around me may have not felt like practicing to their fullest potential, I found myself appreciating more and more the opportunity that has been given to me. I found myself wanting, desiring to maximize the opportunity given to me; and wanting, desiring to be practicing.

It hit me that I have been able to find that the smallest things in the eye’s of the society, are incredibly huge.

In James 3:3-6 it speaks about how even the smallest things have an incredibly huge impact.

Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

I believe that if we as a team can take the next step in focusing on the little things, we will take the next step to being a national championship football team

Hebrews 13:16

And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

And so, we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing – or, we will just keep getting what we’ve been getting. Because ultimately, what got us here will not get us there.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

In our lives, what does this look like? In life, how do we reflect and glorify God? Are we satisfied enough to glorify God alone? Do we want to glorify God? Why would God not be glorified in our lives?

If we can deeply connect our relationship with God, with a deep satisfaction of love, why would God not be glorified?

Be satisfied. Be glorified. Be loved.

Our life is like a lit candle; it is precious and delicate and can be extinguished at any given moment.

Reading a friends blog tonight, she wrote this. Read it, think about it, then think about it some more.

How you respond to disappointment, says a lot more than how you do in success.

1. Temptation. The undisputed force of the decade. It’s not even close. Her perfume filled the air. Her stiletto footprints were everywhere. Too many in sports couldn’t resist her. How many lives did she professionally and/or personally damage?

Temptation seduced many into taking drugs and brought down Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod, Canseco, the facade over the great home run chase and also broke into the home shared by the fastest man and woman in the world and brought down Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, too.

Temptation also took others from their wives/significant others/baby mamas because they just had to flirt with a skirt. She saved her biggest name for last, whipping Tiger with a month to spare. But she also shook up Kobe, Barkley, Shaq, Jordan, Brady, Pitino, Brodeur, Steve Phillips (twice!), Pokey Chatman, Dwyane Wade and Matt Leinart. And those are just the ones we know about.

I could take a theological spin on this, however, for now, we will just leave it at this. For more on this; read, “when leaders fail” and read, this pdf.

EDIT: here is the theological side of this situation. A good friend of mine wrote this up on a facebook note.

It’d probably be safe to say that during the past month, Tiger Woods life has been exploited. The ugliness of what he felt like could be kept under the table has now been exposed and it seems like the whole world has heard. My heart definitely hurts for this man and I feel like there can be some things drawn from this issue that we could all probably learn from. I pray that Tiger can recover from everything that has happened and get back to the game that he is so passionate about, because I still feel like he is one of the greatest competitors in all of sports.

ESPN did an interview with Herm Edwards after everything spilled out and they asked him for his opinion on what Tiger needed to do next. His message was very clear that Tiger needed to find someone to help him with his LIFE. I’ve attached the link to the interview, so you can check out the whole thing, but I just felt like some of the points he brought up were very powerful. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBtrrBku8g)

1. Where are your priorities?

I feel like this is something we can all ask ourselves. What is of greatest importance in my life, right here, right now? In Tiger’s situation he was valuing other women over his wife and it was causing him so much unrest. You could definitely tell that by the phone message he left one of the women when he knew his wife was starting to track his secret activity. I feel like this could have been avoided if his priorities weren’t self-centered. I’ve come to realize in my life that things will start to crumble when my priorities are about “me”. Our human nature tell us to get, get, get, and this situation just shows that you can have so much in your life and still feel like you don’t have enough. This is why it’s so important to give priority to something that is constant and will always satisfy.

2. Who is that person who tells you NO?

Edwards definitely stressed accountability and really hit home that it is important to have a great support system that can keep you on track. Do you have a person in your life who will step up and let you know when you are drifting away from your value system? This goes right back to priorities, I think we all need to have someone who has similar priorities to help you walk through life in a way that they care about you so much that when you get off track, they will bring you back…all out of love.

3. “What we do in the dark, comes to the light.”

This comment came straight from the Word in Luke 8:17…”For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought into the open.” No matter how confidential or how tight we try to keep our best secrets locked up, everything done in the darkness will eventually be revealed. This seems pretty scary to think about…I would hate to have my biggest mistakes flashed on National TV for all to see! We might be lucky and get by without people figuring out about everything that we have done, but there is ONE who does.

God the Creator knows us inside and out and Christ reminded us in Matthew 12:36 that we are responsible for it all. “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” This seems like a pretty tall order, because we would need to live a perfect life in order to be accountable for no careless words. It is a tall order because it is way out of our reach. We cannot live the perfect life, but there is One is who has!

Jesus Christ, the one who we celebrate this Christmas season, has lived the perfect life and his blood has the power to cover our mistakes we are certainly not proud of. How incredible is that that when those who trust in the Lord will be seen as blameless and perfect in God’s sight on judgment day. This is all because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus who was born on a quiet night that manger. I pray that Tiger would put his trust in his Creator (who has blessed him with some sick skill) if he hasn’t already, so he could be brought near though the blood!