A Tale of Two First Year Coaches

A Modern Parable

Once upon a time there were two coaches who started out to coach. They were the finest of coaches of the sport called football.

The first coach wandered to the West and then wandered to the North Country. This coach did have experience, but he needed a new place to coach. Let's call his name Mike Leach. When he arrived at the school where he was to coach, he found the football team in much disarray; they were abysmal! "We must change the entire culture of the football team. We will be working very hard. Life will become very unpleasant, but, always remember, it is more fun to win than it is to lose. Stick with me and you will begin to win." Well, this was a tough word to hear for the football team, which shall be called Washington State. The team began to grumble; some even quit! When the trials of facing good football teams began in earnest, WSU began to lose. Lo, more men quit the team, and the coach was even heard to curse the team. Now, as we approach the end of the season, WSU is firmly seated in the cellar of the Pac12 North.

The second coach wandered to the West and then wandered to the South Country; he could even smell the roses. This coach also had experience but heeded a new place to coach. Let's call his name Jim Mora. When he arrived at the school where he was to coach, he found the football team in much disarray; they were abysmal! "We must change the entire culture of the football team. We will be working very hard. Life will become very unpleasant, but, always remember, it is more fun to win than it is to lose. Stick with me and you will begin to win." Well, this was a tough word to hear for the football team, which shall be called UCLA. But, this team listened to the coach. They followed his directions and, even though they had a lowly freshman for a Quarterback, when the rials of facing good football teams began in earnest, UCLA began to win. They continued to win and the coach rose up and pronounced them blessed. Now, as we approach the end of the season, UCLA is firmly seated as the champion of the Pac 12 South; they even dispatched the vaunted warriors of Troy!

A good team always needs a good coach. Many of us have a life coach (Oh, to be sure he is more than that,) in Jesus Christ. He tells us, "We must change our entire culture. Life can be hard and unpleasant, but it is better to win at life than to lose.

Unfortunately some hear these words and and want to quit. They don't do what the coach says. When the trials of life come upon them, they end up defeated. Some would say that it as if they built their house upon sand, with no foundation.

Others here these words and stand firm. They do as the coach says. When the trials of life come upon them, they reign as champions at life. Some would say that it is as if they built their house upon rock with a strong foundation.

I thought about this as I was watching football on Saturday. My apologies to Mike Leach and the WSU team, I understand that there is more to the story. I also apologize to the Apostle Matthew for trivializing some wonderful scripture.

Be Prepared Part 1

When I set up a schedule for the series of sermons from Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, I really wasn't looking at holidays; certainly not Veteran's day. But, sure enough, last Sunday, my sermon was based on Ephesians 6:10-20:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20 NIV)

I thought that this was appropriate since this passage defines how one should prepare for a spiritual battle. There are certainly parallels to how we should prepare for battle in earthly war. 

The first item is to be aware that we are in a war. Since WWII, we have seen "wars" (sometimes euphemistically named like "Police Action" in Korea) in Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq (twice), and Afghanistan. We have also been involved in Grenada and Panama. I have probably missed something, but you get the idea. Some kind of war has been at the heart of our national experience, over and over again; unfortunately, it seems to be somewhat normal. We rightly do honor those who place themselves in harms way so that we can continue to live as we do, yet the average American is really somewhat distanced from the war itself; in fact, even the honoring of our service men and women allows us to further distance ourselves because we honor those who are over there. It is never about "us" being at war. I just read something on the Gallup website today;  "On this Veterans Day, 13% of U.S. adults are veterans, including 24% of men and 2% of women. Veteran status is above 60% among men 75 and older, but no more than 12% for men younger than 35." Those of us who are "seniors" are far more likely to be veterans than those younger. Why is this? I think it has a lot to do with WWII and its aftermath. 

One of the main reasons that there are more of us seniors as veterans is the military draft. The draft was certainly very heavy during WWII, but it continued through the early 60s. There was a renewed draft for the Viet Nam war, but it took a much smaller group of draftees (of course if you were one of them, it didn't seem so negligible!) Secondly, WWII was a huge conflict in some way or other involving everyone in the nation. This brings me to the other issue that I mentioned earlier, that of distancing oneself from the conflict. During WWII, it wasn't the military at war; we were at war. If you weren't in the service, you worked in a defense plant, worked in construction at military bases or other war related activities. All people sacrifice through rationing; food, gasoline, tires -- even nylon stockings. There was no such thing as buying a new car or new house -- they weren't being built. It was impossible to distance yourself from the conflict.

The passage of scripture quoted above assumes that there is a war going on. I believe it is so. Those of you who don't believe in a spiritual domain, whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, will assume that I am somewhat crazy. So be it. I do believe that there is a spiritual world that exists and there are some very hostile elements in this world. I don't believe that the government, a political party or even individuals are enemies of us trying to kill us. Of course there is some hostility among people -- but that is not the issue. The Apostle states that our war isn't against people -- it is against these spiritual power. I think that a significant problem with the church is that they have distance themselves from this spiritual war, just as many in America are able to distance themselves from our current wars. This causes many in the church to become complacent. Thus, we need to learn how to be alert and prepare ourselves for this conflict. I will address how this happens in Part 2.