Personal Development on Athletes

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Grace and the Spiritual Disciplines

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What is the relationship between spiritual diciplines and grace? Does participation in the spiritual disciplines mean that we are not resting in God’s grace? Dallas Willard shares the analogy of a bas...

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An Accidental Champion

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Meredith Fitzmaurice only planned to run a half-marathon on Sep 22, 2013 in Amherstburg, Ontario, hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon. At the 13 mile point, she made a wrong turn. She missed th...

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Thomas Merton

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Souls are like athletes that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers.

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Faster, Higher, Stronger

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Richella J. Parham

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All kinds of competition are comparisons of the abilities or performance of one person or team to that of another. From elementary school spelling bees to professional sports, contestants compare thei...

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Giving a 110 Percent

Author

Kevin DeYoung

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There are few things in life as unenlightening as the postgame interview. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t always bad. Some athletes and coaches can be quite insightful. I’ve seen real poise and humili...

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You’re Sicker Than You Think

Author

Steven C. Roy

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My wife, Susan and I were sitting in the office of a fellow pastor, Jack Harrison, in the fall of 1992. The recommendation of friends had led us to Jack’s office. “He’s an amazing counselor,” they sai...

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The Value of Professional Sports

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Bud Wilkinson was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. During one press conference, he was asked, "What contribution does professional sport make to the physical fitne...

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When our Bodies Protest

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

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Scripture

Exodus 17:8-13 , Isaiah 40:29-31 , Proverbs 4:20-22, John 5:1-9, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Psalm 147:3

My husband, Doug, is an athlete whose body is protesting. He has had numerous knee injuries and torn his Achilles tendon twice. Doctors have operated on him, put casts on him and sent him home, thereb...

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The Agony & The Ecstasy

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Romans 8:18, James 1:12, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his right knee while competing in the floor exercise. At the time, Japan and the Soviet Union fielded the world's ...

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Changing Direction

Author

Fred Rogers

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Scripture

Philippians 2:3-4, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 20:26-28, 1 John 3:18, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

There was a story going around about the Special Olympics. For the hundred-yard dash, there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at ...

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A Father’s Love brings Hope and Endurance

Author

Wayne Rice

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Scripture

Matthew 28:20

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments. Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream...

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Warming Up

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C. J. Mahaney

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I grew up playing sports, and basketball in particular has always been a favorite. Though I turned fifty-one last year, I often remind my younger friends that I “still have game.” I keep insisting tha...

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Camels Using P.E.D.’s

Author

Irwyn L. Ince Jr.

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Scripture

Psalm 8:, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Peter 3:3-4, 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Samuel 16:7

Performance-enhancing drugs are a major problem in the sporting world. Cycling, baseball, weightlifting, football—athletes at the highest levels need something to put them over the top or keep them in...

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Adapted from Hebrews 12:1-2

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Scripture

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set b...

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Taking (A Huge) One for the Team

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Scripture

Exodus 17:10–13, Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:25–37, Matthew 25:34–40 , Philippians 2:3–4, Psalm 103:8–13

On a beautiful April afternoon in 2008, two college softball teams faced off in a decisive playoff game beneath the Cascade Mountains. The Western Oregon Wolves battled Central Washington University, ...

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Great Coaches Bring out the Best in their People

Author

John Maxwell

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Good leaders are like good coaches. They know how to bring out the best in the people on their team. That’s what John Wooden did. It’s also what legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi did. When he took ov...

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The Scottish Discus Thrower

Author

John Eldredge

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Scripture

James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, Job 23:10, 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Hebrews 12:11

As a young boy, around the time my heart began to suspect that the world was a fearful place and I was on my own to find my way through it, I read the story of a Scottish discus thrower from the ninet...

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Author

John Knox

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Success

Those who have arrived at any very eminent degree of excellence in the practice of an art or profession have commonly been actuated by a species of enthusiasm in their pursuit of it. They have kept on...

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Always Make Sure You Are Aiming at the Right Target

Author

Vance Pitman

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If you were lucky enough to watch the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, you probably remember swimmer Michael Phelps bursting onto the international scene. Phelps won six medals in those ga...

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Keeping Score

Author

John Ortberg

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All games involve score keeping. The rules of scoring in any game tell the players which achievements count; what to do in order to be a winner. Monopoly players keep score with money; football player...

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No Need to Hold Anything Back

Author

Jeff Volkmer

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In the sport of cycling, one of the most important things necessary to be successful in a race is the ability to manage the timing of when “to burn a match.” This is a phrase that all bike racers know...

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Self-Discipline Transforms our Motivations

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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George Garrett, a novelist and amateur boxer wrote about a transformation that often takes place for fighters who stick with the sport. Throughout their journey to boxing excellence, in which they mus...

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Running His Race

Author

Jon Tyson

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Scripture

Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 3:13-14, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1-2

In his book The Burden is the Light, Jon Tyson shares how, as a child, he had excelled as a runner, winning a number of races and even breaking state records. But everything changed when another athle...

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Author

Mark Batterson

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Success is handing the baton to those who come behind us and cheering them on as they run farther and faster than we did.

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Author

Jerry Bridges

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Because we are sinful by nature, we have developed sinful patterns, which we call habits. Discipline is required to break any habit. If a boy has developed the wrong style of swinging a baseball bat, ...

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The Practice of Indirection

Author

James Bryan Smith

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Scripture

Psalm 119:11, Philippians 4:9, Luke 6:48, 2 Timothy 2:15, Proverbs 6:6-8, Hebrews 12:11

Payton Manning practiced indirection. He was the winning quarterback of Super Bowl XLI. It was a rainy night, and the ball was slippery. Rex Grossman, the quarterback for the losing team, fumbled the ...

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The Greatest Hitter in the World

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 50:20, Exodus 4:10–12, 1 Samuel 17:, Matthew 18:1–4 , Romans 5:3–5, Psalm 139:14

A young boy was heard talking to himself as he wandered through his backyard, sporting a full baseball uniform, jersey and cap included, as well as a ball and bat. "I'm the best hitter in the...

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How to Hold a Team Together

Author

Bear Bryant

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Scripture

Mark 9:35, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 27:17, Philippians 2:3-4

I’m just a plow hand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team. There’s ...

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When Competition Gets the Best of us

Author

Eugene Cho

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Even after tearing both Achilles tendons and blowing out both knees playing basketball over the years, I still can’t get enough of the sport. As I tell my kids, Jesus is Lord, but Ball is Life. As suc...

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Shoot (or Throw)—Don't Aim

Author

Darren Pollock

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Scripture

Matthew 16:25, Luke 17:33, Mark 8:35

Whether playing baseball or basketball, one of the first sports lessons kids are taught is the counterintuitive truth that focusing too much on aiming where you want for the ball to go is likely to ba...

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