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“Expectations from last season ... coaching and playing in the NBA are so demanding ... the worst performance ... flashy clothes, the expensive cars and piles of money ... worst player in the game ... obviously fallen on hard times ... very inconsistent in their shooting...”
You don’t have to search to find remarks like these on the web or in the sports section of the newspaper the morning after any NBA game. They’re easy to find.
In recent months, steroid use in sports has drawn national attention from President Bush, Congress, league presidents and players’ unions. Major League Baseball has been on the hot seat with allegations of steroid abuse by former player Jose Canseco and by testimonies from current superstars admitting the same.
So, you served as a Huddle Leader at FCA Camp this summer. You had an amazing, life-changing experience, didn’t you? You spent your days soaking up God’s Word, pouring into your campers, competing for Christ and building meaningful relationships.
Take a look at virtually every magazine cover, and you will find the phrase “Boost your metabolism!” Having a slow metabolism is an often-used excuse when we describe our struggles to lose weight. The truth is that we all have a different rate at which we burn calories, but we also have a variety of solutions to the “slow metabolism syndrome.”
With more than 500 new energy drinks launched worldwide this year, every parent and student in America needs to do their homework and be aware of what they are drinking. For instance, did you know that an 8-ounce Red Bull contains the caffeine equivalent of a cup of coffee (almost 2.5 times the amount in Coke)? Many of these drinks also pack in a ton of sugar and other “natural” ingredients, many of which are additional stimulants. As the popularity of energy drinks grows, it is important to have the information you need to make the best-possible decisions concerning your body.
As a kid, Allison Lambert used to hang out near the fields where her dad served as chaplain to the University of Texas football team. She observed how hard work and passion led to fulfilled dreams. But it was during her own climb to Division I volleyball that she experienced for herself the reward of perseverance.
Allison, a 6-1 senior from Austin, Texas, plays right side for the University of North Carolina-Asheville.
Can the food we eat actually make us sick? According to an article in TIME magazine, we may be paying a steep price for the cheap quality of food we eat.
Typically I don't consult newsstands for good science, but this article had a lot of truth in it. The topic centered on how the American food system is bad for our bodies, bad for the environment and bad for our economy.
Have you ever seen the show “MythBusters”? Every week, these two crazy guys try to separate truth from urban legend. They take commonly accepted ideas like the ones that say eating turkey makes you sleepy or that certain sodas will completely dissolve rusty bolts, and then they prove them to be true or false.
I have to wonder if the Apostle Paul would have been the host of this type of show from a spiritual perspective. He certainly would have had a blast busting the “irreverent and silly myths” of his day with the truth of Jesus!
Back in September, I had an opportunity to attend a sneak preview for the reality show “The Biggest Loser: Families.” What makes this season unique for the popular program is that it is a test between teams of married couples and teams of parents and children.
As the contestants were selected and introduced, you could see their obvious jubilation. They made statements like, “Nothing is going to stop me,” “I want this more than anything,” and “I will do whatever it takes!” I couldn’t help but wonder how long that excitement and determination would last once the training and sacrifice part began.
In America, we believe that we can make everything better. In fact, we relentlessly pursue improvement. And this can often be a good thing! It can make us examine our hearts and actions and get right with God and others. It can bring new advances in medicine, travel, industry and the environment. It can even help us discover and understand God in new and deeper ways.
But many times our efforts to improve on God’s design give us a far inferior result.
Remember those things that we were so committed to doing at the start of 2006? You know, those resolutions? Some of us may have resolved to read the Bible more or to pray every day while others may have made commitments to get in shape or to lose weight. Whatever our New Year’s resolutions, chances are good that by now we’ve already broken or forgotten them altogether. So with all these good intentions, why is it always so difficult to actually do what we say we are going to do? With respect to our health, most of us have heard and know what we need to do to get in shape. But hearing, knowing and doing are very different things!
Steroid use has in many ways cast a shadow over the entire world of sports. Many fans have been left wondering whether or not anybody in big-time athletics is clean. At this stage of the game with penalties for positive drug tests escalating, an athlete would be a fool to take a chance with steroids. But the quest for glory still lures some into a reputation-destroying mistake.
Welcome back to the real world, kid. It’s a far cry from the experience you just had, feeling so close to God and all. But now, you need to start thinking about — check that — start worrying about “more important” things.
Long after the last confetti streamer had fallen to the floor and the echoes of the crowd’s deafening roar had stopped ringing in his ears, Lee Humphrey felt an odd sense of emptiness.
It didn’t happen right away, mind you. After all, April 3, 2006, was the greatest night of his basketball existence. That night, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Humphrey and his University of Florida teammates polished off UCLA with ease in the NCAA championship, 73-57. Humphrey himself had enjoyed a great game and a monster tournament, setting records and winning awards along the way.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a role model as an admired person who inspires others to copy his or her behavior. Based on this definition, there is no question that athletes, especially in America’s sports-crazy culture, are role models. Unfortunately, those who look up to an athlete for his performance on the field don’t just imitate what he does in his profession. The watching eyes are often influenced to imitate the athlete’s off-the-field behavior, too—in words, clothes, actions, and attitude.
My junior year of college, a young man I knew for only a week came into my room and after 40 minutes broke down in tears. Men don’t cry, especially young, proud, college men like Shawn.
Later, after we talked through the issues of life and God, I realized there were more “Shawns” out there. Young men, old men — men of all ages — all bound together by similar challenges and struggles. And no matter where they are in life, the remedy is the same: today’s men are desperately in need of their heavenly Father.
Solomon knew the importance of taking care of the heart. It is not only the most important muscle in the body for physical life, but also for spiritual life. Have you ever considered that your behavior is really a reflection of your heart? We are encouraged to guard our hearts because our attitudes, our thoughts, our emotions, our words and our actions all flow from the condition of the heart. Anger, jealousy, pride, conflict — all of these reveal the state of your heart.
In sports, as coaches and athletes, we know that we have to take one game at a time. When a game is over, win or lose, we have to put it behind us, learn what we can and move on. The same is true in all aspects of life. In Philippians 3, Paul tells us to forget the past and press on toward what is ahead. In Matthew 6:34, Jesus flat-out tells us, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” From these two passages I believe we can take three important lessons—ones that will help us to walk in victory and “win” each day of our lives
Next month, 51-year-old triathlete Gary Brasher will complete back-to-back-to-back Iron-distance triathlons in order to raise funds for FCA. Yep, you read that right. A triple Iron! Right now, he's in the middle of training for the big event, which will take place Nov. 20-22.
Going in, Brasher knew that the sacrifice would be intense. I mean, can you even imagine completing 7.4 miles of swimming, 336 miles of biking and 79.2 miles of running in three days? For most of us, that is unthinkable. But that is exactly what he is willing to do for what he feels is an important cause.
I’ve heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, I don’t know about you, but I can definitely identify with that. It’s like we know we’ve taken a wrong turn or are on the wrong road, but we keep going anyway. And, worse yet, we somehow think that we’ll still get to our destination.
Have you ever been caught off-guard and missed an opportunity to share your faith? I have. And each time it has happened I have become more determined to “always be prepared.” Peter speaks often of preparation. And he knows that the only way a believer can be fully ready to defend the faith is if he is prepared.
How many times have you watched a basketball player stand poised at the free-throw line in acute concentration and take a moment to trace a cross over his chest? How often have you seen a baseball player knock the ball out of the park and, during his victory lap around the bases, point his index finger to the heavens in gratitude? How often have you heard national champions thank God during press conferences?
It should come as no surprise that Jesus knows how important water is to life; that’s the way He designed it. And in this Scripture, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman everything she needs to find salvation. Living water represents eternal life. Jesus has it, you must ask Him for it, and it is a gift to be received.
If you are not eating breakfast, you are missing the most important meal of the day! When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He said, “Come and have breakfast.” It was a time of nourishment—physical, relational and spiritual. Too bad most of us just rush into the day, undernourished physically and unprepared spiritually.
Breakfast is essential for consistent energy, focus and concentration, easier weight loss and more consistent moods. But just eating breakfast isn’t necessarily going to get you started on the right foot.
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