I was inspired by a story told to me by a Vietnam vet.  He and his team were in heavy combat, running missions in a helicopter to cover the boats that patrolled the Mekong River.  Casualties were high, combat was fierce, and the intensity of the days were overwhelming.  Because of this, they would be given “leave” to an aircraft carrier.

During leave, the team would go to the back of the ship and do pull-ups in the dark, often challenging each other to do more before they were pulled back onto the ship.  As one man hung in agony, the others challenged him to do more pullups, to toughen in the face of pain, and to be out on the ledge longer in the face of danger.

Falling off of a ship in the night is certain death, and when I inquired as to why a group of men might do that, he answered that they WANTED to.  He claimed that it kept them “sharp” and this was the inspiration for the theme I gave my football team this season:

Trust Is Built By Going On The Ledge

This is a biblical principal.

Going On The Ledge requires vulnerability.  And this is probably the most important aspect of building trust.  To expose yourself for who you really are takes courage, and it allows a team to be real with each other.

Going On The Ledge requires unselfishness.  It means showing others that you will give an effort that they can count and on, and it puts others in front of you.

Going On The Ledge requires toughness.  Doing things the right way is hard.  And it is even harder when it is required with repetition.

When Jesus came to be with us on earth, it was the epitome of Going On The Ledge.  And He did this so that we could TRUST Him.

In a world where it is hard to know what, or who, to trust, we have an assurance.  That assurance, is Jesus.

He was vulnerable, and unselfish, and tough, so that we could look to Him and trust Him.

John 15 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

I encourage you to search the whole world over, to look into the past and to the future.  I encourage you to look into all that you could be doing and what you aspire to do.

You have no greater offer in all of the universe than the one that Jesus gives.

He goes to the cross, and dies, and takes the blame for you.

You trust in Him … and receive Him.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J