Don’t Take The ANSWER Out Of The Life Equation.  When we are in need of where to go and what to do and who we are — we can never forget that we have God.  And in all things, He is not an answer—He is the ANSWER.

Every summer I start working with a new crop of football players.  It is exciting and fun.  But I always struggle saying goodbye to the ones who are leaving.

Keegan Patterson is already at USC.

Jack Moll is soon to be working out in San Diego.

Caleb Johnson will soon be in Flagstaff.

And this is just the beginning.  We will say goodbye to 

Kale and Emi and Sam and Austin and Kinnick and Ari and Trey

and Rylan and Gavin … and Kayla.

They will move on and start a new “season”.  And so will we.

Football season is a grind.  It can be exasperating.  It can be exhausting.  But in the midst of all of that effort, something happens in the locker room, on the field, and under the Friday night lights that is incredible.  Boys turn into men.  Players, and teams, do things BEYOND their ability.  There is exhilaration, and heartbreak.  The grind makes it go slowly,  but it also goes quickly, and before you can blink, it is over.  And it always takes me a couple of weeks to get over it.  

And when we start again in the summer, I see that “getting over it” continues on into the next season.  Every year I struggle at the “new” moments.  The first lifting.  The first practice.  The first game.  This summer is unique in that I will be contemplating not having my son Caleb and “my nephews”.  It is incredibly hard to say goodbye.

And yet, it is necessary.

God’s plan is to move us on and to grow us up.

His plan is for us to not stay connected to a routine that will not allow growth.  

His plan is for us to “step into the next season”.

I contemplate this “change of seasons” a lot.  Especially in my line of work.  But, as is always the case, God has the answers to the questions I have BEFORE I even ask them.

Solomon was writing the answer to my questions, and yours, before we even came to be.

Ecclesiastes 3 1 There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil?10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil–this is the gift of God.  14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

God addresses some very real issues in the book of Ecclesiastes.  He addresses the meaning of life and our role in life as it rolls on.  I love Solomon’s comment:  ”He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

It is the classic “You Only Live Once” line.  

In fact, we do “only live once”.  But God assures us that when we are BORN AGAIN that we enter into something that is bigger than life when we take our last breath here on earth.

You see, we are spiritual beings in a physical world.  This is why we ask questions about life and about all of our trials and it is why we sometimes feel out of place or broken or down.

It is because “He puts eternity on our hearts but does not give us the answer.”

Take God with you where you go.

Don’t let go of His words and don’t let go of Him.

He was with you in your last trial, and He will be with you in your next one.

He is not one of your answers in your quest to navigate the road ahead.  He is your only ANSWER.

Love deeply.

Forgive.

Seek God in all of your decisions.

Give to others.

Give up your rights and surrender to Him.

It is in these things that you will find hope … and a future.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J