Deciding to change something in our lives begins with the exercise of our “will” – an open recognition that there is a need for change.  Next we access whatever assistance we need to enable us to actually make that change…it takes both WILL AND POWER

Coaches are well-known for their ability to inject a great amount of “will” into their players.  Serious athletes seem to naturally possess a strong and unending desire to accomplish the goal they have clearly set in their minds. The physical “power” to go for it comes from training, learning, and doing, doing, doing.  Together, WILL AND POWER can change otherwise dim results into profound experiences.

Our daily walk with Christ requires the same two steps.  When our will is coupled with God’s power change happens.

 “Willpower is our will to admit our need and God’s power to change us.”  Billy Graham

Jesus explained the importance of our will being infused with God’s power recorded in John 6:63…

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort (will) accomplishes nothing…the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life (power)  .”  New Living Translation

PRAYER:  Thank you, Lord, for placing within me the will to accomplish change.  I rely on the power of your life-giving Spirit to do it.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

                        YOUR SHEER WILL + GOD’S SURE POWER = CHANGE

 ©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

The smell of cottonwood trees in my grandmother’s back yard, the wafting scent of a Sunday dinner roast, the musty aroma of wooden pews at our church, the fragrance of orange blossoms…each of these bring SWEET SCENTS of happy memories to my mind.

 The aroma of rubber-soled tennis shoes on wood gym floors, the fresh fragrance of newly-cut football, soccer and baseball fields, the familiar smell of the after-game locker room – all of these bring a smile to the face of coaches and players alike – SWEET SCENTS of challenges faced together as a team.  

“Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes  

As followers of Christ, we are the SWEET SCENT of God Himself walking this earth…

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:15 NIV  

Do we leave behind a SWEET SCENT of Christ after interacting with those around us?  Is it one that will remind others of who God is?  Will it permeate their minds and bring them into closer relationship with their Creator?  These questions remind us of our ever-present impact on others.  God takes pleasure in enjoying the fragrance of our lives.

              OUR SWEET SCENT IS THE AROMA OF CHRIST WAFTING ABOUT!

©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

Life is filled with the wearing outs and the getting olds.  Our shoes, tires, computers, phones … everything around us as well as our bodies tends toward this process. It is disheartening because we become attached to our things.  At the same time, it is invigorating because we get something new in their place. Sometimes, however, the old can be made new.  Today we consider … OPERATION RESTORE.

Each year Coach loses a team that he has become attached to and prepares for a new team configuration in the season to come.  The process means letting go of the old and moving forward with the new.  He utilizes the remnant of the former team and welcomes the new players coming in.  By reconfiguring and adjusting a new  and different team is formed.  The old is made new...OPERATION RESTORE.  

Our God is the author of OPERATION RESTORE… 
You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. Colossians 3:10 NCV

He is remaking us from the inside out...we are in the process of being restored.  When we find ourselves attached to the old but needing the new, here are THREE R’s TO RESTORATION…

#1  RECOGNIZE  -  Like Job, our days can become burdened with losses and disappointments…
I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore me?  Restore the sparkle to my eyes…                      Psalm 6:30 & 13:3 (portions) NLT

#2  REPENT -  Like David the Psalmist, we can offer this prayer…
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:21 NIV  

#3  REST – Trust God’s promise to renew and invigorate our spirits …
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. Isaiah 57:15 NLT

              THE SUNSHINE OF GOD'S PRESENCE RESTORES THE SPARKLE IN OUR EYES!

Click here Job 3:3-5; 42:5-6  for more about how Job’s encounter with the sovereign Creator changed his perspective on God’s purposes.

 ©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

Being “in charge” is the goal of every teen.  They are not particularly longing to be in charge of anything or anyone but they definitely have a strong desire to be in charge of themselves. 

The coach for a team or athlete is there to direct and guide…an “in charge” person who takes another’s skills and abilities to the next level of performance.  This can be the most exhilarating experience an athlete/team has while, at the same time, being the most challenging.  Since it’s the coach’s job to develop the team or athlete, the pain to gain is necessary. Ultimately, however, it is the athlete who chooses to fully participate that brings about the sought after improvement.

Our God is in charge...

 ...of the place we inhabit.
“He’s God, our God, in charge of the whole earth…”  Psalm 105:7 TM

...of our formation endowing us with certain skill sets, interests and abilities,
He is your Father and Maker, who made you and formed you. Deuteronomy 32:6b NCV

God who governed the world before I was born shall take care of it when I am gone. My part is to improve the present moment. John Wesley

The Bible contains a long list of those that were put in charge. They include Moses, Joseph, honorable Kings, Israelite workers, Abraham’s servants, Christ’s disciples and many, many more.  They participated in God's plan and “improved their present moment”.

God has put us in charge of living out the life He has given us.  With His Word to guide us, Christ's example to lead us and through the power of His Holy Spirit working in us we can  "improve the present moment" by fully participating in God’s plan for our lives.

“…use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Romans 6:13b NLT

 PRAYER: Thank you for forming me and setting me in the place where I dwell. I choose to fully participate in Your plan for my life by using each skill, interest and ability that You have given me to bring glory to Your holy name.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

                      PLEASE YOUR CREATOR - IMPROVE THE PRESENT MOMENT!


©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

Helping my Dad with jobs is one of my favorite childhood memories.  Whether it was milking cows, haying fields, stacking wood or constructing an addition, I was right there beside him as his oldest child, as his right hand “man” and as an always-interested party!  He took the time to teach me and then patiently waited as I tried my hand at it… TOGETHER WE accomplished tasks and built relationship.

My Dad taught me how to apply roofing to the newly-constructed addition of our house. Although it was a very steep roof and I was about 10 years old, I felt capable and wanted to make him proud.  So while he was gone I climbed to the roof and began placing and nailing shingles alone. When he came home and saw me he was very surprised, a lot concerned and yet pretty proud!

There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up. Booker T. Washington

As sportmoms we participate in the development of our athlete.  The physical, emotional and spiritual nurturing is ours as parents to jump start.  Then along with guidance from the coaches and encouragement from their peers they develop into a team player.  It is a TOGETHER WE process that causes us to be sometimes surprised, sometimes a little concerned and almost always a lot proud!

God uses the TOGETHER WE process to accomplish His work here on earth.  He not only created the garden and Adam but He partnered with Adam to care for the garden.  After equipping Adam to cultivate the soil and take care of the animals, God left the work of the garden in Adam’s hands (see Gen. 2:15-20).  Adam and his Creator were in a “TOGETHER WE” relationship

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:15

Jesus did the same with those he chose as his “disciples”.  He would mentor, pour himself into and send out these hand-selected followers.  They became the TOGETHER WE team that would spread the good news of redemption to all nations with this directive:

“…go and make disciples of all nations…”  (see Matthew 28:19&20 for the Great Commission)

The most important TOGETHER WE is the one we can have with our Heavenly Father.  He calls us to complete His work on earth also…always equipping us as we learn and ever patient with us as we serve and He is...
                    NEVER SURPRISED, ALWAYS CONCERNED AND A LOT PROUD!

 ©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

What does it take for something to be considered “a miracle”?  Is it the sudden healing of a pain-filled body?  Or perhaps it’s the absence of what should have been disaster.  Could it be the surprise of a long-desired dream being unexpectedly met?  All of these and more carry the sudden and unexpected surprise factor that we call NO LESS THAN miraculous.

A young and developing group of athletes is sometimes described as “the miracle team”. This happens when they achieve beyond the expectations that surround them.  Looking at them in wonder along with sighs of amazement we call it NO LESS THAN miraculous.

Many events like those listed above are easily labeled miraculous.  However the most miraculous of all is when God gave Himself to mankind…  

Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. I Corinthians 1:24 TM

From conception to the grave and beyond, every part of the gift of God’s Son to this world is NO LESS THAN miraculous…and we are the recipients! 

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One [Christ Jesus] who invited us to God. 2 Peter 1:3 TM

Hidden in the every-day occurrences of a life seeking to please God are remarkable events.  By setting our perception lens on time-lapse, we will recognize and experience the NO LESS THAN miraculous awe and wonder of God constantly in, through and around us…

To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakable perfect miracle. Walt Whitman

PRAYER: Lord, I want to live each hour and day in awe of your miraculous presence.  Today I put on your timeless lens of perception that allows me to see and appreciate your “NO LESS THAN miraculous” wonders that surround me.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

CONSIDER THE DAFFODIL WHICH FROM BULB TO BLOOM …IS NO LESS THAN MIRACULOUS!

 ©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

This month’s focus on our word for the year is TO ADORE...GET A GLIMPSE OF GREATNESS.  When we hold another in high esteem considering them greater than ourselves, it is easy to show our adoration for them. 

 One of the most adored men in recent sport history was John Wooden, coach of the UCLA Bruins.  Along with leading his team to many national championships, he was a man of deep conviction and strong faith who was highly esteemed by many. Aspiring coaches caught A GLIMPSE OF GREATNESS in him.  He understood that human achievement comes not only from doing well at what we do but in knowing our limitations.

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. John Wooden

Unlike us, God has no limitations to His greatness.  Although we can only begin to wrap our arms around this truth, let’s adore Him by taking a tiny peek at what is recorded in God's own Word about it.

God is magnificent; he can never be praised [adored] enough. There are no boundaries to his greatness.  Psalm 145:3 TM

Since there are no boundaries to God’s greatness, our adoration of Him becomes endless - ever in our hearts and on our lips.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.  I Chronicles 29:11 NLT

The first word of this scripture is pivotal opening the door of understanding about God’s greatness.  The word “Yours” immediately acknowledges that any puffed-up greatness that the writer may have had was relinquished to the One who is greater than himself.  This act of submission prepares the way for God’s greatness being revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ.

…all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8 NCV

TO GET A GLIMPSE OF GOD’S GREATNESS – GET TO KNOW HIS SON JESUS CHRIST!

 ©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224

The heart, like the mind, has a memory. And in it are kept the most precious keepsakes.    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 
As my 46th season of being a Basketball Coach’s wife is winding down, heart memories fill my thoughts.   Along with sportmoms everywhere who come to the end of a sport season,  PRECIOUS KEEPSAKES are collected in the album of my heart.  Some of these include… Joining in prayer with a team Mom who bravely shared her son’s physical needs and seeing God at work in him as he overcame the limitations was A PRECIOUS KEEPSAKE of the heart.  She believed God's Word that tells us...

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Philippians 4:6 NLT

Watching as this year's team with new members and challenging games became the League Champions was A PRECIOUS KEEPSAKE of the heart. They certainly experienced God's promise...

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. Romans 8:28 NCV

Finally, receiving A PRECIOUS KEEPSAKE of the heart when one of our 4-year sportmoms posted this scripture in her home for her son to focus on as he processed through his senior year as a varsity starter...

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 NLT

PRAYER:  Thank you, Lord, for these and the many other heart memories that characterize this year’s team revealing who You are.  It is an honor and privilege to stand among Your people experiencing Your hand at work that leave the most PRECIOUS KEEPSAKES in the album of my heart. In Jesus Name, Amen.

FIX YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PRECIOUS KEEPSAKES OF YOUR HEART TODAY!

©2014 SPORTMOMS & MORE | 11964 Elemar - Portland, OR 97224