I just got back from a 7-on-7 football competition hosted by one of our area high schools. There were about 10 different high schools represented in the competition, including the high school I graduated from and also coached at for 9 years, John Jay High School. Since leaving to coach at another high school last year, I’ve seen some of my former players around town and kept in touch through Facebook, but today was really special. All three quarterbacks from John Jay came over to talk to me before things started out and then all of the players stopped to talk to me (and some of the other coaches on our staff) during one of the breaks. Honestly, I was floored. I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses because it really got me choked up.

Teenage boys are not the most expressive people on earth, so it was particularly meaningful to me to see the big smiles on all the guys faces as they said hello. I guess that’s why I coach high school football after all; to impact the lives of young men and to be a living example to them of what a man looks like who puts Christ first in his life. I don’t have a son (I have three daughters), but it has amazed me to see how God has used something like coaching high school football for more than ten years, to really impact the lives of young men. Today was also a great reminder to me of why I do what I do.

We always challenge our players each day with this question, “Did you get better today or worse”. Today, I think I got better as a coach and a Christian leader, just getting a little glimpse of some of the fruit from my investment in coaching young men! I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to “Coach ’em up” for yet another season 🙂