They Call You Coach- A Vision of the Man- WEDNESDAY

When God gives us a glimpse of the man we could be, by our personal surrender to Him He breaks the old man and molds us into this new man.  When this process is in play, it can be very difficult for a young man who doesn't understand what is going on, as God shapes him into the man of this vision.  The vision is not about what the young man will do for God.  That is not God's purpose.  It is about the young man becoming the man for the vision that God has in mind, for he becomes the vision.  As a life coach, it is our mission to help a man begin to see this vision of himself...to look beyond his own limited aspirations and see what God has in mind.  God will reveal a glimpse of this man, if the man is listening to Him.  The process from God will unfold to reform this man.  It may take years, and it will be a challenging training process.  Therefore, it becomes the mission of a spiritual life coach to mentor this man into the man of this vision by helping him listen to God.  However, it is essential that we work in partnership with the Holy Spirit's grand design for His man and not become a hindrance by trying to make a man into what we think he should be.

How can we serve a person like this and not get our self in the way of the Lord's work in his life?  Well consider if you think a coach must also be coached by a greater coach to become a great coach?  Would it not require that a Life Coach live in close proximity with Christ so that he can hear his Coach teach him how to coach?  Proximity, proximity, proximity is the answer.

I was given a great life lesson with this, which I would like to share.  When I was released from the NFL, I returned to Ole Miss and became one of the coaches for the freshman team while I wrapped up my last semester hours for graduation.  I had the privilege to coach the wide receivers when Archie Manning was our freshman quarterback.  That was a treat, although we didn't know how great he was at the time.  We discovered it quickly.  But my biggest benefit was coaching under my freshman coach that we were all scared of when I played for him.  Coach Wobble Davidson was without a doubt the man who turned boys into men, and separated the pretenders from those who were truly committed to playing at a high level for Ole Miss.  Most of the players felt in retrospect that he was the key cog in the success of our football teams during his tenure.  Like I said, we started with 50 or more freshmen players and only about 30 returned the next year.  What I learned that year through my coaching with Coach Wobble was that it had more to do with why he coached, rather than how he coached.  In a private moment, he told me that he and his best friend entered the service in WW-2 together but only Wobble made it back alive.  It was because of this that Wobble dedicated his life to coaching in memory of his friend with the mission to invest his time and effort to turn young men into great men.  He was rough, ruthless and demanding.  But he was also fair, loyal and passionate with helping us dig deeply into our self to find the vision of the football player we wanted to be, and to become that man.

What does this example have to do with the investment of our life and time to help a younger man become a player for Jesus instead of just a fan?   The quick answer is that in the same way we find a deeper reason to invest our life into younger men than just occupying our time with a meaningless existence just to make it safely to the end of our life.  Our effort will be to play a noble part in a grander vision than we could ever imagine.  It is to join with the Holy Spirit to help Him form a younger man into the vision God has for him, while at the same time fulfilling the vision God has for you and me as mentors.

As Christian men grow older in the American culture, they tend to think that they become useless or no longer needed by our culture, other than their own age group.  This is a lie sent from the Accuser to keep older men in the stands with self-centeredness or discouragement.  We need to recognize this lie and wade into the fray with the powerful weapons of encouragement that we can give for building up the Body of Christ.  We cannot believe this lie or a lie that we are irrelevant for the younger generations below our age group.  On the contrary, I believe that we are being raised up by the Holy Spirit for a time such as we are in right now.  God is raising up inspirational spiritual coaches who prepare God's team for a great effort in the fourth quarter of Church history.  The game is almost over.  The other side is making a big push.  Its biggest "Hail Mary" is a desperate attempt to send a wave of discouragement and to get us confused about who we are and the mission Jesus has left us with.  Therefore, we are being summoned by our Heavenly Coach to keep our eyes on Him, listen to His instructions, serve His purpose, encourage younger men to wrap this game up and go home!