Parents, we're gonna haveta keep listening. In highschool, I had a really great swim coach, who was also a great person. Not only was he great at helping our team win by placing people in the right races to achieve the most points, but he was also a good technical coach and encourager. One swim meet against our rivals, the points were close and he said he needed me to swim a race that I had never swum well. There were some really great swimmers on my team who went on to swim in college, but they were already swimming in all the events they possibly could. I enjoyed the sport, but I was no Michael Phelps. Coach needed me to swim the individual medley, or “IM” as the cool kids used to say. It was a combination of all the strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. As I expressed my concern about the race, he assured me that I would do well if I kept my strokes long and strong, reached for the end of the pool, didn’t look at the swimmers beside me, and kept my breathing steady. After finishing the first stroke, butterfly, I was already fatigued and short of breath and I began to fall behind. I started listening to myself, reminding myself, “you’ve never done well in this race, it’s too hard, and look at the kid next to you, he is really good.” But then, on the backstroke, my coach, on the side of the pool, caught my eye and reminded me to stretch out my strokes, reach for the end of the pool, quit looking around and control my breathing. Whenever the fatigue began to tell me that I couldn’t do this race, my coach’s voice would ring in my head reminding me to “stretch out your stroke, reach for the end of the pool and control your breathing.” I ended up finishing well enough to get the points we needed. My finish depended on whom I was listening to in my head during the race. Kinda sounds like a cheesy Disney Special doesn’t it? Maybe a little, but the point is this, who we listen to makes a difference in the outcome.
There have been some times during this pandemic that I start hearing, “you can’t do this, this is too much to deal with, it's too hard, just drop out of the race and take care of yourself, look out for those people who are going to take advantage of you.” But my Head Coach tells me, keep listening to Me, don’t look around at the circumstances, keep reaching out to encourage other people, keep breathing… remember it’s all about relationships… your relationship with Me and your relationships with those around you. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that times like these can make us ready to listen to our Coach. Isaiah says, “The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it." Isaiah 30:20-21 (CSBBible)
Listen to Christ who is the Head Coach… get out of your own head, let Him and His Word speak to you. He will tell you the way to go.
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
