Coffee With The Lord

It can start as young as little league, develop further in community athletics, rear its ugly head in high school, grow in college athletics, and really exhibit itself in pro athletics… The issue? Whether or not an athlete is “coachable.”

If they’re not, it will show up as arrogance. The athlete knows best – after all, he or she is playing the game – coaches, at best, on the sidelines only have an opinion. Why listen to them. The “uncoachable” do their own thing, regardless of the strategy or play on the sidelines or in the huddle. The mistakes of others are treated with criticism and scorn. When it’s their mistake, it’s always someone else’s fault. They show up late for practice and treat team meetings as “optional gatherings.” When the coach calls these athletes to account and speaks directly to them there is either no eye contact at all, or just angry stares. Fits of rage are common expressions of the “uncoachable.” The tragedy is, they don’t get better – instead they practice their mistakes and they become ingrained in their flawed performance. The place for them until they change… the bench!

It’s entirely different with those who are “coachable!” They don’t pout when the coach speaks to them. They pay attention – they listen attentively. Correction is not taken personally – what the coach says is humbly heeded. Coachable players actually invite and seek out the input of skilled coaches. Plays that are called are viewed as winning strategies to be implemented with precision. Losses are viewed as opportunities to get better, to learn, to improve – but not to throw gear or smash ice chests. These athletes are punctual and participative at practices – team meetings are treated as sacred gatherings. These athletes want to overcome their counterproductive tendencies and exhibit excellence. And when there is a loss, the operative phrase is “no excuses.”

Whether it’s athletics, business, education, performance, a craft, or one’s faith it pays to be “coachable!” I read about it this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord” in Proverbs…

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” (19:20)

Being “coachable” – I want it to become a lifestyle, don’t you?

Sharon and I had the privilege of spending some time today with a special friend that has been facing some personal challenges. We had some great conversation about God’s will and purposes in the challenges and finished our time together with prayer. Just as we were saying “goodbye” the Lord brought the words of a great gospel song to mind… I shared them with our friend as an encouragement, but sensed that someone who reads “coffee with the Lord” might profit from them. So here they are… (someone needs this today!)…

“Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

“Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.

“Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach ‘the Promised Land.’”
-Carolina Sandell Berg

A dear friend of mine, Betty Malz, had a favorite saying… “The Lord has a thousand ways when I can’t think of one! When all my means have run their course that’s when God’s have just begun!”

This morning my Bible reading included two stories from II Kings that illustrate that truth…

Ben-haddad, king of Syria had besieged Samaria. Nothing was allowed in the city, nor allowed out of it. The result was a devastating famine. In the words of Scripture, “a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of seed pods for five shekels of silver.” Mothers were actually boiling their children and eating them for survival! In the midst of this sever crisis Elisha, the prophet, predicted that God would miraculously intervene. He said, “Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour would be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley a shekel!”

Impossible! Incredible! In fact, one of the king’s military leaders scoffed and said, “If the Lord Himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But God accomplished it! In the words of Scripture, “The Lord made the army of the Syrians hear a sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, ‘Behold the king of Israel has hired against us the king of the Hittities and the kings of Egypt to come against us!” In terror, the Syrians fled for their lives, leaving behind everything. Four lepers stole into the Syrian camp and found incredible spoil. They reported it and the spoil was so great that the prophecy was fulfilled exactly as given! (From II Kings 6:24 – 7:20)

The second story… Elisha warned the Shunammite woman, whose son he had restored to life, to leave Israel because of the terrible famine that was coming. She, and her family, went to Philistia for seven years. When she returned to Israel, she went to the king to try and appeal for her house and land. It just so happened as she sought an audience with the king, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha was there. The king had asked him about some of the great things that Elisha had done. The Bible says while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman appeared… “And Gehazi said, ‘My lord, O king, here is the woman, and her is her son whom Elisha restored to life!’” The king’s response? He said, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now!” (From II Kings 8:1-6)

Listen, I don’t know what you’re facing today… It may seem absolutely impossible! You need to know that God is able (cp. Ephesians 3:20-21)! Nothing is too hard for him (cp. Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17, 27)! Pray about it! Trust the Lord! Claim His promises! Remember Betty’s saying? “The Lord has a thousand ways when we can’t think of one! When all my means have run their course, God’s have just begun!”