The Gospel In The Game Sports Podcast
Conversation and stories about real athletes and the journey thru sport, faith and life.
Connecting athletes, sports families and the church. Build bridges and telling real stories to help repair, build and grow people.
Hosts Dan Dromarsky and Dave Dawson
The Gospel In The Game Sports Podcast
Free Will
Have you ever found yourself suddenly noticing the struggles of others, simply because you've faced similar challenges? This episode is all about free will but also comes with the empathy and understanding that emerges from shared experiences. Whether it's enduring physical challenges or navigating emotional struggles like depression there are challenges in life. Join us as we share light-hearted stories from the world of sports coaching, where humorous misunderstandings about football techniques add a touch of laughter. We also reflect on life's unpredictable journey and ponder about faith in God while walking day by day, inspired by the wisdom of Proverbs 16:9, in guiding us through planned and spontaneous moments alike.
From managing screen time to the intricacies of personal responsibility, explore how small changes can lead to significant transformations. We recount the amusing tale of a hockey player shocked by his phone usage and the playful bet with profesional player, illustrating how incentives differ based on personal value. This journey through unexpected anecdotes seamlessly transitions into a deeper conversation about free will and the power we have to structure our lives positively. Discover how embracing these lessons can foster personal growth and healthier habits, turning free time into a valuable resource for self-improvement.
Lastly, we delve into the profound impact of understanding and supporting others, especially when their choices might lead them astray. Through coaching stories, we highlight the necessity of empathy and personal connection before offering guidance. Drawing inspiration from many things we explore the multifaceted role of coaches as mentors, focusing on the life circumstances affecting young athletes. As we conclude, we emphasize the enduring power of connection and compassion, encouraging listeners to reflect on the balance between acceptance and guiding others towards positive change without judgment. Tune in for an episode that blends humor, heart, and a thoughtful exploration of life's unexpected challenges.
so after you walked with a limp, you'll notice people walking with a limp. You ever experienced that?
Speaker 2:I. I was wondering if you were targeting me in this episode, because I've literally been walking with a limp since march possibly so when I start walking with the lamp, I'm like I feel targeted. No, you know what, though I don't notice it every once in a when I start- walking with a limp.
Speaker 1:I'm like I feel targeted. No, you know what, though? I don't? Notice it every once in a while that you walk with a limp, but every once in a, because I hide it well. You do absolutely. It's the walker in front of you that throws it off every once in a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the old lady standing there saying help, I can't get anywhere.
Speaker 1:Somebody get that man.
Speaker 2:That's right, exactly. Someone stole my walk. Yeah, but I mean it just when you get you need what you need, right. So yeah, but in order to survive.
Speaker 1:But when you've experienced injury in sport.
Speaker 2:Uh, whether it's a limp or anything else, all of a sudden when you've experienced that injury, you notice when others have experienced that sure, and maybe not even like physically a limp, but in other areas you, if you have a deficit in your life or something that you are struggling with, you will see that in others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Maybe not. Limp is an easy one to pick out, but it could be a lot of different things. It could be someone who's got maybe depression or or things like that, or whatever that might be.
Speaker 1:You can notice that easily in someone else, yeah, and and when we see someone struggling with that, we, and when we've experienced it ourselves, we all of a sudden know the setback that comes with it Sure. Even though we've made great plans to do great things. Yeah, I'm a pitcher in baseball, which is a sport, and all of a sudden my arm is injured or my shoulder is done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know you know the setback have some more cheeseburgers, because that's what baseball conditioning is oh no, baseball conditioning is way more than cheeseburgers yeah.
Speaker 2:So, but I and I think that's one of the main reasons why people get into coaching because you can see, I remember that. You know you're lining up for a slap shot in hockey and it constantly goes off the heel of your stick or your receiver. Coaching young receivers in football and they keep dropping the ball. Okay, well, you don't catch the ball with your eyes. They say what do you catch the ball with your eyes, not your hands. You want to look the ball in right, so you notice the deficits in others.
Speaker 1:That's why you're able to coach them I always laugh when people say catch it with your fingers, catch it with your fingers, point your fingers out, and then some kid jams his fingers. Nobody says catch with with your fingers.
Speaker 2:What's that? Nobody says catch with your fingers. No, no, I've heard it before. No, I haven't.
Speaker 1:I've heard it with some Catch it with your fingers, have your fingers out, don't just catch with your palms.
Speaker 2:You're supposed to have a triangle, catch it in a triangle. I know the triangle, or is it?
Speaker 1:testing your eyesight. So you of you, yeah, yeah, hold a metaphorical triangle no but I honestly I remember, oh boy, well, it might have been 20 years ago that I heard it catching with your fingers.
Speaker 2:Having your fingers out in order to the ball hits your fingers the motions you are making right now tells me you've never actually coached football no, I've never actually coached football.
Speaker 1:That would make sense, thank goodness, but because it looks like you're like trying to attack somebody with like hold your fingers out like that.
Speaker 2:it's like are you gonna strangle somebody? Like, are you going to strangle somebody? Like, what are you doing? Maybe that's why things didn't work out for you, but episode 10 is about free will. I am Dan. No, I'm Dave.
Speaker 1:No, you are Dave. No, I'm Dan, you are Dave. I am Dan Dramarski. You're Dave Daw already off the nose. No problem, I'll hold on. I'm gonna grab my. I have a sharpie around here. Name tags hello, my name is dave, I can do that.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm gonna do that next time. Actually, I'm gonna get lanyards done up, so you come into the, the sound recording space.
Speaker 1:Put on your lanyard, please, and your binoculars, and I'll know it's you.
Speaker 2:And then, boom, there we go I've been occupied as a leftover, the swimming pool.
Speaker 1:So oh boy there's a sign up there do not let this guy name dan do not in the same way.
Speaker 2:That's why I think I'm referring myself to as dan, because when I got thrown out, what's your name, dan?
Speaker 1:that's my disguise. Yeah, my beard's a little longer.
Speaker 2:I look Amish today, but yes, episode number 10 is about free will the choices we make. Theme verse for today Proverbs 16, 9. In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes or determines their steps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and often we make plans, don't we, we make plans, and there's often enough people in our lives that don't make plans and they, we, we, uh, we make plans and, uh, there's often enough people in our lives that don't make plans and they end up walking with a limp. Oh yeah, absolutely Well, when it's kind of like you, you look forward to a weekend. Oh, Dave, what's your plans?
Speaker 2:this weekend.
Speaker 1:You got a busy schedule. I got a busy schedule. Uh, how do we fit things in at like recording a podcast? Okay, this area of time, but there's some people you talk to. What are you doing this weekend? I got nothing but some pizza pops, a blanket and a TV screen. I'm jealous, but you're like plans.
Speaker 2:That's a plan. Those are the plans, wow.
Speaker 1:Okay, here we go. But you know what? It's easy for us to make short-term plans, more difficult sometimes to make long-term plans, and vice versa. But I think when we make plans we can better execute on those plans.
Speaker 2:And I've always pushed back against this statement. When someone says I don't have time, no, you have time. We all have 24 hours in a day on the planet.
Speaker 2:We all have the same amount of time. It's what you make time for and you don't make time for. You know, if, if you're, if you get to that point in time where you look at your schedule and maybe you've hit a point of stress or things have started to overwhelm you, or maybe you have a limp and trying to find a way to overcompensate, you know, change some things in your life Cause maybe there's an injury or you know a trauma that has come and now we have to reevaluate. It's a great time to look at your schedule and go what can I make time for and what can I not make time for? And then you might realize, wow, I just spent two hours scrolling on my phone. Oh that I could have fit two hours of something else in there.
Speaker 1:We have an exercise that we do at chapel Okay Sports, chapel junior hockey where to start off our chapel time. I say to everyone okay, what's your screen time on your phone? Oh, and everyone whips out their phone and guys start chatting. I say, okay, everyone stand up. Screen time on your phone. Oh, and everyone whips out their phone and guys start chatting. I say, okay, everyone stand, stand up. If you have two hours or less this past week, three hours or less, four hours less, five hours plus, and keep on going. And one year there was a guy who all of a sudden had like 16 hours of screen time on his phone. I said, wait a second in a week I said no.
Speaker 1:No, like a day average day and I said to him I said wait a second, like how many hours are you playing hockey, like in practicing in a day? Oh, two, okay, so that's 18 and let's say you eat okay, today you ate so three meals. Say, if you had them quick, maybe 15 minutes each, 20 minutes Okay now you're at 17.
Speaker 1:That only gives you seven hours left, which I assume you slept and I hope you showered. Like, is your phone way off? Well, I like to listen to music and do stuff. I'm like I'm pretty sure screen time isn't counted always as music, sure, but it was like it was eye opening. It was eye-opening and so the challenge that we give with that is managing your time is okay. Now that you know your screen time, cut it back by one hour next week, cut it back by one hour the week after and then on the third week.
Speaker 2:I say now cut it in half. And if you cut it in half, we're going to reward you.
Speaker 1:I'll give you a nickel. No, no, actually we double the wings give you.
Speaker 2:I'll give you five dollars, yeah double the wings.
Speaker 1:Double the wings that you get, but anyway. Um so all of a sudden, that challenge, but you would not believe.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's intermission time, it's intermission intermission history to that five dollar comment yes, there is.
Speaker 1:There's a story, another story for one day just came to the back of my mind. It was like I remember that that's right but anyway, back to my point you give this challenge to have a player cut their screen time in half and like be intentional how they manage their time and it's eye eyeopening to them on how much time gets blown. And it's not just athletes, it's people in general.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bet you five bucks that you can do it.
Speaker 2:She could tell in my eyes that I hadn't fully put that thought to bed yet, just thinking through Intermission Again okay, let me just tell the story right here. So dan's the chapel for a junior hockey team. There is a player who is nhl draft pick, destined for big, big things, likely gonna be making millions in his career. Comes from a family that has had NHL bloodlines consistently through it. They're not hurting for money, so well, they're wonderful people, but they're wonderful people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, not not like in a disrespectful way, it's just like no, they built great enterprise and they're they're wonderful people. So Dan made this bet in a situation with this person and then said hey, I bet you five dollars if you do this. And when he texted me I said you sent that to that guy. Five dollars. What is he? Three years old. I bet you a shiny nickel, like, like. If you want to dare that guy, it's 50 bucks, it's not five dollars. No, no, no, no, no. I just you had to be there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was funny.
Speaker 2:This conversation fits nowhere to what we were talking about.
Speaker 1:But you know what, though? At the same time, it was a good challenge, yes. How do you squeeze that?
Speaker 2:in.
Speaker 1:I think it was like you were interviewing him pregame, yeah, and I said you've got to include the word pizza, or meatball or something like that, in with the in the interview and every time you do it I bet you five.
Speaker 2:I'll give you five bucks. Yeah, yeah, he had five dollars and he was three by smiling, so yeah, um. Anyway, that was an amusing thing I do want that.
Speaker 1:It was amusing to the player that did it too, because afterwards I asked he's like I was really thinking about it and I was really looking for an opportunity to do it, but I didn't do it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But if you would have said 50, you would have fit it in nine times.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, exactly, absolutely, would have raked it in.
Speaker 2:If you were asking a seven-year-old about it, you would have been pretty excited. But anyway, when it comes to free will, he had the choice to fit that in or not. And he didn't talking about free will, that everybody's got the free amount of time during a day to fit something in and it's the time you choose. Like you mentioned, screen time. Maybe that might be a thing for you, maybe it might be healthy habits could be eating, could be going to the gym, maybe it might be. You know how much time you spend on the road, maybe how much time you spend sleeping. You know if you can make time for your spouse, right. If you can make more time to practice, you can get to practice early. How many of your coach maybe wants you to spend more time working on this drill? Oh, coach, I don't have time. I have to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But you know what, though? Sometimes the opposite can be dangerous too. Sometimes a little too much free time Right, it can be way, and even a little too much free. Without that structure, it's easy to fit in waste. At the same time, people consider waste consumption.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how about? How about this that you know somebody who has a lot of bad things happening to them in their life? They think, well, okay, why are all these bad things happening to me, where everybody has the same ability to navigate through situations and do things differently? That my teammate has success, comes from a great family, but you know, I've had these bad things happen to me. Oh, I must be cursed or I must be whatever. Right, how do you navigate through a situation like that for somebody?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so question for you in what you do around sport, what do you do with your time in order to prepare yourself for what you're going to spend time for?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. So, um, managing broadcast and we have events coming up. I'll look at. Let's say, we have an event starting next week. It's going to be four days long. I know how many games I'm going to be doing. I know what that teams that I'm going to be four days long. I know how many games I'm going to be doing. I know what that teams that I'm to be broadcasting for, so I'll allocate okay, I need to build this many rosters, so I need to.
Speaker 2:I know how long it takes me to build a shell of a roster about maybe an hour per roster 45. I'm going really fast. So if I have 10 to make, I need to make time for probably two days worth of that. Wow, because I'm not going to sit for 10 hours in one day, because that'll be the next day. I'll spend the whole day sleeping. I'll be just brain tired. So I need to make sure I have enough time to do what I need to do in everything else in life and then, on top of that, to prepare time to do the rosters and then travel, of course, and making sure I'm rested enough and things like that, to plan it out for an event. Right, I'm diligent with that time yeah, so sometimes I'm not sometimes not until four in the morning doing it.
Speaker 1:So you really have to plan your course in order to get yeah it doesn't just happen.
Speaker 2:I don't. And I think if you want to be successful in something, if you were a business owner, you can't just walk into your business and assume everybody there knows what they're doing. Oh yeah, they have a direction, you know they're. They're all making the same amount of money. They all have the same goals, the same desires. The robots yeah right, the peas are full. I need ice cream. Yeah, um, go back to episode nine so weird it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not everybody is like that, but you need to make a plan to be successful in your business and how you attack your life.
Speaker 1:And at the same time there's boundaries with that free will too, because you can't just say I'm going to stay up for 36 hours straight preparing for this. Because then now all of a sudden, you've actually it's caused a detriment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that book Boundaries. I read that about 10 years ago, seven, I'd say, probably six years ago, more like it. It changed the way I attack a lot of things in my life my relationships, my friendships, my professional life because we are human. There are some of us who can have a higher capacity for whatever. I'm one of those that I have a certain amount of capacity in a day and once that's maxed I unplug.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting and if it's people.
Speaker 2:if I'm spending eight to 10 hours around a lot of people in a day, I need another day just to be alone. Okay, how does that navigate If you're in this situation? It just works for me.
Speaker 2:So that helps you regroup for the next, the future days, reset and go, okay. Okay, now I've had my time alone, like I. I just spent this. Uh, I was traveling with a friend for five days straight and this friend is a very good friend of mine, but he also wake up in the morning and he's like we're gonna do 85 things today. At the end of the day, we're gonna hang out, watch a tv show, yeah, and then, like when at the end of the five days, I'm like I have had my people max. Yeah, I got two days. Don't talk to me. My phone's off, my lights are off in my condo windows are shut, like I'm talking to nobody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I need that time to regroup again well, I remember following you on social media on that trip that you, that you took, and it was really neat seeing all the stuff that you did. At the same time, you'll follow it on a map and you're like, oh my goodness, these guys covered so much ground 100. I thought a little bit about you there and I was like, okay, knowing the other guy yeah, you know what I could see how he would want to go see all that stuff and it was probably really important for him to go see. And I'm glad that dave went with him to go do it, because their friendship is like that, where it's like they'll go do stuff together. That's a great adventure. At the same time, there's a cost to all of it too, for both, because we're all human, we're exhausted, we get weary, we get other things, and we both have a. Everyone has a temperament, I think, a point where all of a sudden it's like, okay, that's enough, and you're right, everyone has a different level to it.
Speaker 2:It's like, okay, that's enough and you're right, everyone has a different level to it. Yeah, and I think what I learned in that? Now we've been he and I have been friends for a long time and I mean, a lot of friends are like this, but that was just the example. So, using this as an example, sometimes we can look at our situations and blame somebody else. Well, I'm tired, it's your fault. Well, while this your fault, your fault, your fault, hey, hang on. Everybody's got the same 24 hours in a day. Everybody's got the ability to make decisions, communicate choices, have choices, right. If I choose to not communicate, hey, I need this time to myself to recuperate and recover. Hey, I need this time to do this. I want to do this, and you are just assuming someone else understands or you allow them to dictate your life. You can get into the blame game of pointing fingers.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2:Instead of understanding, you have the free will to do X. Yeah, now this friend and I have gotten very good at communicating from all the trips that I've taken and same it's blended into other friendships. I now have learned, hey, when I'm on a trip, hey, do you mind if we do this? I just need this time to myself. And I found there was a fear and we had talked about rejection, anxiety, et cetera in episode nine. Go back and listen to it. But there's a fear of how someone will receive that if you pipe up. But I think it's important to remember in our own free will, you can point fingers at somebody and blame for your stresses and your difficulties, or you can realize, hey, like, my time is worth something, yep, my sanctity is worth something. I'm going to set this boundary and say I need this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and those boundaries that's the exact word I was going to use.
Speaker 1:Those boundaries are important in free will, because otherwise it's like liberty isn't is important, but you want the same time legality is important it's a balance between the two, and I think in faith there's this constant leaning towards one or the other for so many people on different things, where it's like, okay, uh, you have the liberty to go do this and that, but at the same time, I want to go on an adventure, but I'm not going to paraglide, I'd rather bungee jump, or rather parasail, or I'd rather do it differently, and so it's not only about preference, but there's flexibility within that free will. We also have to understand in free will, not everyone knows God, and so here's something that I experience often in free will is I'll hold chapel, or a group of guys will come together and language comes up. Someone drops an F bomb, and so when we do chapel, this is 20 pushups, boom, automatically.
Speaker 1:And all the other guys are like oh, I can't believe you said that in front of that 20 pushups, and so all of a sudden the guy will do 20 pushups. Other guys are like, oh, I can't believe you said that in front of that, 20 push-ups, and so all of a sudden the guy will do 20 push-ups apologize. I'm like, hey, you know what, that's your language. But thank you everyone else for holding you accountable. Around me I even had someone involved in sport in a higher level say to me the other week. He said, dan, I just feel like every time I swear in front of you I need to apologize, like I'm sorry. I said no, I said you know what. Thank you for apologizing first of all, but I understand that's part of your language, so I'm not offended by you talking like that. I understand that's part of your vocabulary.
Speaker 1:But here's something that I want to bring to your attention. One day you're going to talk like that in front of your children and then your children are going to repeat it and that might be the aha moment for it. I hope your aha moment right now with me is the beginning of catching that before you do that with your kids, and so I think often we can help people with their free will. Just kind of guideline it in a little bit. Just kind of guideline it in a little bit in order for them to hopefully see not only perspective but see the fact that God's really the one that establishes our steps, or at least for those that know God, where free will can just run willy nilly if we really wanted to, but ultimately God's in control.
Speaker 2:Free will has consequences, right Consequences. Free will, when you think of down the right path to navigating to success, brings the term discipline. If you can be disciplined in the things that you are doing, your free will will lead you to success. If your free will brings you know, apathy and strife, your free will could lead to a greater sense of difficulty in life. Down the long road you could be in financial peril, you could have relationship stress, you could have disobedient children. Maybe you might even have kids in prison, or whatever. It might be. Not that that is the answer to it all, but the answer comes down to allowing the lord to determine our steps and giving laying that down at his feet okay.
Speaker 1:so question for you what, sir? What should we do? What's your thought on this? If we see someone exercising their free will that is actually causing them harm or others harm around them?
Speaker 2:Do you have a relationship with them?
Speaker 1:Um, I'm not going to yeah, I'm not going to necessarily say whether this is based on a specific example.
Speaker 2:Well, to me, I think the important part is if you have a relationship with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, because I think that is where, like if, if, I'm driving down the street, yeah, okay, cause. I think that is where like if, if I'm driving down the street, yeah Right, and I see you know someone sitting on the sidewalk, you know, and he's got 24 beer and he's smoking cigarettes? Yeah, he's smoking cigarettes and he's he's hammered on a Friday afternoon. I'm not going to stop and go. You know what? Like that's not a good choice for your life.
Speaker 1:Like, I don't know who that is, but if it's someone I have a relationship with, for sure I can speak into their life okay, say, say, for example, you know you're working, you, you know a, a young football player, and say he's struggling with um family life, with relationships, but also, at the same time, he's struggling with whatever it is. We can name a dozen different things.
Speaker 1:Today's difficulty yeah today's difficulty for him. Do you automatically step in or do you wait? Do you try to nudge in there with something to help him? How do we help someone? I'm thinking of this, let me just say, for example, this young person knows god and then temptations of team and everything else around them have come into play. The person's struggling, balancing, even like going to church and not going to church, or maybe they don't, and you're someone that just cares for their well-being and you see how, um, just the decisions that they've made is impacting them and you don't want it to seem like them. Being involved in sport is the cause, root of it, right? How do you softly come along someone and love them and show grace to them, at the same time helping them to? I don't know? You see the error of their ways.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 2:I would think a big component of that would be understanding why they are where they are, how they got there and the reason for their behavior. I think that's a big part of it, because sometimes there's a situation where disaster has just struck right, oh shoot, dad lost his job, we lost our house. You know, playing football is the only thing that's keeping me sane, but in the meantime, you know I'm having a hard time fighting against all these other struggles in my life. So this is holding me together. For me to come in there and say, hey, you really got to get your stuff together, that's not very compassionate, but other times somebody just in their free will and their apathy and their laziness was making poor choices. Hey, instead of going to bed at nine o'clock, I have 16 hours of screen time. What are you doing with those 16 hours of screen time? You're up repeatedly until four in the morning doing these things and getting up at seven. That's your free will of some poor choices you were making. So you know finding out the why behind that, and I feel like you know this is a part of a bigger conversation. We can dip a toe into this right now.
Speaker 2:But one of the main things in our society we're getting away from right now. There was a beer commercial years ago where they had different cultures and whatever. Come together from different backgrounds and sit them at a table and say, hey, who are you, where are you from? Or I'm Irish, I'm this and I'm that, and they'd share a beer and say whatever. That beer is so uniting cultures together, and I thought that was so fascinating because it gives the ability to go. Okay, well, you believe in this super controversial, you know polarizing topic in society and you're on the other side of it. Well, instead of understanding each other and knowing why you got to that, we're just going to yell at each other. And that's what social media literally is Two deaf people yelling at each other.
Speaker 2:So, and I think to summarize this thought is, it can be a tendency sometimes that if you come from a faith-based background, where maybe you come from a situation where you aren't really aware of your I don't want to use the term bubble, but you're shielded from the greater world and everything is seems easy, yeah, you go into a world of difficulty and you see, well, why is there so much difficulty? You just got to do this. But the opposite side of it. If all you know is chaos and someone comes to you with stability, right away, your, your, your guard is up. Yeah, what do you know? Everything's perfect in your life? Nope, no, nobody's got a perfect life. Yeah, there's always trauma, there's always difficulty, so how do you get to that person?
Speaker 2:I think a big component of it is understanding them, taking the time to hey, can, can we just tell me your story? How did you get to where you are today? What would you love to change about your situation? Is there anything you'd love to change? If there was a miracle in your life, I could pray for right now that you would want to change instantly. What would that be?
Speaker 1:yeah, for sure, and I think part of it is it's not. It's not living a life of full acceptance of others and because that's the whole universalism idea. You know, it doesn't matter what, everyone does it's all good, it's fine, go ahead you do your boo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you do what you do I do it, I scratch my back, you scratch yours, yeah, that kind of thing. At the same time. You're right. I think part of it is understanding the perspective where something came from. I think often we don't we're we're really shy, we're easy to criticize and we're easy to communicate stuff that's on the surface without realizing that off. Almost always there's an underlying piece that's there that's causing whatever is on the surface.
Speaker 1:And I remember seeing an illustration a while ago talking about the differences between trees. Okay, in a really humid and arid, uh, like a place in the world where there's lots of water, a tree root will be shallow and wide. Um, in places where, like, you'll see a tree growing in the middle of, like a hot, humid place where there's like no grass and but yet this tree is surviving, the root is straight down and it's deep, extremely hard to remove that tree and it's like really, really deep. And I think that was is a good perspective for me on relationships where some people everything's shallow and not too many things are deep, but it looks lush and green and everything, but the roots are shallow.
Speaker 1:Where other place is, it's like oh, things aren't looking too green and too vibrant and too wonderful, but the root is really really deep, right. So I think often it's like you oh, things aren't looking too green and too vibrant and too wonderful, but the root is really really deep. So I think often it's like you know, we can try to establish these things but really our heart wants to plan a course, but ultimately God controls the root system and supplies to the root system, to the root system. And so if we really want to walk with him and understand him and establish steps with him, our roots need to be deep in him, in his word, in communication with him. It's so important.
Speaker 2:And sometimes maybe you're dealing with an athlete, let's say, if you're a coach listening to this and you have behavior modification, you're looking at that. You know there's a player who seems easier to coach. Okay, well, I give them this principle and it apply. They apply it and bang, it's changed right away. Interesting. Maybe there are other athletes that you're coaching where you constantly seem that behavior modification is a trip up. Every single day there's a new crisis, there's a new thing, there's a new.
Speaker 2:They're just not grasping these concepts. Well, back to your metaphor that maybe for the one athlete some of those are shallow the, the traumas, the difficulties they understand it. For other ones, maybe the roots go way deep. Maybe the reason why they're not grasping these concepts is let's take a look at their home life. How is things at home? Oh, okay, things are not good at home. Maybe there's like some deep roots there that instead of investing in you know just the shallow, you might need to spend a little more time with this person going to the root of the surface.
Speaker 2:If I tell you, I've been watching Friday Night Lights again. The TV series went back and watched that. I love the way the coach in this show assesses the way he coaches his players, because there's so much to the show and he's great at assessing. Some players the roots are really shallow. Other ones you got to spend extra, extra time with because the home life is really difficult, right. So, as a coach, that's a big component of it. You're're not just a coach, you're also mother, father, brother, sister. You know you have to be a number of different roles to diagnose and decipher, because sometimes somebody's free will led them down. A lot of different choices, but you have the ability to understand them and go okay, well, for you it might just be this hey, go do this. For other ones you might need to spend a little more time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and I think you touched on it a little bit earlier in this episode just with like circumstances arise too in life. I remember coaching years ago when there was a kid on the team and, yeah, just struggled with confidence and a few other things and had a supportive family that came and sadly, mom passed away. Like this kid's like young, like under 10, and loses their mom and you're like the person who was there at every practice, every game, everything else, and kid played a couple more years and then just stopped playing hockey and you kind of saw that you know what the plan changed. The plan changed, got involved in other things. I remember meeting his dad and him at a grocery store and stopped and chatted for a little bit and it's always nice when you get the hey coach, hey coach Dan, and you chat with him a little bit and you found out that the passion changed and even though they had this path and the steps that they wanted to take, that course change. Their steps changed right and um.
Speaker 2:And then now, all of a sudden, their view, I think, on probably whether it's free will or other things maybe their perspective changed a little bit too so let's take this, you know, to finish this show on a crazy turn and it came into my mind when I walked, looked at the itinerary from the beginning, walking with a limp right. I've been involved with para sports over the last couple of years. Been doing para hockey events made some incredible friendships around the world with the different you know Czechia, italy, canada, the USA saw some of the greatest athletes on the planet.
Speaker 1:Isn't it amazing. I watched some of the highlights. Sorry to interrupt, but the Paralympics some of the things that they're doing is amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, phenomenal, it's phenomenal. So you know, you look at the situation of free will. Sometimes free will doesn't mean freedom, Sometimes your habits in your free will to difficulty. There are a lot of para hockey athletes that I worked with, you know, military IED lost their leg, yeah, Right. Or there's a growth, a disease Okay, Now it has to be amputated. You were skydiving and as you landed your leg got caught and bang, you lost your legs, right. There's so many stories like that that we as a society often don't have the ability to understand, to navigate, to process, to even put wisdom to or how to put words to it. But you know, this is your new reality. So you know how do you navigate those things. And when I thought of walking with a limp, the first thing I thought of is there are a lot of guys who lost a leg over an IED, was paralyzed Okay. Now my new reality is I'm playing para sport, yeah, Right. Like, how do you? How do you navigate those situations?
Speaker 1:Oh, man, I think from I'll think I'll just kind of give us this thought, and I think this might be a thought that, if you're listening to this, it's good to, at the end, just maybe take some time and just reflect on this to, at the end, just maybe take some time and just reflect on this when situations arrive in life, whether negative or positive, if we go back to God with them and we're willing to take them and just simply put them before God and say God, what do you?
Speaker 2:want me to do with this God?
Speaker 1:what do you want me to do with this? And I think often we think of God when we think of praying God. Okay, I have this situation. Is it right for me to do this? Is it right for me to do that? You know what? I just pray that you give me the answer, instead of like conversing with the Lord.
Speaker 1:The scripture says come, let us reason together. Though your sins are red like scarlet, they become white as snow. And this reasoning together with God and having a conversation with him, like and just bringing it before him, say, lord, I want to plan my course. This has come up and my human desire is to plan my course, but I want you to establish my steps, lord. What do you want me to do with this? I'm just going to sit here and listen and, lord, as I listen, I pray that you work within my hearts, work within the people that are around me, even without me reaching out to them and talking to them. Help me to figure out what I can do to please you and serve you. You'll be amazed at what happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think this topic of free will and I want to end it on this is that when you get into a situation like disaster losing a parent I just went through a situation where there was a team that I was involved with lost one of their coaches tragic death. So that wasn't part of the plan, but now you need to make a course correct. Somebody's free will got in the way of that right. Somebody losing their legs, ied. You know situations like that when disaster strikes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, out of your control.
Speaker 2:Out of your control, lord. What do I do with that? There's a lot of stories out there that people can share about. You know, this wasn't the plan, but this is where the lord, this is where I laid at the lord's feet, and he now took it. Maybe for episode 11, I don't know. I feel like we've we've talked about some really, really good topics so far in these 10 episodes. Um, maybe the next one's gonna be one on disaster. That, uh, could be one you know what's just.
Speaker 1:let's just make it that yeah.
Speaker 2:Episode 11, I think, on disaster. I think that that's. That's a tough one, but this is a good one. Free will. You can catch us we're all podcasts are downloaded as well as follow us on social media Instagram and X and communicate with us. You can chat with us, talk, give us your feedback, what you liked, what you haven't liked and, yeah, love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1:Exercise your free will and ultimately you can decide what you want to say. Dave, will you close and use the word meatball If you give me $5. Not a chance.
