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
Sacrifice
Sacrifices and struggles often go hand-in-hand, and we dive into the creative ways we’ve managed to make the best out of tough situations. Whether it's grappling with the distinction between needs and wants or finding joy in small victories. Our contrasting life stages—be it as a busy parent or a single professional—bring unique perspectives to the table. We also touch on the resilience drawn from personal setbacks and how they shape our path, much like athletes overcoming injuries to rise stronger.
The journey of self-improvement doesn't stop there, as we explore the transformative power of discipline and sacrifice both in the gym and in life. From overcoming gym anxiety to embracing healthier lifestyles, our stories reflect the significant changes that come when aligning actions with personal goals. Through spiritual practices, lifestyle adjustments, and the commitment to inspire others, we celebrate the pursuit of purpose, illustrating that true success lies in uplifting those around us. Join us for an engaging episode filled with insights, laughs, and motivation to tackle life's hurdles with renewed determination.
Well, there are worse jobs. I had one one time that lasted a day. You'll never guess what it was.
Speaker 2:You get two guesses. Oh boy, Things that I could not see you doing. Being a waitress no.
Speaker 1:I was a waiter.
Speaker 2:You were a waiter, I was a waiter, wasn't your worst job.
Speaker 1:No, it wasn't my worst job. I was actually quite good at it. I had like a whole bag of jokes and magic tricks, okay.
Speaker 2:Another one would be well, I know you lasted longer than one day as a delivery driver.
Speaker 1:Yes, that too. Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2:Was that up there as one of the worst jobs you ever had? No, no, no, it wasn't. Actually, you know what that one was.
Speaker 1:So different, that I actually made a game out of it. Yeah, yeah, I have these weird like things that I do with jobs. Sure, in order to enjoy them. Yeah, yeah, but it's uh. Yeah, some jobs are just like the absolute worst.
Speaker 2:Okay, so your worst job was? I'm not going to tell you. Well, you said I had two guesses.
Speaker 1:I guess, if you would've got it right, I would add Okay, fine, I'll tell you. Uh, I was going to try and push it up to another episode.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you my worst job. What's that? Well, when I saw this I thought I mean, I've I've had, like I don't know if there's like a worst cause. You and I are kind of optimists where, like, I try to take a lesson in everything Right. So some of the jobs that I've had okay, that wasn't ideal, but I'll I'll give two.
Speaker 2:Um, I was in my early twenties twice a call center agent, but one for this like inbound, so you take calls instead of make calls. I could never do the telemarketing thing, but the inbound calls they're calling you for a service or whatever. So there was this like a tool that just came onto the market. I know nothing about tools, so they play this infomercial and then you're the one taking the calls and you have to take their information Right and based on the pricing and everything. Like it's just a total scam. So then you have these old guys calling oh wow, I can't wait to use this tool. I'm like it's going to be so good. I'm like, yes, sir, it's an extra $19.95 on top of your $9.95 for shipping and handling.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, and like shipping and handling came in an envelope.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I worked there for like two months. It was atrocious, I hated it. I needed a job. In between, another job, so job. So yeah, that goes down as one of my worst jobs ever.
Speaker 2:And the other one was working for an organization in a city that I'm not going to name the city or who it was, but I was doing an afterschool program in a in a center that was not a rec center, but they had a rec area in the center. It was a library and they had a lot of extracurricular activity for students that were of the at-risk environment that would come through and vandalize the library. So their idea was let's create an after-school program. I had to wear these big orange uniforms that looked ridiculous and you have these tiny, strict parameters of the things that you could do your, your board games you could play like. These kids are not into board games, they're into violence, they're into, you know, doing things that require a lot of physical activity. That's not like it was, and I didn't last long in that job either. It was a frustrating.
Speaker 1:Well, your bad jobs are way cooler than my bad job. I was just going to say like hawking stuff at the hockey game, oh, like I did that for about like two days and then I got a different position.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not a bad job at all. It'd be kind of cool doing no, but you had your back Whipping t-shirts into the crowd.
Speaker 1:No, you had your back to the hockey game the entire time and you're holding up like bags of cotton candy. Oh, like, yeah. You're selling licorice While everyone's trying to get out of the way. I'm trying to see the game Like it was brutal, but wow. Your adventures are way cooler than mine.
Speaker 2:Boy.
Speaker 1:I just I like to give us a little bit of a tangent To start, but Everybody's got to make Sac.
Speaker 2:Everybody's got to make sacrifices.
Speaker 1:That was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone's got to make sacrifices. Episode number 14 is about sacrifice. The theme is doing what's best, not necessarily what we want. So, out of my two jobs that I talked about, was I doing what was best?
Speaker 1:Well, probably not for long, um yeah, it is easier to do your best at something, though, when you enjoy doing something when you do something. Okay, I'll go back to the waiter thing. I was a waiter at a restaurant. I'd say it's not really like, it's not super high end. I didn't have to wear a suit to be a waiter Right. At the same time, I was one of two male waiters at this restaurant and so every time there was like so you had to wear the skimpy shorts and tight shirt.
Speaker 2:No, no no. So it's not the restaurant I was thinking of. No, no, no, sorry.
Speaker 1:Hooters are all closed. It was.
Speaker 2:I was picturing you with a big beard. Where's the bearded lady? At what?
Speaker 1:type of restaurants are you going to?
Speaker 2:This is like fine dining. This is like a steak place.
Speaker 1:You go to steak places. You said one of two male waiters. It's like that's the first place, my mind was I was, that's it, taking my ball and going home.
Speaker 2:We're starting from scratch. Episode 13 already went off.
Speaker 1:The rails enough, so Okay, so anyway. Fine dining yeah In proper attire.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:I had this thing down to an art. Okay, so being two male waiters, you'd have little old ladies that would come in for a dinner or dessert in the afternoon, okay, you have your main lunch, you have dinner and then the afternoon you have coffee and cake, sure, okay.
Speaker 1:So how do you make money off of coffee and cake? And you're like one of the only people that are on the on this shift, sure. So I figured this out. Coffee was cheap, okay, and my manager was often like, listen, if you got to, like, give someone a second cup of coffee or a third cup of coffee, just give it to them.
Speaker 2:Okay, and like Back in the day they didn't do coffee refills. No, they did coffee refills.
Speaker 1:But like I mean like for free, like if someone's had a dinner and they're spending 40 bucks on a steak you're not going to charge them $3 for a coffee.
Speaker 2:I didn't know you actually had to pay for coffee refills back in the you didn't have.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying a refill, I'm saying an initial coffee, Like after dinner.
Speaker 2:Some people like to have coffee.
Speaker 1:So I have your coffee. You say, just give them the coffee. So a couple of ladies would come in, they'd order cake. They'd have cake.
Speaker 1:Or maybe they had a light lunch, sure, and they'd have dessert, and so I figured out I could get drinks at like any time I wanted for like a buck, and then I get half price anything on the menu. So I would use my discount to get half price dessert. So I'd often like two old ladies having lunch. Can I treat you to dessert? I see you really enjoy your conversation. Are you two friends? Oh yeah, no, we just meeting up. We haven't seen each other in years. That's great. Would you guys like guys?
Speaker 2:like a dessert.
Speaker 1:Great, buy a dessert Cost me like two bucks. Sure, then, all of a sudden, I figured out the whole change aspect of things, because it was back in the day when people used to pay more with cash than with cards, right, and you'd say well, listen, someone had a bill. Now they had lunch about 12, 15 bucks each Then they had dessert, and I would work out dessert to be just a couple dollars over, whatever the largest denomination was for bills. That way, instead of breaking large bills, they could give a more generous tip. And so I always like to play games like that in my own head.
Speaker 2:Figure out the math ahead of time and say like okay, this bill's going to come to $19.95.
Speaker 1:But if I chart, if I give them a $3 dessert now, they're not going to only give me a $2 tip, right? Instead, they're automatically going to give me a five or a 10 and work their way up out of it. Sure. So I would often try to play games with jobs in order to make it more enjoyable.
Speaker 2:Until you find that one person's like, give me my change please you're like, okay, give me my 20 cents, yeah yeah, there are those people out there so sometimes it was just a matter of like.
Speaker 2:Even though it maybe was not the most enjoyable moment of it, it was trying to find a way to enjoy it and have fun with it sure, yeah, and sometimes you know, um, when we're talking about work and we live in a time where finances are tough, right, more than ever, the cost of things are way up there. In everything, in food and rent, vehicles, utilities, you name it Costs are astronomical. Maybe you're forced to do something that you don't enjoy? Yep, you just have to do it because go out and pay the bills. Right, you're a lot of stories, and again I'm not married we. Right, you're a lot of stories and again I'm not married, we.
Speaker 2:This is why I love hosting with you, because we're great friends, but we live in two totally different, opposite ends of the world. Absolutely married man, a lot of kids, business owner, single guy. Have time to do things that I want to do, but have my own obstacles as well. Right, so we both have our own realities and we look at life through a different lens. We can can both agree on this. Sometimes, when finances are tough, you just have to go and find a way to figure it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and it's not always circumstantial, it's need.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, and it's, and want is different than need.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:And I and I, and life stage is important. I like how you laid that out, because we don't even know life stage of our listeners.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it's like, okay, what's the life stage that you're in? I'm in life stage of just getting by, yeah. What life stage are you in? Well, even though you might be a whole different age, or the same age, of that same person that's going through that. Oh, I have abundance.
Speaker 2:I have lots, yeah, or?
Speaker 1:the same age of that same person that's with you. That, oh I, I have abundance. I got lots, yeah, and it's amazing, though, how abundance does not always bring joy sure and how lots of times, looking back to those times of struggle or like just having to do to get by to the need point, not even accomplishing any of the wants, you look back and like, whoa, I can't believe we got through that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know let's relay this to the athlete that maybe you know. Let's start with time. Maybe at one point in time you had an abundance of time and you could be able to do other things that you enjoy doing. You could spend more time in the gym, spend more time coaching, spend more time doing other things. And now you're looking at your life going. I don't have a lot of time anymore and you know, maybe my skill set isn't where it used to be. I had a, you know, maybe an MCL replacement, or you know something like that, and my goals gained to average has gone up from what it used to be, or I'm not scoring as many goals. Well, how do I find the way to get back to where I was? Sometimes you have to do what's best not necessarily what we want in order to get those results.
Speaker 1:Well and y'all, and sometimes you have to put not even just put in the effort you got to put yourself in difficult positions. Some people like use the recovery from an injury. Okay, you know I. I severed my ACL playing soccer. Do I look like a soccer player? I'm not a soccer player. Don't answer that.
Speaker 2:I can give you an example right now. That happened an hour and a half player, I'm not a soccer player. Don't answer that. I can give you an example right now. That happened an hour and a half ago. That tells me this is not a soccer player.
Speaker 1:No, but you know what, not a soccer player. And when I severed my ACL, you know my first thing my father said to me you should have kept your skates on and I was just like well, he's like yeah, no, no, no didn't injure yourself like that. Playing hockey, right, it was usually your job to try and injure someone in the role you had in hockey, sure? So it was like okay well that's a little bit of perspective.
Speaker 1:I kind of went out of my comfort zone to try a different sport, to do something, and in doing that I injured myself. Now to impact my hockey. After I did that I didn't play men's league for I didn't even coach for a year, a couple of years after that, and it was like looking back on it, I'm like it took a lot for me mentally to even get back into it, to start pivoting and doing things on the ice that I was back comfortable again because of the recovery, even mentally from it, let alone physically. It was a big strain on alone physically. It was a big strain on on a lot of things and it was and it's difficult to. When we have to sacrifice, sometimes it's not by our own doing.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to use another hockey analogy. Let's say, maybe you know you're, you're 17, 18 years old listening to this, and maybe you're used to playing or you're used to playing at the pro level right, we used to put in results. Maybe you're a player playing, or you're used to playing at the pro level right, you're used to putting in results. Maybe you're a player playing major junior. Put up pretty good numbers, you know, for the first couple years you're 19. Now you're 20 years old. Right, you're 20 years old, your final year of eligibility.
Speaker 2:Major junior teams aren't looking at you anymore. You're like do I want to play junior A in the last year of my career? Where, in last year of my career? Where, in looking at myself in the mirror, going, I just spent three years playing major junior? Why would I want to finish all my career playing junior a? Right Is that? Is that something that I'm relegated air quotes to do? Maybe in your eyes, and it's a difficulty. Add that application into any other sport in any other situation. You're used to playing a high level, you know. Now you're forced to go into a spot that isn't what you're traditionally used to, you know, but it might be best for you in that moment, compared to what you feel, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, might be yeah, and sometimes it's not necessarily what you can't do anymore. It's now what you have to do. And so it's. It's the two things are synonymous with each other, and it kind of takes me to. Yeah, it made me look at our verse for today.
Speaker 2:Matthew 16, 24,.
Speaker 1:Matthew 16, 24 says then Jesus said to his disciples whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Yeah, we're getting into that, and I'm Dan and you're Dave. Cross and follow me. Yeah, we're getting into that, and I'm Dan and you're Dave.
Speaker 2:Yes, Hello, welcome to the gospel, episode number 13. We spend so much time talking about baseball. I think we sidetracked us.
Speaker 1:We sacrificed the intro to get to our point yeah, yeah, but it was jobs. We were talking about jobs.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you only wish your job was baseball.
Speaker 2:Well, and the and the, the vision of you, waitering and nevermind.
Speaker 1:That's right, exactly Through everything, of course, the vision of me playing soccer.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to block that out of my brain, which then also blocked everything else from the show into my brain. So trying to go back and access it's like no, it's too painful.
Speaker 1:That's right, that's right so if so, if we want to follow Christ, if we, it requires something, and, and it's um, it's denying self. Now, what does people?
Speaker 2:go ahead.
Speaker 1:You're going to ask the question that I'm about to answer, so go ahead.
Speaker 2:What does denying yourself look like? What does sacrifice look like in your life?
Speaker 1:Yeah and uh, some people see it as giving up everything, but at the same time, I think it's a little more focused than that. It sometimes it's realizing what you have to do. It's not necessarily just a matter of giving up. It's realizing actually what your commitment is and it's a focus. So let's take it back to the athlete.
Speaker 1:If I am a sprinter and my focus is to run as fast as I possibly can in a straight line, am I going to be committed to making sure that I'm an excellent skater? Like there's, there's things that you would not do sport wise. Um, because it's a different stride, it's a different style, it's a different a lot of things. Even though it may be a great sport and training and and a lot of other things, you wouldn't do that. And soide, it's a different style. It's a different a lot of things. Even though it may be a great sport and training and and a lot of other things, you wouldn't do that and so. But sometimes it's also those things that you want to do. You're not going to have pop, pop tarts every morning. Sure, that's an important discipline as well. So there's certain commitments that come as a cost. If you want to improve in something, it requires commitment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when I think of sacrifice in my life, you know it's end of August I was feeling kind of lethargic and just blah overall, went on a trip to Dallas, came back and looked at my life and went well before actually this happened actually before I went to Dallas, that I just wasn't feeling healthy and I thought at my age, with my family history, you know I'm not going down a good path. Most of my life I've lived pretty liberally in the, in the sense that my diet didn't matter. I could just eat whatever I wanted to, cause I was always pretty thin growing up and didn't really have um based on my metabolism. I slowed, like I could eat a lot for a long period of time up until my mid-20s without gaining any weight and it would irritate me. And then finally into my 30s like, oh okay, actually I'm at the weight that I want to be. And then, you know, mentally in my mind I'm still stuck in my teenage years where I'm not putting on any weight. So then I'm continually eating at the same pace where now I'm starting to my body's like reacting differently. I don't have the abilities that I used to have, you know, in my teens anymore, but I'm still stuck in the old mindset that I was stuck with in my teenage years of going oh well, it doesn't matter what you eat, you're not going to gain any weight, and all the other things that go along with that. I don't get into that in today's show, but that all caught up to me in the summertime where I'm going hold on Like. Now I'm starting to feel in my body things that I shouldn't feel, that are getting me into a difficult situation where at my age these are risky scenarios to be in.
Speaker 2:So I walked in and my whole life I've never gone to the gym, always been afraid, never, never, always been afraid of it. I thought you go to the gym as a place where there's judgment and people are laughing at you. Number one, number two I don't never know what I'm doing. I walk out and do a gym, I pick up a dumbbell and that's it. Okay, this is fun, what else do I do? So I would never go because I didn't know what I was doing and I also thought it wasn't a place that I would enjoy. So I had a friend that took me, you know, once or twice last year with him as a buddy pass and I'm like, oh, this certain location is actually kind of cool. It's convenient, I like it, it's not bad.
Speaker 2:So, um, I walked in end of August and said hi, I want to buy one year membership. They're like we don't sell one year memberships. I'm like I want to buy one year membership, we don't sell one year memberships. Like I'm committing to this. Just let me talk to somebody, let me do what I want to do, yeah. So I sat down with this guy, talked me through this and that's okay. Well, you know, here it is. Do you want to try personal training? I said, sure, I could use it, because if I don't have somebody to show me what I'm doing, to keep me in line, I'm not going to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So committing to that for a few few months now, looking at it going. Okay, what are the things I have to sacrifice? I can't be staying up late watching, you know, tv shows. That would just be my way to relax. You get down another episode of Netflix Sometimes it's into the early hours of the morning then, whatever, that's gone. I'm not going to eat super salty or sugary foods anymore. That's gone. Gave up pop, that's gone.
Speaker 2:You know, there are other little habits in my life that I've been abandoning with the trade-off of going okay. Well, I want these results and I'm starting to feel, you know, my first day on the treadmill, I couldn't put it on three incline and three speed for longer than 10 minutes without being exhausted. And now there's tremendous progress because sacrificing something that was important and a mindset that I stuck in for a number of years, that I ultimately realized at a pinnacle age, going. If I keep going on this mindset, if I stay the course, if this is the continual, perpetual path that I'm going on, this is going to lead to disaster. So what the sacrifice is? Throwing that away and taking now this new path.
Speaker 1:So now let's take that wonderful example, personal example, and take it and look at the other half of the verse. Cause if you are, if sacrificing and you're being disciplined, taking up your cross and falling, how does one do that in sport?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, I want to think in examples. In a room you know you might be, I think there's in sports culture, those who are around sport and the intricacies of sport. If you're listening to this and someone is on the outside, just think sports is playing and the rigors of going to the rink and whatever. When you're involved in the culture of sport, there's temptation. There's sometimes thing things happen within the room, in little factions of the group that are outside of the locker room, the dressing room, that can make things difficult when it comes to how you live your life. So there might be decisions in factions.
Speaker 2:We talked in episode 13 about how you know when you start to change, the situation around you starts to change.
Speaker 2:Let's say, you're, you know, you've recently just given your life to Jesus and you're in a group that is now doing things, that behaviors that you used to love to do, but you now don't want to do those things anymore. So, giving those things up, sacrificing those things and giving you the opportunity to live a better life or it might mean, okay, well, your goals gains to averages 390. Right now you want to get it down to 210. What are some things you need to do. Okay, well, if you're hanging out with friends three nights a week in the evenings, maybe you need to cut that completely out for three months and focus more specifically on these things Getting up early, reading the Bible Maybe that might be a difference for you as well. If you're just getting up in the morning on your phone for 10 minutes, you have breakfast, you have a shower, you go to work, you go to school, maybe instead now you get up a half hour earlier and you're reading the Bible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're really equipping yourself. You're equipping yourself to be able to stay disciplined Right One. You're equipping yourself to be able to stay disciplined Right One of the guys that I really like following is the chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens NFL football team.
Speaker 2:Excellent chaplain chapel program.
Speaker 1:A lot of good information and a lot of his stuff that he talks about. You yourself are a chaplain yes, 100%, and I say that too often, by the way.
Speaker 2:100% we all have our crutch words.
Speaker 1:We all have our crutch words absolutely often, by the way, 100%. We all have our crutch words.
Speaker 1:We all have our crutch words absolutely, but one of the things I wanted to point out was a lot of times he gives a specific verse that guys use to equip them, not just for the game but also for life outside of the game. One of the things that he posted the other day was just a simple verse and I thought when we were talking about this, when you were just sharing and talking about being disciplined and equipping yourself and having these things in order to keep on going and persevering, Because you know, perseverance develops character and character hope and there's all these great things that come from being disciplined and carrying up your cross and following Christ, no matter what the cost of it is. In Isaiah 54, verse 17,. It says no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
Speaker 2:Very simple.
Speaker 1:And just as a quick word of encouragement, you'll just pop stuff up. That's what we're talking about, and it's a good reminder for me that it's just like you know, sometimes it's just the simple things.
Speaker 1:It's the simple reminders to be disciplined. It's the simple reminders to that's like you know what. There's going to be things that are against you, even if ever there's going to be some. There's going to be things that are going to try and get you undisciplined and to tear you down and to kind of chop you at the knees. But you know what. You just got to get back up, even if you do get chopped down, and keep on going with it.
Speaker 2:And I think a lot of athletes listening to this can. They can resonate with the concept of goals and discipline. And you know I have a goal that I want to do this and I think a lot of athletes can gravitate to that concept. Right and okay, well, I'm going this way. I know the things I need to do. I know my diet, I know I need to be working out. I know elite, especially high level athletes, right, I think the further down the chain you get, there's some distraction to different levels and it's not much of a commitment to a lifestyle. We're professional athletes. I have a goal. I know I can't eat these things. I know I'm going to be the gym. I know I'm going to do so. I mean it's broad we're speaking to overall in sport. But you know, I think the concept of sacrifice, doing what's best, not necessarily what you want. Sometimes that might mean, hey, you were on the top line last season, you scored 20 being on this guy's wing. This year you're going to be fourth line or instead of power play.
Speaker 1:You have a different role.
Speaker 2:You're killing a penalty this year instead. Yeah, and you're not only. You're on the second penalty killer unit because I want these guys out there. You, instead, are going to be the checker when it's a late, late in the game, tied two, two. You're not out there to win the face off anymore. You know this guy. I want you on the bench, I want you controlling the atmosphere of the bench, keeping guys elevated, yeah Right, which is still an important role, yeah Right.
Speaker 1:Which is still an important role. But you know what, though? It is hard to take that young or old?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I coach hockey. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, you 15 double a hockey. I told a young guy the other week and said you're not playing center, you're on winger this week. And it was hard for him. It was difficult Just even go out of a position it was, but I had to do it because part of the strategy for it was he was going to be part of our power play the week after right and on that power play he has to play wing.
Speaker 1:sure, because of the hand he is, because of the skill set he has, right, and in order for him to put him in that position, I had to, for one game, put him on the wing to get him out of the center, map mindset Right. And he went through the frustrations of it and that following game, when he was on the power play, his line scored. They got the goal and it was a. It was an important goal in that game.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And it was interesting because just the other day there was a posted on social media. There was a college team I think it was Denver, it was Denver NCAA hockey Did a very similar power play formation and the guy who's playing wing made the same perfect pass to the guy in front.
Speaker 1:The guy scored and I just showed it to him and said, hey look, even these guys are doing it, and it was just like this light bulb moment for both me as coach and for him as player, that it was like listen, there's a, there's a method behind this, and I think, often too, when we're called to be disciplined, when we're called to deny ourselves, when we're called to take up, god has a purpose behind all of this.
Speaker 2:And the purpose often can be example. I want you to be an example. That's what Jesus was. That's ultimately what the goal is. We want to be examples to others. Right, Our lives are not our lives. It's to live in according to his purpose to be an example to other people. Right? So I want you to live better. Yes, for you to have a great life, but the way you're going to have a great life is by serving others. Yeah, right, so you're on a team.
Speaker 2:You start to adopt that mindset. You're a number one guy. Now you're on the fourth line. You know, I can think of a lot of nhlers in this mindset. I'm not going to mention the name that comes to my mind because there's a lot of controversial opinions based on this guy's name, but it was on the oilers last year got to you know with them and whatever. Back with them this year again. But there's a lot of players in the league who have done this. They've gone from top line to bottom line. So then another guy comes on the team, right, who? You have just adopted this mindset. You're loving it, You're working through it, You're seeing how it's changing you and they're not giving their 100%. You're looking at them going okay.
Speaker 1:Well, I can now look at it differently because I'm living in that life, yeah yeah, it gives you a different lens to look through and also it allows you not only to be an example, say, listen, I can be an example, maybe to motivate and encourage this guy, but also, at the same time, maybe this is the thing that allows me to have a deeper conversation with him or to point somewhere else. And it's not always through success, but it's often through struggles, that we have an opportunity to show our own character but more or less display Christ-likeness to those who are watching but more or less display Christ-likeness to those who are watching.
Speaker 2:Here's what the ultimate problem overall with humanity it's always been the same and it'll always be the same we are selfish people. We want everybody to look at life through our lens. We want everybody to hear our problems, to hear our successes. It's all about us. That is the number one thing, because that's what made Lucifer fall from heaven. That's what the enemy's goal is is to make us selfish people. Selfish is the opposite of love.
Speaker 1:Well, and so often in sport, when you see someone, I guess you'd say fall from a platform. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's usually the case. It all it usually is so. So then, how? How do you mitigate that? Through love and humility. So jesus wants us to be examples of him through love and humility. So we talk about taking up your cross and following him. Sometimes that means sacrificing and, yes, you might deserve a position, and there might be examples out there that are. You know, you should deserve it and get it, and that's not we're talking about. We're talking about maybe you're still qualified, but it's not the right timing anymore. Yeah, so this is now a sacrifice of going. You know what? This isn't my time anymore. Now my job is to elevate others. So, like you said in those moments, this might be a gateway for you to have this great conversation, a life-changing conversation, because it's not about you and the story. Yeah, you're not the focal point of the story, it's Jesus. Yeah, right, putting Jesus in your spot and going. How do I put that? First, and that's a big sacrifice, and then realizing what eventually comes from that as a reward.
Speaker 1:We're going to wrap up with a quick story. Young athlete teams playing an important tournament. Guy stands on his head playing in that the team his teammate who won player of the game wins player of the game again, or someone else had won it.
Speaker 1:The guy goes and gives it to the guy that stood on his head and he says, out of frustration, he's like no, I don't want this, we didn't win the game, we didn't do this together, I don't want it. And he took the player of the game trophy out of a little bit of frustration and tossed it in the garbage can. And the point that he made afterwards he got in a little trouble from his coach for doing that. But he explained to his coach it wasn't about me. Me winning wasn't the important thing. I did that so that every single one of the players in the room could win and because we were self-focused or some individuals were we ended up losing, right. But the point afterwards and it wasn't until later on in the year that kind of everyone got that. But that was like one of the defining moments of this team was when all of a sudden it was like no, listen, this is a team thing. If we're going to be successful, it's got to be about us, not me.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:And I think that's kind of the heart attitude about sacrifice is when we start seeing everything that it's like it's not about me, it's about everything that it's like it's not about me. It's about everything that I can do for all of us yeah, that's a great example.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I just to add to what you're saying, I think that it's funny. People in a team can understand yes, well, I'll block shots for the team for sure, all you know, I'll kill penalties for the team for sure. Maybe you can understand that. But what if it means I have to scratch you tonight because this guy is just better suited for this matchup? Are you okay with that? Wow, right, so you know, looking at the concept of how selfish are we really? And then what can we sacrifice for the message of elevating other people, which ultimately, will bring glory to the cross, right? So?
Speaker 1:and doing it in a way where the act of taking the trophy and putting it in the garbage doesn't seem as selfish as in itself.
Speaker 2:Right, that's the art behind it, sure.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think that's where humility comes in. If you haven't listened to that episode, that's a good episode. Yeah, it's the art behind it. Sure Right, and I think that's where humility comes in. If you haven't listened to that episode, that's a good episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's also a good episode. No, I, the the. The two really go hand in hand, you know. I think that sacrifice is something that you know we all have to encounter, be it If you're playing sport, if you're listening to this. You have things in your life that aren't necessary. You have hard decisions you have to make. Sometimes you got to do things as we talked about earlier in the show work a job that you may not like to make ends meet or, you know, change a career and do something for a short period of time, but sacrifice is an important component to that. I'm Dan. No, I'm not Dan.
Speaker 1:We already discussed that you stopped taking to that I'm Dan no. I'm not, dan. We already discussed that. You stopped taking my ID, like my goodness.
Speaker 2:I want to take your ideas if I ever become a waiter. Maybe I have to be a waiter one day. Maybe that's a sacrifice.
Speaker 1:I know, I know you supposedly know a good restaurant that you could work at. I'm Dan, that's.
Speaker 2:Dave. Follow us on social media instagram and twitter and download a podcast where all episodes of podcasts can be found.
