“Being too funny to ever experience the fun”

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12


There are a lot of fun moments in my job as a football coach but, there is nothing funny about my job. That sounds like an odd statement to make but I honestly believe it with all my heart. I also honestly believe I have one of the most fun jobs on the earth. Does that even make sense? Hopefully I can explain. It is always fun to have a former player come back to visit and hear how his life is going for him and it is fun to have little kids get excited about meeting the head coach. Nothing is more fun than being with a group of young men after a win and celebrating with them in the locker room. It is fun to walk onto a field on Friday nights with a group of young men for competition but it is the farthest thing from funny. There should be laughter in the game of football and the young men who play should look back on their career and remember it as a fun time of their life. If they were to describe their career to me as fun, I would know exactly what they meant. Fun would mean that they totally immersed themselves into the game. They did not take a day of playing for granted and they were committed to being successful, whatever it took. For the players who are totally committed, the game is fun because their commitment always leads to winning. And winning on Friday nights is the ultimate fun. For a player who thinks it was all funny, I would probably also be able to describe his career exactly. He was the player who never totally committed himself to his teammates and never worked hard enough to make losing matter. He was so busy being funny that he never had any fun moments. His Friday nights ended with losses, but he really barely noticed because he was too busy being funny. As coaches, we often joke about the amount of difficulty we go through during a normal week, just to get to the game on Friday night with a hope of a chance to win and have some fun.

The fun moments in football usually come after many long days of tiring work and stressful moments. The funny moments in football are usually experienced by the members of the team who halfheartedly commit to their team and are too busy being funny to ever experience the fun.

I believe our Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy life and He wants us to have fun. He also tells us that a life, lived to glorify His Son, will be filled with difficult moments, days of wondering which direction He is leading, and a world of evil, constantly tempting us to live for ourselves. He also promises that a life lived for His Son will ultimately lead us to eternal life with Him. Until that day, He needs us to experience the fun of being used by Him to lead another to a relationship with His Son. So many in our world spend their life being funny, but their life is empty and they never experience the fun of seeing God's will fulfilled in their life.  They never have the fun of witnessing God's calmness in their life while all around them are struggling through life. While the world is busy being funny and living a life of selfishness, He needs us to continue the daily tough work and wait for the fun days of an eternal life with Him.



Chad