 SERIES: Stay Strong (2 of 3)
Compete Like An Athlete - Part 2 2020 has been the year that keeps on giving for sure. Besides the headline horrors for the year, you as an officer have faced attacks on your character and on your profession adding stress and danger to both you and your family. Last week we looked at how soldiers accept suffering to make it through. This week we look at how athletes endure hardship to compete. I played church league softball years ago, but I was hardly an athlete...I played ball with friends. Professional athletes don’t “play” their sport...they compete. No doubt it takes special ability to compete at those levels, but professional athletes would never achieve what they do without enduring hardship, committing to training and adopting a “do-whatever-it-takes” mindset. When an athlete first starts competing, they find where they excel and what they have the skills to do better than the average person. But there comes a time when they have to commit in order to better themselves and to be able to compete with other naturally-skilled athletes. Winning is not possible without fitness and training, but disciplining the body and working out does not guarantee a “win” for the athlete. After years of discipline, work outs, dieting, training and sacrifice, an athlete will notice an increase in their performance, but to achieve the goal of being a dominant competitor, they cannot stop there. Training must continue and gets harder building on what they have already learned and endured. The work is harder, but mentally they are in the habit of enduring and overcoming to reach their goals. Achieved goals are often rewarded with wins, but if they ever stop training and disciplining their bodies, their forward progress stops. Sometimes struggles in life are that way, too. We like the “wins”, but what is most important is the person we are becoming in the midst of enduring hardship. Whether the goal is a promotion, a better marriage, being a good parent or just being a better friend, hard times are going to come. 2020 has been FULL of hard times. But as the athlete has learned, you’ve endured too much and come too far to quit during the hard times. I don’t know what hardships you are facing, but stay strong. You’ve got people depending on you, and you’ve got people praying for you. I am praying for you this week. Thank you for serving others in the midst of all you have faced in 2020. Your service is appreciated, Pastor Rob Sign up here to receive each week's word of encouragement delivered to your Inbox. Links to other posts in this series: Part 1, Part 3
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 SERIES: Stay Strong (1 of 3)
Suffer Like A Soldier - Part 1 I laugh at the 2020 memes, but to be honest, this year has been HARD for almost everybody I talk to...for some it has been VERY HARD. Over the next couple weeks I’d like to share a few thoughts on staying strong. Nobody wants to suffer hardship, but it’s part of life for every single person on planet earth. What do you do when life sends something your way that you never expected and you suffer hardship? I have never been in the military and at this point in my life, I’m sure that I could not endure even basic training. I have respect for the discipline and dedication of all soldiers, but I am in TOTAL AWE of Navy Seals. I watch every documentary and read every book I can about them. One statement quoted in many of the Navy Seal biographies I have read is a statement made by DH Lawrence: “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.” I don’t know if that is quoted during training, but a non-self-pity mindset is definitely a requirement to endure the hardship of special forces training. Every Navy Seal biography I have read stresses training in 90% mental...a person CAN go on, even when the body is trying to say it cannot. This kind of mindset was definitely demonstrated in Marcus Luttrell’s story as told in the book/movie Lone Survivor. Many times he nothing he could see to motivate him to keep going, but he did because of the way he had trained his mind. Had he not done that, he never would have returned home to his family. A solder serves because they believe in the calling to protect this great country. He/she is willing to suffer hardship because the calling is worth the suffering. You also serve because of a calling...and you suffer hardship for that calling. I can only imagine the mental and emotional stress you live with as an officer in these times...the physical danger, the stress on your family, the false narratives about who you are as a person and the constant attacks on your character. You choose to sacrifice for others and you suffer for doing so. It’s not right, I have no explanation and no answers. What I can offer is my personal and public support for you. You don’t choose to suffer hardship, but you choose a way of life that accepts suffering in the name of your calling. You have a HIGH calling and as you serve this week, please know there are MANY of us praying for you and standing with you. Stand strong and serve well...we need you. Your service is appreciated, Pastor Rob Sign up here to receive each week's word of encouragement delivered to your Inbox. Links to other posts in this series: Part 2, Part 3  What does it mean to “have a good heart”?
For politicians, sometimes it seems all that matters (to some) is that they mean well. They promise to change this or that, help this group or that one. Nothing gets done, but they “have a good heart” because they “want to make a difference” and so they get re-elected on the same empty promises. Sometimes a person who is doing a good thing is described as “having a good heart”. And while this may be true, have you ever known somebody (other than yourself, of course) who has done something more for the sake of looking good (or not looking bad!) than out of pure motives? King Solomon thought having a “good heart” was important, too, but here is his perspective. He said, “All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs hearts.” In other words, it’s all too easy for us as humans to assume we are doing things for the right reasons...out of a “good heart”, but God judges those same actions in light of the motives of our heart. Why are we doing what we are doing? To look good? To benefit others? To demonstrate kindness and love? This proverb is an obvious reminder that our motives are just as important as our actions. It is also a reminder that we can sometimes fool ourselves, so asking to be shown our true motives might be a good idea. But the encouragement I wanted to leave with you as an officer today is the fact that God DOES look at your heart. Some voices judge you because you wear the uniform and view everything you do through a skewed lens. I believe you do what you do out of a calling, a sense of “this is who I was created to be.” If you serve with integrity, when the attacks and false narratives come, you can have peace within your heart knowing that God sees your heart. He’s got your back, and He will walk with you through hell and back if you look to Him with a pure heart. I am praying for you this week, Pastor Rob |
Pastor RobThese are words of encouragement I share with officers each Monday. I hope they encourage you as well. Please feel free to share this blog with other LEOs. Archives
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