Pray for Our Coaches: Day #34

The first and the second servants explain that they each put their talents to work and have doubled the value of the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded. The third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, burying it in the ground, and was punished by his master.

This Bible passage is so relevant to coaches. To understand this, think of it this way. The “talents” are the youth we have on the teams that have been entrusted to us. The servants are the coaches. The true question becomes what does succeeding at the sport look like for the coach. Most would say not losing. We seem to get tied up in wins and losses. As you read the parable, you see that the first two were given more “talent” than the third. But it is not how much they started with, but how much they ended with. They both had to work to double the “talent”. They could have done just like the third and just not lose any of it. The third was afraid to “lose”.

Good coaches work to make everyone better at the sport. The true measurement of how we handled the “talents” we were given should be this: Is everyone more talented today, than they were when the first day on this team?

Father, be with our coaches in all the sports at ACC. Help them to understand what true victory looks like, that it is not wins and losses, but the development of our players. Grant them patience and wisdom in how to work with each of the young talents they have been entrusted so that they can develop them completely. It is in your son Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.