7 Days of Super Bowl Stuff -SBXLIV- Day 5 “Discipline”

“You need to be that much more disciplined with what you’re doing and execution becomes that much more critical.”  – Drew Brees.

In this clip, Saint Head Coach Sean Payton, Quarterback Drew Brees and Running Back Reggie Bush demonstrate their knowledge of their formidable opponent, the Colts.  We see from their words their understanding of how good the other team is and especially in Brees’ section (:24-:44), he brings up an incredibly important topic of discipline.  Discipline for these men on the football field is essential.  Each player has a role, an assignment, a task.  On each and every play, if each player doesn’t perform their task, the rest of the team suffers.  It takes discipline, on every play, from everyone player, in order for their goal of the play to be successful.  The players may need to remain disciplined when it comes to their foot work, to their hand placement, to their form, to their route, to their fake, to their block, to their gap assignment, to their zone, to their man, etc. and so on.  Prior to each game, they must be disciplined with their workouts, their knowledge of the playbook, training, learning and taking care of their bodies.  Each player plays a pivotal role in the success of each play.

Click HERE for the YouTube link.

The same goes for us, in the spiritual life.  We must become and remain disciplined in regards to our spiritual practices.  We each have a specific role to play on our spiritual team, and when members of the team don’t perform, the rest of the team suffers.  This is why we are referred to as the body of Christ.  “…all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” [Read: 1 Corinthians 12.] The discipline that we must have starts at the beginning of each day.  Discipline involves our actions, words and thoughts.  If we remain disciplined, our prayer lives are strong.  We fight temptations.  We make virtuous decisions.  We live as Christ demonstrated for us.  Discipline in the little things makes us disciplined in the big things.

If you’re struggling with discipline of a daily prayer life, I recommend that you focus on that.  I share in your struggle, because prayer can be tough some days.  Becoming disciplined in your prayer means that you spend time, daily, speaking to God.  If you’re a married man, imagine not speaking to your wife for a month, and see how good the relationship is at the end of the month.  Probably not very good.  God is the same way.  Open your heart to Him and speak.  However, God gave us two ears and only one mouth… listen twice as much as you speak.

Man up!

7 Days of Super Bowl Stuff -SBXLIV- Day 4 “Champions for Life”

This year it seems the Super Bowl story that’s getting the most press has nothing to do with the actual game. It’s Tim Tebow’s Pro-Life commercial, starring him and his mother, from Focus on the Family.   People have been up in arms about this commercial, and it hasn’t even aired yet!

A few days ago, when news of the commercial started hitting the web-airways, I posted about it here.

Yesterday, however, I was forwarded a link to the following video clip.  The commercial came from a group of players from the 1986 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants football team.  Players came together to stand for life, which is what Tebow is doing, yet few modern-day critics seem to remember it.  I commend all players who stand for life, whether today, or 24 years ago.  Phil Simms, the storied Giants quarterback who had a cameo in the 1986 commercial, is still involved in NFL commentating on CBS.  I’m not sure if he’s responded to the “uproar” or not, but I’d be interested in hearing what he has to say.  Whatever that may be, take some time to check out this video.  It’s a bit long, so my apologies.  (9:20).

If your content has been removed and you can’t view the clip, click HERE.

7 Days of Super Bowl Stuff -SBXLIV- Day 3 “Tenacity”

Tenacity… quite possibly one of the most important characteristics of a football player.  Being tenacious means that you hold fast to something, that you’re stubborn and obstinate.  Typically, in football, tenacity refers to winning.  It refers to the heart of a player, a heart that never gives up, never gives in.  A tenacious player will do anything and everything to win.  He’ll play beyond his body’s abilities, when he’s worn down, tired, beaten up.  Tenacity is a quality that a football player must possess because everyone else on the field, especially on the other team, is playing with a tenacity that won’t quit.

How tenacious are you in your faith journey?  Do you hold fast to something?  Do you hold fast to the Gospel Truth?  Are you stubborn about your prayer life?  Do you live the truths of the faith out obstinately?  The other team, Satan’s team, is tenacious in their beliefs.  His team is stubborn and obstinate.  If you come into your “faith game” weak, they’ll tear you apart.  Your tenacity must outweigh theirs.  Your tenacity  must be so overpowering that they can’t even stand to be in the same room as you.  The demons in our lives hate it, they literally hate, when we’re striving for holiness in Jesus Christ.  Being tenacious about the journey toward holiness will send them into a rage and they’ll fight even harder against you.  Your tenacity must continue to increase.  Increase it by praying daily, receiving the Sacraments and keeping your eyes on the prize!

This Sunday, the Colts and the Saints are going to be playing with incredible tenacity.  In the end, I believe the winner will be the team that holds fast to their game plan, to their strategy, to their beliefs.

This video seemed to capture some of the tenacity with which the New Orleans Saints played this season.  It sort of took me back to college, getting pumped for a game, making the big hit, tasting victory.  (I figured since I gave some Colt love on Day 1, I should send it back to the Saints today, Day 3.)  Enjoy.  (2:13)

7 Days of Super Bowl Stuff – SBXLIV – Day 2 “Crowning a Champion”

This is my latest article on iibloom.com, posted Feb 1, 2010:

The countdown has begun; t-minus 6 days and counting until the big game. Super Bowl XLIV is upon us, one of the biggest spectacles in all of sports and entertainment. The anticipation of the game is on the minds of many sports fans across the country. The anticipation of the commercials, which might be the larger anticipation, is on the minds of television fans and of “people who like parties with lots of food.” In the end, there will be a winning team (the champions) and a losing team. It may be the team you are rooting for, it might not. 50/50. Win: go down in history. Lose: be forgotten.

It’s easy for us to get into the stereotypical (“dumb ox”) mindset when it comes to football…”ugh…me like football, mmm, smash, kill, score, win…ugh.” It’s easy to yell at the television, even though we know they can’t hear us and that the play we’re yelling about is already history. It’s easy to stuff our faces full of greasy food during any given game. It’s easy to become involved, in an unhealthy way, in the fantasy of the game. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing intrinsically evil about football, and in the right context, is perfectly normal and healthy, however, we should guard against a few tendencies that are common in our society.

1. We must realize that football is a game and has no bearing on what our goal in life should be – getting to Heaven.
2. We shouldn’t try to live (vicariously or otherwise) through our favorite football team or all-star players.
3. We should never allow football to take precedence over family time.
4. We should never allow football to take precedence over our responsibilities.
5. We should “consume” football in reasonable, moderate amounts.

Maybe football isn’t your thing, and you could care less about the Super Bowl, or the commercials. That’s fine. Substitute the worldly thing in your life that you enjoy the most for the word football in the five sentences above. (Shopping, Watching movies/television, Going to concerts, etc.)

Reporters often ask coaches what their “game plan” is and if getting to the Superbowl was in the plan from the beginning. What a ridiculous question! Of course it was in their plan, it’s every coach’s plan, and it should always be their plan as long as they’re coaching! No coach, or player, ever goes into a season playing for second-best. The goal is always to win! Liken this to our goals in life. If we go into our season without a game plan, without a set of plays and without the playbook, we’ll easily be defeated. We should go into the game of life with the goal of winning. 

Our “season” is our life. The “game plan” is our daily plan of how we’re going to grow closer to Christ. The “set of plays” are our everyday prayers, actions, choices and the Mass and our “playbook” is Sacred Scripture. If we set a goal of achieving the title of “champion” (a Saint in Heaven), we’re much more likely to be granted that salvation than if we never decide to shoot for anything in life. Set your goal towards God.

Many coaches are constantly telling their players to be humble, play hard and to not underestimate their opponents. They realize that their team isn’t perfect, while at the same time continuing to shoot for perfection. Their positive and optimistic outlook guides their team towards greatness. We should all be shooting for greatness too. God wants our best, given freely to him, in all we do. 

In the little things (hosting a Super Bowl party, being a guest at one, making comments about the plays, the calls or the commercials) during the game (and always), be aware of your words, your actions and your thoughts. A true follower of Christ never makes someone call into question his motivation, his intent or his character. Give God your very best and you’ll be crowned a champion!

Man up!

GUEST BLOGGER: “Two Stories” by Ryan Kraeger

Ryan Kraeger was born in upstate New York, second of seven children, raised on a farm and homeschooled from first grade to highschool. He graduated at seventeen and joined the military the same week, choosing the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) of Combat Engineer because he thought the video looked cool (it was primarily composed of explosions). Since then he has done many and varied things in the Army, including loading baggage on planes in Fort Hood Texas, spending a year in the Republic of Korea, patrolling and raiding in Iraq, and building bridges and uncovering IED’s in Afghanistan. Currently he is in training to be a Green Beret, learning his target language, Korean, before going on to the world’s finest and most intensive medic course.  Ryan is also an avid reader and amateur writer, you can read more of his writing at his website.

Two Stories:  Stories bump, stories merge, stories permeate each other. Stories can even unite. Only God can keep track of all the stories and how they interact. It is a vast, complex, multi-dimensional web, a tapestry of infinite complexity and beauty. The work of God in each life is not separate from His work in every life. What He does for me, He is doing for everyone else in the world, through me. Whatever He does for anyone else, He does for me, through them, whether we ever meet or not. It is God’s nature to be a union, and it is His nature to bring about union among His creatures, little by little and partially in this world, and then finally and totally in the next world, where all who are in union with Him will be in union with each other.  We get hints of it, even now.

Imagine a young girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen, who is in a bad dating relationship in high school. Her boyfriend is controlling, orverbally abusive, or is pressuring her to have sex or join in with his drug or alcohol habit, or whatever the case may be. She has compromised too much with too many, and isn’t sure how much she has left to give up, or why she’s bothering anymore. She’s not an innocent little girl anymore. She feels tarnished. Her whole life is a scramble to find acceptance, which for her means popularity with the right bunch of teenage girls, and being noticed by the right teenage boys. Her relationship with her parents and siblings has completely unraveled. She is lost, drifting, miserable, empty, and too busy to notice it. All her thought and energy is bent on the one thing that she thinks will keep her head above water, keep her life meaningful and worthwhile, and he isn’t worth the time of day. The preoccupation consumes her, and she doesn’t know what’s wrong, or where she should turn, or what she should do. Now, imagine that one day she is sitting somewhere, perhaps looking out the window of the school bus, or sitting on a park bench, or standing in a group of teenagers on the corner. Purple streaked hair, too much makeup, tight jeans, halter top, book bag and IPod, she looks just like any one of millions of girls her age, but she is not. She is God’s beloved daughter, His Princess, His Darling. I think God sometimes sends parents only one child, as a symbol of how much He loves each one of us, as if I were the only one.

Let’s put our girl on the bus. She’s sitting on her seat, looking out the window, with one hand jealously clutched by the boy who is sitting next to her. She lets him hold her hand, not because she really enjoys it, but just because that is what you do. If you’re in a relationship, you hold hands, you sit on his lap, you argue about how far you are willing to go. That’s just what you do.

Suddenly, through the window, she sees another couple. They are very old, in their sixties or seventies or eighties or something. To her teenage mind they hardly even register as people anymore. They are like museum pieces, totally irrelevant to her world of hard music, slamming lockers, filthy jokes and innuendo, and constant noise, noise, noise, noise. She has passed by this same couple sitting on their porch a hundred times and never seen them, but her King has a gift for her today. He opens her eyes, for a second, an instant, a heartbeat, just long enough. The old man takes the old woman’s hand and smiles at her. The old woman smiles back. All hell screams in fury, as years of lies, deceit, hate, sneering and malice are threatened all in an instant. They rush around, frantically trying to crush the new thoughts and wonderings and vague, painful longings, and they are mostly successful. They are very good at what they do. Before the bus reaches the corner, their rotten construction is standing in all its ugliness once again. God lets it go, because He knows more than they do. Something has been planted deep in her heart, and though she forgets in a minute, anxious not to threaten the card castle she has so carefully built for herself, she can never be the same again. One old man, on an ordinary day, for no particular reason other than that he just felt like it, did what he’d been doing for fifty years. He loved his wife. He never met that teenage girl, but for ever after her heart will be just a little harder to satisfy. She will want just a little more from the man in her life, her standards will be just a little bit higher. It will cause her no end of grief, because the higher your standards, the easier they are to disappoint, but her heart will have moved one fraction closer to realizing the dangerous truth, that she is more precious than this entire planet, and all the galaxies of the universe. Her Prince came to earth and died for her, and so she deserves more. All hell will stand between her and that truth, but because one old man loved his wife, her heart moved a fraction closer to it, and it can never be moved back.

Tebow in Pro-Life Ad [Pro-Life, Nothing Else Makes Sense]

I saw a Facebook status that mentioned something about Tim Tebow and the Super Bowl ad that he and his mother are going to be featured in on Sunday, February 7th.  The commercial has been funded by Focus on the Family and has an openly pro-life sentiment.  Pam Tebow, when faced with a sickness/disease during pregnancy with Tim (her 5th child), was informed by her doctors to abort the pregnancy for fear of her death, or complications with the baby.  Pam said no, and proceeded with the pregnancy, giving birth to a boy who would grow up and become one of the most recognizable faces in college sports history.

Tebow won the Heisman trophy and a National Championship, and quite arguably, the accomplishments he has made off the field far outweigh his accomplishments on the field.  However, regardless of what he’s done in life, he had the right to life while in the womb!  Pro-Life makes sense, pro-abortion doesn’t.  It simply doesn’t make sense.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the ad itself, but I have a news conference with Tebow’s response and also one man’s (Larry Murphy, I guess) take on the situation.  (I disagree with the name-calling, but thought some of his quips were justified.)

Please stop calling abortion Pro-Choice.  No one should have the choice to murder.  Call it what it is, Pro-Abortion (Pro-Death).

Man up!

God Must Really Love Me

Great perspective from one of my favorite country music singers, Craig Morgan.  I think there’s a lot in this video that we can each connect with.  I hope it helps give you the perspective you need today.  Blessings.

“When I showed the worst, He saw the best. He pulled the world right off my chest. Every day I wake up, I feel blessed. God must really love me.”

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