Lessons From The Wrestling Mat: Knowing The Right Voice
As a wrestling coach, one of my biggest thrills is coaching someone to their first victory. Sandusky High School in Michigan is a small school that does not have a feeder program like many other schools have. We didn't have any depth either. So if you joined the team, you are on Varsity. So when guys start wrestling for us, they have no experience whatsoever. It makes their first year a tough year.
Nick was a 189 pounder as a first year sophomore. He still had a little baby fat on him, and he was taking on juniors and seniors who have a lot of experience and are built like men. Nick lost his first 20 matches mostly by pin. He was getting a little discouraged. In wrestling, they have a term for this: bait. Nick finally got his first win at the Bluewater Invitational in Port Huron.
He took a guy down with a head and arm throw. He had him on his back, but they went out of bounds. So the referee had them go back to the center with Nick on top. The ref blew the whistle, and I screamed, "Get a cradle!" So Nick wrapped one arm around his opponents head, and one around his leg. I screamed, "lock those hands." He locks his hands. I yelled, "Pull him back!" Nick pulls that guy to his back. "Head in the temple! Knee in the hip!" Nick does all of that and a moment later, the ref slams his hand on the mat. It’s over! The victory music from the Rocky movies is playing (in my head)! Nick goes nuts, he hugs me, the ref, his opponent and his opponents coach.
Later, I asked Nick if he could hear me in the gym with the commotion of other matches, and other coaches screaming all while he was wearing his headgear, and he said, "yes, I know your voice, I trust it." Nick learned to drown out the other voices and listen to the voice that really matters. The voice that wants to bring him victory.
God wants to bring victory in our lives, but how many of us know His voice? How many of us are willing to drown out the other voices that is screaming advice to us so that we can hear the voice that actually matters? God's pleasure and desire for us is to have victory over the things of life that bring us down: anger, gluttony, failing relationships, addictions, past hurts, future anxieties, bad decisions of the past, and slow starts in life. Jeremiah 7:23 says, "Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you." This is a trust issue. Who do you trust to bring victory in your life?
Nick was a 189 pounder as a first year sophomore. He still had a little baby fat on him, and he was taking on juniors and seniors who have a lot of experience and are built like men. Nick lost his first 20 matches mostly by pin. He was getting a little discouraged. In wrestling, they have a term for this: bait. Nick finally got his first win at the Bluewater Invitational in Port Huron.
He took a guy down with a head and arm throw. He had him on his back, but they went out of bounds. So the referee had them go back to the center with Nick on top. The ref blew the whistle, and I screamed, "Get a cradle!" So Nick wrapped one arm around his opponents head, and one around his leg. I screamed, "lock those hands." He locks his hands. I yelled, "Pull him back!" Nick pulls that guy to his back. "Head in the temple! Knee in the hip!" Nick does all of that and a moment later, the ref slams his hand on the mat. It’s over! The victory music from the Rocky movies is playing (in my head)! Nick goes nuts, he hugs me, the ref, his opponent and his opponents coach.
Later, I asked Nick if he could hear me in the gym with the commotion of other matches, and other coaches screaming all while he was wearing his headgear, and he said, "yes, I know your voice, I trust it." Nick learned to drown out the other voices and listen to the voice that really matters. The voice that wants to bring him victory.
God wants to bring victory in our lives, but how many of us know His voice? How many of us are willing to drown out the other voices that is screaming advice to us so that we can hear the voice that actually matters? God's pleasure and desire for us is to have victory over the things of life that bring us down: anger, gluttony, failing relationships, addictions, past hurts, future anxieties, bad decisions of the past, and slow starts in life. Jeremiah 7:23 says, "Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you." This is a trust issue. Who do you trust to bring victory in your life?
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