I experienced again a Friday night that showed me the key thing, the nugget that makes high school athletics so wonderful. It was the opportunity to be on the sidelines and feel HOPE well up inside as our varsity guys on the field faced tough situations against Grant High School. But hope without preparation is foolish. In these situations there was hope because the players had been trained for just such times. This is what sets good coaches apart. They study their opponent, develop a plan, prepare their athletes and then have the opportunity to watch their players execute the plan - and experience that amazing emotional ride as they HOPE that all “goes well” during the contest.
What other group of professionals has this favorable set of circumstances for teaching how to not only desire, but to believe what you desire is obtainable. Teams and individuals desire victories in regularly scheduled games or events and they also desire long-term league or tournament championships. Coaches lead these efforts and they and their players get to see the result of planning, training, preparation and competition within days or weeks. Victory is not always the result, but the effort of preparation makes HOPE possible. It is the wise coach who can take these lessons and make application with their athletes to the bigger battles of life that take years to see the results. Hope, as a confident expectation, is spoken of many times in the scriptures. Titus 2:13 says, “...and while we live this life WE HOPE and wait for the glorious appearing of God Himself and of Jesus Christ our Savior.”
I would like to share a personal story of just how this “confident expectation” might sound. (Three years ago I read this to Bob one week before he died of Parkinson’s and then shared it at his Memorial Service) I was in my junior year in high school and I had the opportunity to work on the summer staff at Mt. Hermon. In later years I realized that God had chosen to do something very special for two seventeen year-olds. And He did - I know, I was there, I saw it happen. I was to share a room in a broken down cabin called the Boy’s Staff House with two other seventeen year olds - Bob and John. I was an “outsider”. My family had no ties to Mt. Hermon like the others. But as the summer started I became Bob’s friend. Bob was from Fresno. He was easy to be with - he loved sports, being active, ready to laugh, ready to entertain. Bob knew all the trails at Mt. Hermon, and together we hiked every one. Bob loved to fish. Before the big flood of that winter changed the face of the San Lorenzo River below Felton, we fished and swam in every gentle flowing hole along that stretch of river. A popular spot was called “The Garden”, but there were many spots that became an Eden for a couple of seventeen year olds.
We somehow knew that this time, this place, this summer was special. We knew God was in our lives and was blessing us - a couple of seventeen year olds. We would go to the beach and surf or play volleyball. Sand, surf, and sweet Christian seventeen year-old girls at the beach. And there was football - the high school guys vs. the Staff guys down at the Rec Field. Where did I throw that first pass to Bob? At the beach, or at the Rec Field? Bob said he didn’t play for his high school in Fresno - but, he was a “natural”. He could run all the patterns - and if I could get the ball near him he would catch it. That summer, God let two seventeen year olds share a “greatness” that few QB’s and receivers have ever experienced. I don’t think anybody even suspected what was happening - but we knew - this was a friendship at a level few have had the chance to be part of - it was three months of living a marvelous dream. “Hitchman to Watts” – God’s special gift to us.
“Am I sad as I recall our seventeenth summer? Not at all. It was a great - wonderful - fantastic gift from God’s love. Did we think that life would end as it appears to be ending for you, Bob, these nearly 50 years later? We didn’t dwell on it - but as Christians I’m sure we knew that God had a plan for our lives - a plan we were willing to follow - and then God would call us “home”. So, here we are, Bob - Hitchman and Watts - on the edge of the next “special” adventure. And do you know what I “see” (my confident expectation), Bob, in my spirit? I see you spread out wide - ready to put one more of your moves on that “old defender” - the enemy - the devil - and I see you breaking free - free for one more catch. Then, you’ll turn there in the end zone - hands held high in victory - waiting for me, your buddy, to run and join you in celebration before the Father. Maybe Heaven will be like being seventeen! What a Blessed Hope we have!”
Share your HOPE for the game - and Heaven, too!
Coach Hitch
