Shaming of theTrue 

A fresh and unique blending of two traditionally disconnected topics---spirituality and sports. Follow Sly Young as he attempts to accomplish the feat of playing professionally in the three major sports using positive character traits taught through scripture.

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11-29-10

              Handling Your Business

GALATIANS 6:5-For every man shall bear his own burden.

There are several ways to teach one of the primary traits needed in this life-- responsibility. It could center on the age old question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” This question was a guilty retort from Cain, the farmer, after he had killed his brother. God’s reaction to his question implied very loudly, YES. He banished him from his home and cursed all his future crops. When Joseph, possibly one of the most powerful people in the world, asks to see his youngest brother Benjamin, an older brother took full responsibility for his safety. Accepting responsibility for others can be a tricky business. There are times when you seem to lose control of the situation if the other person chooses to act irresponsibly.

God is well pleased when you take on these types of responsibilities to others. He is aware that it builds leadership, confidence and the respect of others. God rewards us when we eagerly take on these responsibilities. A New Living Translation to the lead scripture highlights the focus for this particular lesson. It reads, “We are each responsible for our own conduct.” Every man (and woman) is responsible for their actions. My, my, my, that is truly a deep statement. If I had a quarter for every time a student pointed the finger at another student, a teacher or even a parent as the cause of their behavior, I know I would be wealthy. Then factor in the many adults who never grab a hold of this truth, when they blame their childhood, boss, a spouse or the Devil himself as being responsible for their conduct, I’d be filthy rich!!

Responsibility can be broken down to simply knowing and doing what is expected of me. My conduct or behavior is the only part of my personality that I am 100% responsible for. The other two components, environment and heredity, can possibly be out of my control. But I must be accountable and “bear my own burdens”.

Other people respect and rely on folks who are responsible. Referring back to Joseph, who was made ruler over an entire country, was always an extremely responsible person. No, not just an extremely responsible person but advanced from slavery to ultimate power because of this important character trait. God placed it in him, he developed it and men respected it. He never blamed or made excuses for his situations.

If our children could be taught responsibility at young ages, maturity would follow soon after. Parents, teachers and coaches all would love to have their young folks to understand the impact of “owning up” to their life choices. When you take responsibility for yourself the blessings flow. It enables you to correct some things, as well as fine tune others. Self-esteem goes higher because you are now able to admit mistakes and not avoid the accountability.

That is one of the most obvious signs of a maturing individual; being a responsible adult and citizen. The good thing is that there is no age as to when a person is ready; it depends on the experiences and the recognition that it is an admirable trait to accomplish. In our never ending parallel from life to sports, responsibility is a great coaching tool to create the things mentioned earlier, leadership ability, confidence and respect from coaches and team mates. Championship individuals and teams share this common trait. They all take responsibility for the team (others), but individually take responsibility for their own conduct. This is manifested in how they train, prepare and just plain understand how important it is to achieve and “bear their own burden”. At different times throughout a practice, game or season, the burden of knowing and doing what is expected falls on all athletes. Think about a team of leaders who possess a high level of confidence and are respected by each other and the opponents. This team would be hard to beat on and off the playing field. Most of all they would continuously please the parents, coaches and our Most High God.

                                                                                                                  Fred Tudor

Fred Tudor is a twenty-two year employee of the Cincinnati Public Schools as a Health and Physical Education teacher. He has been coaching at the high school level in Greater Cincinnati since graduating from Wittenberg University in 1979. His coaching stints includes stops at his alma mater Walnut Hills High School, Hughes Center High School, and from 1990 until present coaches at Wyoming High School. His church home is Cincinnati Bibleway Church in Madisonville, Apostles James and Grace Blue Pastors. Contact Information: 513.328.2767 E-Mail: Info@CincySportsWorld.com