Author: jcudd14

I’m 40. I’m supposed to gain weight. I’m supposed to become less active because I’m getting older (I say this because I told myself this exact thing when I turned 40). I don’t really need to work any harder at my job. As long as I do enough to get by and keep it that’s all that matters. It’s ok that I haven’t been a very good friend because some people haven’t been good to me either. It’s no big deal that I am still holding that grudge against that person because someone held a grudge against me once too. I am good enough at my sport that I don’t need to work hard to get better. I’m already good enough.

Does any of this sound familiar? I’m going to guess that at some point we have all been this way about some of the things mentioned above. It’s human nature to get complacent and not work at getting better at whatever we are involved in because things are alright the way they are. Even though we could be better, we get satisfied.

I talked last week about being in a rut. Here’s the deal! We don’t have to settle. We don’t have to settle for being 40 so we just stop taking care of our bodies. We can find the time, the energy, and the resources needed to change the way we feel about ourselves. We CAN, it is just a matter of if we WILL. We can eat better and find time to exercise if we want to. We don’t have to settle for being mediocre at our job because we don’t want to work any harder. Instead of doing that, we need to work hard to be the best we can be at it. If we are that unhappy with it, we need to find another job that gives us some fulfillment in life. We don’t have to settle with being bitter and unhappy because we are holding a grudge against someone. Those feelings build up and result in a miserable life for us. Why would we do that to ourselves? Some things are hard to forgive and forget. I get it. But, what if God felt that way about us? What if he held on to things we do to wrong him? How would we feel about that? If we are part of a sports team or a team at work, it is our responsibility to that team to work hard to get better and be the best we can be for our teammates. There’s nothing worse in sports or work than a bad teammate.

While all these things mentioned above are not good for us, they can lead to an area of complacency that can be devastating to us. These other things can lead us to be satisfied in all areas of our life, including our Christian walk. That can lead down a path of destruction if we aren’t careful. If we are not getting in the word and working hard to be a better Christian every day, then we are going nowhere. I talked this past week with our campers about waking up each day and praying to God to help us win each day. We have to do that. Satan is waiting to pounce on all these things mentioned above and many more. He is just waiting to devour us when we let our guard down. We can’t let that happen. We can’t settle for being complacent as a Christian. Believe me, I know firsthand. I’m sure everyone can relate to that (I don’t think I am the only one anyway). I’m going to guess there are people reading this that are in this situation right now. There are people right now that are in that rut. I was just a week ago. It’s hard to get out of, and that’s exactly what satan wants. Everyone needs their battery recharged every once in awhile. It’s funny how God always has the right timing for this. He surrounds us with the people and circumstances to make our situation better if we just open up our eyes and follow where He leads us.

Proverbs 10:4-5 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” Life is full of opportunities. Each day is a chance to grow ourselves and share God’s word. It’s easy to just sit back and hope someone else does it. But that’s not what we are called to do. We must take advantage of the opportunities God gives us to be His disciples.

We can’t look too far ahead and we can’t dwell on what’s behind us either. As Christians, we have to live in the moment. We have to win each day. We have to be on guard at all times. Satan doesn’t like it when we go to church camp, church, or other activities with other Christians. He doesn’t like it when we open our Bibles and study. When we do those things, satan will wait until just the right time and try to scoop us up when we are vulnerable. He will throw everything he can at us to try and bring us down. Wake up each day and pray to God to help us fight off satan and win each day. In order for us to be able to accomplish that, we have to give it all to God. We have to give him our everything. We have to let go of things ourselves, and trust the Almighty. What we find when we do that is things get so much better.

I challenge you to give everything you have to God. Stop being satisfied. Stop settling for less than our best in all areas of our life. Give up our stubbornness of wanting to be in control. Let go and give it to God. It’s such an awesome feeling when we do this. The burden of us trying to do everything ourselves is lifted and we feel such a freedom. Wake up each day and give it all to God and pray for Him to help us WIN EACH DAY!!!

I knew several of the staff members, but I only knew 1 other baseball guy that I would be working with for 3 days. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if I had the time. I wondered if this was what I was supposed to do. All those thoughts ran through my head as the time drew near for EPOS camp this week. This is originally the EPIC camp that I wrote about a couple of years ago. We didn’t get to have it last year due to Covid. So it had been 2 years. It is a faith based sports camp. Athletes come from all over to experience what it has to offer. I knew it was a good thing, but I honestly just had mixed feelings about me being there for several reasons.

I have talked on here about the ups and downs of the Christian life. I have discussed my ups and downs and how sometimes we get into a rut or a lull and it is hard to get out. That’s where I have been the last few months. That is why I haven’t written on here since February. I actually didn’t realize it had been that long until I got on here tonight. I got busy this spring with school activities and coaching and parenting that I just lost track of time.

With that I also lost some of my fire for God. I slipped into that rut and just went through the motions. So I showed up this week to EPOS with only one other guy helping with baseball from the previous year. We had been in a group text with all the other guys, but I didn’t really know what to expect. But I put on my big boy pants and went up to Stillwater to see what happened. It wasn’t that I was dreading the camp. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in what it was about or that I didn’t think it was a good thing. I was just in a rut. But, it is funny how God works.

If the foundation of Christ is there, it never leaves you. He never goes a way. So I go to the camp to help instruct it as well as help the athletes from a personal and spiritual standpoint as well. We talk with them and pray with them as well as instruct them on their specific sport. So Sunday I meet up with the other baseball instructors. We spent part of Sunday and all of the next 3 days together and I came home in a different spiritual realm that I have been in a long time. Hopefully I touched some people along the way this week. Hopefully I influenced some people in a positive way this week. But let me tell you, I was the one that came back enriched and recharged.

I prayed to God before I went up there that we would have a great week, and did we ever. I prayed with young men, I talked with young men, and I got to play baseball with young men for 3 days. It was such an uplifting experience. To cap it off, I got to do all of that with my oldest son. He was old enough to get to go to the camp with me this year. That was awesome in itself. We are home tonight and he is writing down our baseball saying in his notebook before he goes to bed tonight that says, “God gives us strength, God gives us power, God gives us encouragement.” And He absolutely does those things.

The other coaches that I had the pleasure of being around this week were incredible. I was uplifted by them. It honestly felt like after 3 days that we had known each other for 20 years. What a special team that EPOS has put together from the top down. It was just what I needed at just the right time.

You see, God is always there. Even when you go through a few months like I had where I got overwhelmed and just went through the spiritual motions. It happens to everyone. But, God will stay true to us. He will work in our life if we let him. With God’s help, we will overcome satan’s plan for us to go through the motions. Sometimes we don’t see it at the time, but that is Satan saying you don’t need to be on fire for God. Just go through the motions. Just be a lukewarm Christian. Jesus says in Revalation 3:15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” That verse is still powerful to me every time I read it. We can all be lukewarm at times.

If you are in a rut, I challenge you to this week to pray to God that He will help lift you out of that low spot. But, we also have to listen once we ask that. We have to act on where the spirit leads us. We have to trust his lead without hesitation. I had someone once tell me that baseball, as well as life, is like climbing a mountain. You work really hard to get to the top and be the best you can be. Then at some point you get to the top. You are ridin’ high at that point. Then what is the next thing to happen? You have to go down at some point too. You won’t stay at the top forever. You have to go down one side or the other. It’s up to us how far we fall before we pick ourselves back up and start working to get back to the top. That illustration has stuck with me since that day.

We have to start with self-reflection and realize that we are in that situation to begin with. That can be humbling sometimes. But, if we trust God, He will lead us out of that rut and lift us up again. That comes in all different ways. He might just accomplish this by having you spend 3 days with mostly strangers that are on fire for God. They might just be the encouragement you needed to get back on track again (Thanks to a lot of people for that this week). Thank goodness that His plan is greater than ours!

Every year at this time I am reminded of the same thing. It’s basketball playoff time in Oklahoma and there aren’t a lot of things in the high school sports world more exciting than small school basketball playoffs. I love watching kids compete. It doesn’t matter at what. It is just fun. They have a desire to be the best. They want to come out on top. Every player and coach in Oklahoma wants their team to finish the year in the “Big House”. Only one team in each class wins their last game that year. Every team and every player has that same goal in mind when the season begins. But only one team truly achieves that goal each year!

What also makes it fun to watch is the environment. The crowd noise is electric. There are fans that cheer for their team and stand and clap and yell and high five each other. Why do they do all of this? Because they are passionate. They are passionate about their team. They are passionate about their kid or grandkid that is part of that team. They are passionate about their son or daughter that is the coach. Fans don’t only yell for the players though. They also yell at the refs. They stand up with their arms up in the air and scream their displeasures at the officials in hopes that one time, just one time, that ref will stop the game and say, “you know what, these fans are right” and reverse the call. Why do they do this? Because they are passionate. They want their team to win. They want their family member to be successful. It all stems from passion.

The fans, players, and coaches aren’t the only ones with passion out there. There are also the officials. Many people don’t think of them as having a passion for what they do. But they have to have a passion for it. Otherwise there is no way they would go to a gymnasium, after working their other job, and officiate a ballgame knowing that they are going to be yelled at and disagreed with by one side of the gym every time their whistle is blown. They have a passion for being a part of a game that they have loved since they were kids. That is why they do it.

As I watched our teams compete last night I thought about all of this. I thought about how all of these people mentioned above are passionate about a common cause. I thought about that passion and how it relates to our relationship with God. I asked myself, “Am I as passionate about God as I am other things in my life?” The answer would differ depending on where I am in my life at that moment to be honest. We all know that the Christian walk is a roller coaster ride at times. There are highs and lows. Hopefully the highs outnumber the lows.

While sports is a great metaphor for life, passion for God can be similar to sports in many ways. But, it can also look different in some ways. We probably aren’t going to go to church and stand up and yell and scream and raise our arms in excitement and high five each other every time the preacher makes a great point. We also probably aren’t going to stand up and throw our arms up in the air and yell at the preacher every time we disagree with something he says. Hopefully no church members will be ejected from the service when the preacher has had enough of their displeasure either. Everyone that has been to a ballgame and a church service is probably picturing that happening in both of those venues right now. While that church service scenario is all made up for entertainment, the truth is passion for Christ does look different than it does sports in some ways. In sports, you earn what you get. As a Christian, we won’t get to heaven because of what we do, but because of what God has done for us. We are saved by God’s grace and mercy. While both instances do require passion and dedication, one has an immediate and temporary reward and the other an eternal prize, according to Philippians 3:14.

Having a passion for God and doing His will is something that is internal. It is a burning desire inside us to be more like God each day. It is wanting people to see God shine through us when they see us each day. It is wanting to be better for our Creator every day. So as I got up this morning and did my Bible study I had all these thoughts running through my head. As I do a lot of times, I spent some time in self-reflection. Just like in all areas of life, our Christian life can always improve. Our passion can always be greater. Mark 10:27 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself.” That takes passion and dedication and we should all strive to be better at it every day.

I love watching our kids compete. Not only my own kids, but the kids that I have the privilege of going to school with each day. I am passionate about them. I am passionate about my own kids and our school being successful. Not only in sports, but in every activity we are a part of and in every aspect of life. While those activities teach us a lot and can make us better people, they should not be our greatest passion. Our greatest passion should be being a disciple of Christ. Is our passion for being God’s children as strong as our other passions in life? If it is not, then there is a hole in our life. There is something missing. Only God can fill that hole. When that hole gets filled up, it makes those other things we are passionate about so much better. Every basketball player and coach in Oklahoma has a desire to finish their season in the “Big House”. Their passion is what drives them to work hard to reach that ultimate goal. Just the same, every Christian has a desire to spend eternity with God someday. We all can’t wait to hear those words, “Well done thy good and faithful servant.” We know that our God is loyal and true to us. We know that He promises us that one day we will finish our Christian walk with Him in the “Big House”!