Rising beyond - moving from Saturday to Sunday

'Stuck on Saturday, grieving and caught up in being disheartened, to Sunday where Jesus had risen. The shame of Saturday to the victory of Sunday.' These were just some of the words of senior Pastor Riaan Niemand (Eastside Community Church) this morning as we celebrated the risen King, Jesus Christ. As he shared about the people around when Jesus was crucified, when He hung on the cross, when He was placed in the tomb. Had his mission been a failure? 

How often are we caught up in the Saturdays of our lives and don't move on to the celebrations of the Sunday. Move from Saturday with no hope to Sunday full of life, revelation and success. As Jesus rose in the Sunday he had conquered death, He had moved, He had fulfilled prophecy and faith in Him. 

However making the move from Saturday to Sunday in our lives requires a faith step. A step that is difficult into an unknown.  An often massive step. 

The difference though in the resurrection was that for some, like Mary the faith was not invisible. For Thomas it was tangible - 'put your finger in my hands and side'. For others it was still invisible because they found out through testimony of those who physically saw. 

In sport and coaching it can and often is so similar. It requires FAITH. Faith in the coaching process. Faith in your talents and abilities, God given. Faith in an unknown outcome, but a wished result. Faith that what you are doing will get the positive outcome in performance. 

However too often I have also seen athletes and coaches not willing to move from Saturday to Sunday but still expect the same outcome. The same people though wish positive successful outcome. Talent is there. Ability is there. Wish for the feared outcome is there. BUT taking the leap of faith, the step of faith. The part where I need to actually do something from my side. 

Our challenge as athletes, coaches, administrators need to make the move, take the step, believe, But we need to actually make an effort. Do the work, do the preparation, do the execution. Ultimately we need to move from Saturday to Sunday.  There has to be movement, there has to be a move. People need to move, MAKE A MOVE. 

God through Jesus moved from Friday to Saturday to Sunday. He became the risen King who fulfilled the prophecy, who acted out his faith, the faith in is father God, ABBA Father. 

As these words say, a lot can happen in three days. Are you allowing it to happen. 

A blessed Risen Day. 

When people are threatened by your faith

Others could often become threatened by your faith. Threatened because they either dont have the same degree of faith and or faithfulness or they dont believe in the Lord God almighty, whom sent his one and only son to come and die on the cross for our sins.

Recently I heard a story whereby a manager / administrator rudely told an athlete to remove an inspirational God inscription from her hand. This inscription stood as a confirmation of her faith, a reminder of why she is competing, a reminder that she is not competing for herself or anyone else BUT rather for the Lord Jesus Christ.

All I can say is guys keep going. Know why and for home you compete as an athlete and as it stands in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 13 "Stand firm in faith".

God bless

SB

The challenges of a coach

Saturday saw the last of my swimmers leaving for their home countries for the final camps before they compete at the Beijing Olympics. This brings together the total of 8 swimmers from different African countries and 3 swimmers I worked closely with (them and their coach) that will be representing South Africa. This leaves me with mixed emotions. Different feelings are running through my head and heart. These are most often positive and negative ones. These include:

• Having wished them well as I saw them for the last time ever (as some of them from the African countries won’t be returning) and others till after the Olympics
• Knowing that everything I could have done was done BUT was it enough?!
• Knowing there is nothing else I can do to improve their preparation. As they now enter into the FUNNY phase, we scientists and coaches refer to as The TAPER!!! Now it is just up to their bodies to respond and recover. They need the rest.
• Trusting that I have allowed for enough rest for those coming off big volume and those not that the stimulus I am still providing to them with the programs has incorporated enough rest so that they don’t go into the event feeling tired. Rest is such an important aspect of performance and cannot be neglected and is not less important that good volume of training. One soothing thought is that as a top world re-known Australian recovery specialist says – Work hard + rest well = Best performance – and that even God the creator of all worked on this principle. He worked hard at creating the earth (as you know that is no small feat) and then on the Seventh Day he RESTED!!!
• Realising that I will not be there for them during the final lead up to probably the most important event of their lives. But having faith that I have prepared them well, imparted knowledge, confidence and the Knowing what to do on them that they will be successful. And letting them have the realisation that even though I am not their with them, that my heart is there with them and every stroke they take.
• Hoping / desiring / wishing for contact with them just to hear that all is going well and everything is on track according to plan.
• Finally the only thing left to do is commit their lives, the last 15-20 days of preparation (whilst on training camp with the national teams and coaches for their respective countries) and their performances at the games to the Lord, that that if it is his will and he is satisfied with what has been done and what they stand for, their will reach and even surpass the desired and potential achievements there are destined for.

Race well Guys!

God Bless

SB

Living by Faith

Hebrews 11 is a chapter all about faith. For me verse 6 really stands out. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” In another biblical version it reads as follows “Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him.” Within this chapter of Hebrews we look at faith and the whole aspect of blind faith. Faith is blind, we cant necessarily see the outcome of our faith, but we must believe that we are doing the correct thing. This is so similar to the sporting world where faith is such a vital and critical component of performance and improvement. There are many instances that as athletes we need to have faith. These are endless for example having faith in our coaches abilities, having faith in our own abilities, having faith in the program we are following, having faith in the plan that is set out for us, having faith in fellow team mates and having faith that the desired outcome will be achieved.

These instances of being faithful as an athlete can be paralled to the our faith in God. In both instances we are living by a ‘blind’ faith with every now and then receiving snippets that we are either doing right or wrong. This for example is when we read from the bible or receive confirmation from the Holy Spirit or compete in a competition and either have good or bad performances. Just the same as we need to have faith in our coach we need to have faith in God. Just the same as we need to have faith in the plan (periodisation plan in sport set for us) we need to have faith in the plan that has been laid out for us for our lives by God, a plan for our lives set up before we were even born. Just the same as we need to have faith in fellow team mates so too be need to have faith in the Body of Christ the church and the people around us, supporting us in our walk of life.

Faith is difficult, but as it says here in Verse 6 of Hebrews 11, without it is impossible to please God and that if we come to God we must believe and truly want to find him. So too our athletes, have faith firstly in the Lord our God and also in what the plan is laid out for you!