One of my favorite Bible stories is found in Luke 18:35-43. It is the story of the blind man who cries out to Jesus to have mercy on him. What I find fascinating is that when they brought the man to Him, Jesus could obviously see that the man was blind, yet He still asks him, “What do you want from me?” The lesson I most take from this is God’s desire for us to speak out what it is we want.
All of this leads me to a simple question. The question is this: “What is our vision for Cary Christian athletics?” The simple answer is to teach our students how to win and how to live an extraordinary life. To be a winner and to live an extraordinary life encompasses many things. Freedom. Peace. Fulfillment. Confidence. Influence. Success. Achievement. Love. The challenge is, how do we get there from here?
As many of you know, I am an Auburn graduate. It pains me to admit that our cross-state rival, the University of Alabama, has, with its head coach, Nick Saban, built an amazing football program. Over time, it is probably the best one that has ever been built in college football. Recently I listened to a speech Saban gave on leadership. I want to quote him here as I think what he said about his job is what I say about my job as your Athletic Director. He said, “My job is to provide the leadership to develop the relationships to help people take advantage of the opportunities and make sure they have the discipline to do it.” Leadership is to help others for their benefit. Relationship is making sure people know you care about them. Discipline is doing what needs to be done every day to get what we want and where we want, regardless of how we feel.
As we move forward, you will see our process unfold. I believe it will give us the best advantages as we pursue the opportunities in front of us.
One step in this process will be our mindset. To that end we will emphasize the following six principles which we believe, if embraced, will allow us to accept the disciplines that the process will bring and give us fertile soil to achieve extraordinary outcomes in fulfilling our vision. The six principles are:
Be RESPECTFUL…Listen and speak with humility.
Be RESPONSIBLE…Take ownership and accept accountability.
Be THOUGHTFUL…Think selflessly.
Be INTENTIONAL…Focus your mind on excellence.
Be STRATEGIC…Execute your role.
Be SACRAMENTAL…Love God.
So, what do I believe will happen? In Matthew 9:27-29, there is story similar to the one in Luke 18. In it two blind men cry out to Jesus to be healed. Jesus says, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They say yes. I love the way the Message Bible records the response. In it, Jesus says, “Become what you believe.” Belief is a powerful thing. I believe if we embrace our process in building our programs and live out these six principles, we will see our students win and do extraordinary things. Will we win championships? Yes. Will we win them all? No. Failure is a course correction necessary toward building maturity in our journey. (More on that in a later blog post.) What we will cultivate are students that are respectful, responsible, thoughtful, intentional, strategic, sacramental, and—oh yes—WINNERS!