Intuition

A few weeks ago I wrote you about a quality necessary for quality ministry as a sport chaplain and we discussed Empathy. Today let’s consider Intuition.

Most of us who are male are assumed to be lacking intuition. All my life I’ve heard about “women’s intuition” and I’ve seen it in action in my mother, my wife, friends, coworkers and many others. I certainly know my wife to be more intuitive than me and I trust her intuition because her hunches are usually more on target than my logical, overly analyzed view of people and situations. Related to intuition and its value for ministry in sport, our female colleagues seem to have a head start on their brothers.

However, we who possess X and Y chromosomes and serve as sport chaplains or sport mentors may be some of the most intuitive people walking the planet. Many of us act on hunches much more often than we follow a carefully planned agenda. Most of us have more phone numbers than appointments in our blackberries or iphones. We are often more people oriented than task oriented. We act on our gut, follow hunches, take chances which often don’t make sense and will take great risks for those we love and serve.

In fact, the lack of documentation about sports chaplaincy is a strong indicator of how most of us do our work intuitively rather than strategically. Strategically thinking people write outlines and schedules. Intuitive people just do what seems right and trust God with the results. Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Blink” for some insight about how often one’s intuitive hunch is correct and how much we can trust our intuition.

Intuition is an important gift and should be trusted in situations like:
· Which of the dozens of players should I speak with today?
· I have a feeling that ___________ is bothered by something, should I speak to him?
· _______ seems grieved, should I offer my support?
· That coach may be fired soon, should I give him a call?
· I heard that _____________ is having surgery today, should I go by the hospital or back to the office?
· Coach ____________ seems to be under a lot of pressure, shall I send her a text message?
· There’s something about this player which seems a little off, shall I ask her if everything’s okay?
· About what should I speak at this week’s chapel?
· What is the condition of this player’s heart? What would God say to him?
· What would encourage Coach ___________’s heart in this trying season?
· ______________ just came across my mind, shall I contact her?
· I can’t get ___________ off my mind today, shall I go see him?
· My heart is broken for _____________. Lord, what do You want me to say to her?

As one who is often distrustful of intuitive thoughts, may I challenge you to take some risks? Last Thursday I was talking with a colleague and he mentioned a coach who is our mutual friend. I asked about our friend’s job security, given the long losing streak he was enduring, and was asked to give him a call. I made time the next day, researched the phone number and called, only to reach his voice mail. Undeterred, I left the same message on the voice mail that I would have delivered directly to his ear. I ended the call feeling my effort was weak and wondering at its value. Monday afternoon I learned that my friend was fired that morning. I was so glad that I had made the call, that I had followed my hunch and my friend’s urging.

Bottom line: let your gift of intuition work for you and for those whom you serve. Take some risks, even if they seem illogical to you. You may be making the call, the visit, text message or the email at just the right time and your words could be as valuable as apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11).