Thursday, April 8, 2010

Sports World Values

Below are some notes I took during a talk by my friend and colleague, Ashley Null, at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Sports Chaplain Conference in Kansas City, Missouri in February of this year.







• “Success is just like drugs and sex in that it medicates our psychic pain and disappointment.”


• “Most champions don’t compete to win, because the rewards are so fleeting. They compete not to lose, because the pain is long lasting.”


• The world’s values for sport are clear:


o You are what you do.


o Your worth is based on your latest performance.


o The purpose of pain is to produce enough self-loathing to motivate one to further training, so as to win next time.


• Our ministry as sport chaplains shapes how our players and coaches handle defeat and success. It shapes how they perceive God in either case.


• We are called to communicate to the world of sport that our value is not based on our performance, but on the performance of Jesus Christ on the cross.

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