thoughts at 4:39am

You know your excited when... it is 4:39am and you can't sleep because you are excited. Many things I am thinking about at this early hour. Coaching football, players on the team, junior high youth group started last night and kids actually showed up, high school youth group tonight, another varsity football game tomorrow. The coaching gig is turning out to be really cool. Football has been a part of my life from age 15-30 as a player. At 39 I am now a coach. As I have gone through practices, meetings, a couple games now I think about this sport and what it teaches kids. Many want to get in the game to score a touchdown, some are happy to just be a part of the team and others just want to hit somebody and not get in trouble for it. Whatever the case football provides a chance to be a family, overcome obstacles, work with people you wouldn't otherwise be around, experience success and failure together, be a part of something bigger than yourself and have fun together. For many of these kids, even though they probably don't fully recognized it, football is one of the steps of becoming a man. It makes me wonder what else is in there life that teaches them to be a man. A father, a teacher, media, internet, etc... all have influence on the definition of a man. The privilege I have of being a youth pastor is to focus on the other side of character development, the spiritual side. The part that I believe has eternal significance. What to do on a dive play or a pitch play or what route to run are important questions on Friday night, but the purpose of life, how do I fit in, who am I, who cares about me, and what happens when I die are questions that I get to tackle in my youth group setting. By the way my forearm on top and below my elbow really hurts. After not throwing a football for 8 years or so has taken its toll. It is amazing how a little muscle can cause so much pain. I feel like I am almost 40. Oh yeah I am almost 40.