Voices: Coach Thomas

Coach Thomas worked with lineman on my high school football team - the big guys who did all the hard work so us little guys could run around and grab all the glory. I remember his voice on the football field - a big voice that commanded attention. But when I replay that voice in my head, I hear a voice of strong encouragement and deep joy and peaceful humility.


I played for several coaches who modeled faith and hard work and commitment. Coach Thomas was one of those. He called boys to become young men and made sure they knew he was for them. Ever since I've known him (over twenty five years) he's followed Christ.


I heard his voice again several weeks ago. My wife and daughter and I were watching my son run in a track meet, actually just a practice meet for middle school kids. With the sun setting on that wind blown day we were getting just cool enough to think about heading home. Looking down the track I spotted my son talking to Coach Thomas. Found out later Coach Thomas recognized my son by his resemblance to me. Soon Coach Thomas made his way to us. So good to see the warm smile and hear the deep voice once again. Introductions were made with my wife and daughter and words exchanged when this big, hulking football coach stooped over and engaged my eight year old daughter in conversation. He discovered she wanted to be a teacher. With a big smile and that familiar voice of encouragement and joy, he shared how much he enjoyed teaching, acknowledging it didn't pay a lot, but it was so rewarding. How he couldn't imagine a better life.


This coach who had encouraged me in my faith and life, who had generously supported my pursuits, who had affirmed my call, now blessed my daughter and her dreams. Coach Thomas just keeps on giving and encouraging and affirming and he does it with such joy and humility. I can only hope and pray I've captured some of his voice in mine. Thank you, Coach Thomas. Your voice carries on through the generations of young men and women you've blessed. I count you wealthy - rich in all the things that matter. 

Opportunity Knocking on the Church Door

A volcano in Iceland shuts down air traffic in Europe stranding passengers in New York City to sleep on airport cots and shower in public restroom sinks. Tim Stevens wonders if the church is missing an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus and show some hospitality by providing a place to sleep, a warm meal, and a change of clothes.

Got me thinking about what kind of church would help in that situation: probably not a highly programmed church - too busy keeping the machine operating (unless of course they had already set up a ministry program to reach stranded travelers.) Probably not a church more concerned with teaching right answers on a theology exam than living the faith - too busy getting ready for Bible study at the church.

Before coming to any conclusions I shared a lunch with my friend John. He talked about what God had been showing him - that perhaps some of the challenges he saw around him came from people not experiencing God's love. And perhaps his challenges in responding to those people also fell short because he didn't fully experience God's love. Perhaps the most important thing he could do would be to help people experience the love of God.

Simple and profound - I keep thinking about it ... Today I'm looking for opportunities to help people know and experience God's love. Surprised at how often my agenda gets in the way - which leads me to question why my agenda is what it is.

What if the church made it her focus to help people experience the love of God - seems like that would change the way a lot of churches operate. I suspect you would see an encouraging church - less concerned with getting you to do their thing, more concerned that you knew in your soul that God loved you. I suspect you would find a listening church, willing to serve, to understand, to meet you where you are to offer a taste of the gospel. I suspect you would find a humble church, awed by the enormity of the good news of Christ, desperately dependent on God's grace and power to share that gospel in ways that actually pointed people to Christ.

A church like that is a church that would see stranded passengers as an opportunity to show hospitality - just what God does with us wandering travelers, lost in our own agendas, unsure of which way to go, wondering how we will ever find our way home.

To Write

I need to write, so I will write. Something inside me needs to get outside me, so I've decided to write. Not entirely sure what that something is, but it's there. Perhaps I'll discover what it is as I write. 

In Search of Stereo

Turned on the car radio and was greeted by a favorite song, but something wasn't right - the sound sounded flat, dull, uninteresting …Poking around the many buttons on the radio I stumble across the problem: the radio was set to “mono on.” I’m not sure why a radio would have this option, but there it was. A change of settings allowed me to catch the last few lines of a favorite song in stereo – a full, deep, and rich sound, even through my twelve year old Camry speakers.

I think a lot of people speak in mono. Perhaps out of loyalty, or meeting the expectations of another, or rejecting a particular voice, the sound comes out less than full, less than alive. It may work, it may keep the peace, it may get you through the day, but it’s not really you.

Growing up a lot of different voices speak into your life - parents, teachers, coaches, friends, culture. They serve a purpose, they teach us to speak, to sing, to enter the world of words and find which words work for you. But these voices are not your voice. They may shape your voice, they may be heard in your voice, but they are not your voice. When you speak solely from the voice of others it comes out flat, lacking depth and richness. It comes out mono.

It takes time. Common to think you've found your voice, only to discover later that your sound was only a rejection of an other voice. Finding your voice isn’t a rejection of the other voices, but a bringing together of those voices into a new sound that only sounds right coming from you.

Ultimately I believe it’s God who brings out your true voice by speaking truth into your life. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased …”

So I write and in writing I listen. I’ll share some of the voices that have become a part of my voice. At the same time I’ll listen for a truer voice, formed in the heart, released in the life, that sings the song I was created to sing.