I jokingly (not jokingly) say "when I grow up, I want to be a 19-year-old defensive end, ideally starting for my beloved Texas Aggies." I’m a 42-year-old wife and working mom, so this is a ridiculous ambition! But a girl can dream, right?!
The things I love about football coincide with what I’m learning about life and my relationship with Christ. We adoringly call our little family “Team Seghs.” I like the concept of a team. I love belonging, being a part of a bigger whole. God designed me that way.  I think He designed us all for community and belonging, and that’s part of the reason He created families, the church, and any group who represents “the body” of Christ. Teams get to use their individual talents to work together to reach the goal and accomplish the task. All teams need a head coach.

In football, the head coach writes the playbook, and has the overall view of the strategy, the talent, and the playing field. The head coach runs practices and drills to condition and prepares players for their next opponents. The head coach strategically selects assistant coaches to ensure the players are ready and fully understand the fundamentals of the game.

Assistant coaches follow the tone, the culture, and the plan that the head coach has established. By spending time together in the weight room, on the practice field, and even studying tape, the coaches intimately get to know their players; the strengths and weaknesses of each individual who makes up the team. From those relationships, the players develop trust in their coaches and in each other as a team. They work toward a shared, ultimate goal of winning the game.

Pep rallies spur the team on toward the challenge ahead of them. The pep rally encourages the team, reminding the players of past victories and the current plan in place to conquer their opponent. So much preparation, practice, focus, refining, even rest happens before the big game!

Games aren’t perfect.  There are fumbles and interceptions. There are missed tackles, injuries, even losses. But the team, the players, and the assistant coaches continue to look to their head coach for direction, especially when the game is on the line.

The head coach reminds them to stick to the fundamentals and learn from past victories and losses. The players and assistant coaches once again understand their season will be successful if they follow the plans the head coach set before them. The team’s relationship with the head coach connects each player to the coach’s vision beyond each play, each scrimmage, each game…the ultimate winning outcome.

“Team Seghs” has a head coach. It’s Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He has written our playbook. He recruited the assistant coaches and the players for our team – the two of us as parents and our two children. God has the overall view of the entire playing field, earthly and eternal. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of our little “Team Seghs.” He spends time developing us into the players He recruited us to be.

We are strategically positioned to run drills, preparing us to face our next challenge. Sometimes we decide to ignore our Head Coach and run our own plays. Or we listen, but we don’t fully trust His strategy for the game ahead. We fumble. We lose focus. We get penalties. We even forget to rest and recover. But then we reset on the practice field, which is our home, study film by reading God's word, attend pep rallies such as worship services, revisit fundamentals at church, encourage one another through prayer, and celebrate our individual talents that make us a whole. All this is possible because of a personal and intimate relationship with our Head Coach. What is even more special and remarkable about being on God’s Team is that our Head Coach never misses the call nor makes a mistake! He never leaves us for a better opportunity to coach another team! Our players never get traded, for our Head Coach bought His players for eternity with the blood of His Perfect Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16).  Praise God for being the Perfect Head Coach!  And also for the game of football.

CCA is most definitely a team! The body of Christ with coaches and players strategically placed are all working their talents together and following the lead of the Ultimate Head Coach. Each classroom is a team, a little family, a community, a working body of Christ!

Is YOUR family a TEAM? Who is your Head Coach?