Thank God For Failure!

HEY CARDINALS NATION!

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Here’s what to expect in today’s newsletter:

• Blog

• Weekly Recap

• Quote of the Day

• Cardinal Toolbox

• Upcoming Events

• Read Time: ~ 5 minutes

🔨 BLOG

Thank God for failure. And thank God for losses.

This is something that I’ve been pondering recently.

Competing for excellence is a valiant thing to strive for. Training to accomplish something is honorable. But one thing that I’ve learned is that saying that you’re competing for God’s glory and actually competing for God’s glory are two different mindsets.

Many Christians will give God the glory only in their victories. Can God not also receive the glory in our defeats?

Defeats in life are God’s way of guiding us by teaching us humility, resilience, and dependence on Him.

I think we need to redefine success then. In many modern day contexts, success means accomplishing a goal set before you.

As a coach, I love this quote about success from John Wooden:

Success is knowing you gave your best?

I think the Christian can draw some truth from this.

For the Christian, success is giving your best while understanding and accepting God’s will in our lives, regardless of how we perceive the outcome. We won’t always deem the outcome in a satisfactory manner. Losing hurts. Give your best effort anyways. God can still receive the glory in either outcome.

You are not competing for yourself. You are not working for yourself.

If we grow closer to our Heavenly Father and his glory is made known, it’s successful. Because God is always at work. He shapes our journey according to His design.

Success isn’t only about the visible outcome, but about how God’s purpose is fulfilled in our lives. Defeat, then, doesn’t mean that God’s will is NOT being accomplished. Instead, He uses our defeats to mold us, shape us, and guide us towards the path He has chosen.

This is different than how the world perceives defeat. We’ve all been taught that it’s through our losses that we learn. For the Christian, it’s much greater than that. We recognize our reliance on God through defeat. Our faith is more solidified. There is no greater success for the Christian!

As Christians, we understand this concept of victory occurring in the face of apparent defeat. The crucifixion was perceived by many at the time as a devastating defeat. Imagine the 3 days in waiting. What thoughts might have occurred?

“Our Lord has lost…”

“Sin remains the victor…”

“Why did I put my hope in the losing fighter…?”

But the perceived defeat of the crucifixion was just that - a PERCEIVED defeat! It was a necessary step to the resurrection, the greatest victory of all! Victory over sin and death!

We can trust that God uses our moments of defeat for greater victories. We know that He works all things for our good. And we may not perceive it as good on this side of heaven.

But if His name is glorified and others come to know of His love and truth through it, then it is a victory indeed.

We know of a victory in apparent defeat. May we live out that victory every day.

To God be the glory.

- Coach T

⏪️ WEEKLY RECAP

During the school year in each newsletter, we will post a weekly recap of what has gone on in Cardinal Athletics! Feel free to send pictures and videos for us to post here to [email protected].

💭 QUOTE OF THE DAY

🧰 CARDINAL TOOLBOX

Take a listen to some of these thoughts from Georgia Head Football Coach Kirby Smart about the costs of becoming a leader. We hear a lot about the benefits of leadership, but what will it cost you?

‼️ UPCOMING EVENTS

This is the official dead week issued by TAPPS. Because of this we will not be running any workouts and the CATC will NOT be made available for student-athletes.

Fine Art activities may continue, but all Athletic activities are governed by the Dead Week period. Cheer is considered Fine Arts which allows them to practice during Dead Week.

Coaches should not have contact with players and facilities will not be made available for use (whether voluntary or mandatory). Summer league teams representing CHS may not participate in competitions during dead week.

The school year is coming soon! I look forward to watching our athletes compete after the hard work they put in this summer!

MORNING WORKOUTS

We will be running our morning workouts again starting next week (up until school starts! If you are an athlete at CHS, we highly recommend you come to these to prepare yourself for the upcoming school year:

Here is the schedule for the workouts on Mondays-Thursdays.

8am-9am: Weight Room

9am-11am: Open Gym

We’d love to have you come workout!

🏅 LOOKING FOR MORE WAYS TO SUPPORT CARDINAL ATHLETICS?

If you are looking for more ways to follow along and support our athletes, here are a few more things we do:

1. Interested in Sponsoring an Edition of our Newsletter? Shoot an email to our athletic director [email protected] and he will point you in the right direction!

2. Follow us on Social Media. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates throughout the season!

We pray that your day is full of reminders of God’s love and faithfulness. May you faithfully build your life on Christ.

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

To God be the glory,

Coach T