Hey Stripes!

My sixteenth season as a PIAA, high school football referee began last night. Most people never imagine the liability issues that exists involving officials--from dealing with weather but in particular involving player injuries. This season officials can send a player off the field who we think needs attention--that's the standard, our general observation as those who are not offering a medical opinion. Thankfully this is a pretty low standard and its signs are rather easily recognized. Now, if that same player re-enters the game, he does so by a doctor's and/or coach's decision that puts the liability directly on them if some further injury occurs. I'm grateful the Nation Federation made this change.
A new rule this season requires coaches to stay out of the 2 yard box area just on the sidelines. This means coaches are required--during a live ball play--to stay even further off the field than in the past. Good luck with administering this one! But the penalty is severe if an official runs into a coach in the box during a live ball play--15 yards from the succeeding spot for the first offense and 15 yards plus the ejection of head coach on a second offense. Ouch! I think I'll be very careful and be particularly pro-active as a wing official this season with coaches.

We spent a lot to time on these and other issues of concern last night at our officials meeting.
Well, given all the ramifications and rules, I must say I still really enjoy officiating football. It's a great game. There's a lot involved that makes it a great learning tool for life--more than wins and losses. (That is why we play games, right? Football is an extra-curricular activity that is ideally an additional learning tool, right? It'd be nice if players, coaches and fans still saw the game that way.) Anyway, there's a great satisfaction in keeping a game moving, the players hustling, the coaches coaching, making sure the game is played fairly so that, in the end--as an official--no one seemed to know you were there. Now that's the sign of an officiating job well done.

The Power of "Story"

I just finished reading Donald Miller's A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS. It was a great read through, but now i have to read it again and mine its treasures. Too rarely doesn a book captivate my imagination like this one. It seemed like every few pages I had to put the book down, look away and think about my story, the stories and lives that have impacted and influenced me most. I believe i even gained some insight into the closing chapter of the story of my father's life that ended this past January.
The Bible is itself God's story. We are invited to be part of it.
The greatest story ever told is that of Jesus.
America's favortie story has long been considered to be "The Wizard of Oz."
There is power in "story."
What story is my life living and telling?
As Miller asks, what will our story when the credits roll?

So Are You a King?

Pontius Pliate asked the question once and history paused to witness the response.
Last night, the question was asked and the sports world paused to witness the response from free-agent, LeBron James, a.k.a. King James, the Chosen One.
Is he a king? No. Real leaders are those who have followers. There wasn't a NBA free-agent to be found who was willing to go to Cleveland and play basketball and win championships there with LeBron. Rather, the most coveted free-agents went to Miami to play with D. Wade.
Let me make it clear, I love watching LeBron play basketball. He possesses unique God-given gifts. His amazing talents and abilities are fun to watch. But LeBron is a man who needs to play in the shadow of a stronger personality than his own. He's a terrific guy but he needs someone else to really lead the team. That's how it was on Team USAA that won the gold in China. LeBron was awesome but it was someone else's team not his. And that's OK. That's who he is. That's what he knows he needs to win championships at the highest level in his sport. It just might.
Is he Cleveland's Chosen One? No. That will need to wait. Cleveland will have to look for another--unless they dare to look at and enjoy the success of their real Browns team that plays football in Baltimore.
So are you a king?
Pilate knew the answer before he even asked Jesus that question. So do we.
Let LeBron play basketball and enjoy watching him, if you want. Basketabll isn't life. It's a game ...and a business.