Is it time for a change in your marriage, parenting, vocation? Part of the process involves having a clear picture of the preferred future (aka, vision). You have to know where you are going and what you want to be true when you get there. You also have to leave behind the past, both successes and failures.
The New Orleans Saints have played a lot of miserable football for decades. Many of us remember the days when fans would sit in the stands wearing paper bags over their heads in embarrassment as they referred to their team as the “Aints”.
Enter a new coach and a few new players and 2006 became their most successful season ever, just when the hurricane ravaged city needed something to cheer about. As the team prepares for the 2007 season they are clear about their vision (win a Super Bowl). They are also clear about how to put the past into the past.
Jim Corbett reports in USA Today that “Instead of resting on their laurels, the Saints laid their laurels to rest under the shaded sideline of their practice field.”
Coach Sean Payton said, “We had a six-piece blues band, a preacher, a coffin, somber music as our players gathered around. We dug a hole in the ground and really put everything from last year in there.”
“We opened the casket and we put all these (replica) trophies in there--Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year, Pro Bowl jerseys--18 items that were put in this casket that represented the 2006 season…That was the last thing we did as a team, put that casket in the ground before breaking.”
This is what the Apostle Paul meant in Philippians 3:13-14 when he said, “…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God is calling us.” (Note the clear goal/vision and the choice to leave things in the past in the past.)
Need to make a change? You just may also need to have a “funeral” and bury a few things. God is calling you to a new kind of living. Will you answer the call?
The New Orleans Saints have played a lot of miserable football for decades. Many of us remember the days when fans would sit in the stands wearing paper bags over their heads in embarrassment as they referred to their team as the “Aints”.
Enter a new coach and a few new players and 2006 became their most successful season ever, just when the hurricane ravaged city needed something to cheer about. As the team prepares for the 2007 season they are clear about their vision (win a Super Bowl). They are also clear about how to put the past into the past.
Jim Corbett reports in USA Today that “Instead of resting on their laurels, the Saints laid their laurels to rest under the shaded sideline of their practice field.”
Coach Sean Payton said, “We had a six-piece blues band, a preacher, a coffin, somber music as our players gathered around. We dug a hole in the ground and really put everything from last year in there.”
“We opened the casket and we put all these (replica) trophies in there--Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year, Pro Bowl jerseys--18 items that were put in this casket that represented the 2006 season…That was the last thing we did as a team, put that casket in the ground before breaking.”
This is what the Apostle Paul meant in Philippians 3:13-14 when he said, “…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God is calling us.” (Note the clear goal/vision and the choice to leave things in the past in the past.)
Need to make a change? You just may also need to have a “funeral” and bury a few things. God is calling you to a new kind of living. Will you answer the call?
4 comments:
Yeah ,sometimes we need to make drastic changes but then something called 'Procrastination' hits us and then what I call the '8th deadly sin' rears its ugly head and thats what I call 'REGRET'. Its regret that really scares me...
how does burying things relate/contrast with the toxic barrel from your sermon a few weeks ago?
Mark:
Thanks for the comment. Sounds like we might want to talk more about procrastination sometime.
Sam:
Great question. The "burying" that I'm talking about with this post has to do with putting things in the past into the past. I can't let past failures or victories distract me from present challenges.
The "buried toxic barrel" I mentioned in a story a few weeks ago has to do with suppression of hurts and issues. In that case I need to unearth the toxic barrel, get rid of the toxicity (hurt/issues) and then re-bury the empty barrel and put it into the past. Hope that clarifies.
Blessings on you as God makes sense of that for your circumstance.
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