Skip to main content

The Competitive Fire Within

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.  (Galatians 5:24-26)

Most people who know me consider me to be one of the most competitive people they know (if not THE most).  Most of my life I took great pride in that.  If you stepped onto the basketball court, the baseball diamond, the bowling alley, the ping pong table, or whatever with me, you knew full well you were not only going to get a challenge, but everything I had to give.

Losing for me was not an option; I simply had to win.  This challenge I placed upon myself drove me to improve and drove me to succeed.  For years, I considered this a good thing.  What was wrong with striving to improve or striving to be the best?   It took a great deal of humbling to finally get the answer.  For years, I missed what impact my competitiveness was having on others:

One year, I had about 10-15 people over my house to watch the Cowboys in the Super Bowl.  Everybody (and I mean everybody) was pulling for the Steelers with passion and fire, even the most passive of football fans.  Why on earth was everybody so adamant my beloved team lost? 

Another year, I went on a cruise with four of my friends.  Things were going great until a chess board was pulled out.  My competitive juices started to flow to the point of getting into a severe shouting match with one of my friends.  He grew so angry with me he slept out on the deck that night.

For the past five summers I’ve been playing softball in a league through my church.  For the first couple seasons, winning was my chief concern; my batting average was a close second.  But two years back, Dee came to one of the games and had a chance to speak with the wife of one of my teammates.  Dee told me after the game that my teammate was so concerned about not hitting well, he spent hours at the batting cages before the game.  I took it exceptionally hard, and began to wonder if I had done or said anything to fuel his fears of failure.  That season, for the first in my life, winning wasn’t my #1 goal.  Rooting for another teammate to succeed became my primary focus. 

I still enjoy winning and I still love to compete.  But I pray I never let those desires negatively impact another person’s life again.

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Mike

  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)   Last September, Dee and I made an extremely difficult decision to switch churches. The toughest part was leaving behind our “small group” made up of people that have become like family.  For decades, biweekly between the months of September and May, we’d get together to worship and pray with and for one another.  The prayers offered up there I firmly believe changed the trajectory of many lives for the better.     Back in 2015, an older gentleman, Mike, joined our group and we hit it off right from the start.  Mike was a prayer warrior – if I knew Mike was praying for us, I just had a deeper peace that whatever the situation was, it was going to work out for the best.  Mike also had the best memory I’ve ever been around – he even came to know my schedule...
Read more

The 25th Wedding Anniversary

“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22)   July 1st marks Dee and my 25 th  wedding anniversary.  How could time have gone so quickly?  It seems like just yesterday Dee was walking down the aisle, and here we are looking back at so many years gone by.     Those years have been filled with not only many mountain-top moments, but also times of hardship and sorrow.  Thankfully, those difficult times have helped bring us only closer.  As time has gone by, we’ve navigated toward doing almost everything together – we’ve found through times of separation, we simply work better together as a team.     The success of that team is not a mystery to us – on day one we put Jesus at the center of our marriage and there He shall always remain.  Oh, the many times He’s been there to right and steady our ship as its sailed thru stormy seas.    I’d be remi...
Read more

The Christmas Shoebox

  “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.     Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8)   Two Saturdays ago, I had one of those non-stop days.  I got up early and had hours of intense office work to do.  After that, I took a break from that to help Dee get the Christmas decorations up.  After that, I switched to get some urgent outdoor items done before the Minnesota frozen tundra took over for the winter.  I capped the day by switching back to the intense office work for a couple hours.   At about 9 pm I was ready to collapse in a heap when Dee said, “we have to get the Christmas shoeboxes put together so we can take them to church tomorrow”.  After thinking about it for a minute, I reluctantly agreed.   Thankfully, Dee had taken the lead on buying everything for 4 boxes (...
Read more