What It Takes to be No. 1

January 13, 2009 at 7:00 am (Christian Life, Miscellaneous, Quotes) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that’s first place. I have finished second place twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he’s got to play from the ground up – from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s ok. You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.

Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization – an army, a political party, or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win – to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don’t think it is.

It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there – to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules – but to win.

And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

I don’t say these things because I believe in the “brute” nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.

 

 

- Vincent Lombardi

When was the last time you were “exhausted on the field of battle” in the name of Christ?  Victorious in winning souls and proclaiming His truths?  Do what it takes to be number 1 in the eyes of the Lord today – not the eyes of man.

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From Helen Keller

January 12, 2009 at 3:26 pm (Christian Life, Miscellaneous, Quotes) (, , , , , , , , , , , , )

“Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.“               Helen Keller

Smart woman….very smart woman.

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Something to think about:

January 12, 2009 at 3:12 pm (Christian Life, Miscellaneous, Quotes) (, , , , , , )

From p137 of C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy

“But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you anymore you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.”

Food for thought…..very interesting quote….one that hit me right upside the head the first time I read it.

And, one that God has used to convict me of laziness (OUCH!) and procrastination over and over again!

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