The three greatest passions in my life are my family, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sports. From my bio, you might have noticed that I have participated, coached, and worked in sports most of my life. As parents, my wife and I have instilled the love that we have for the gospel and sports in our kids. We raised our kids with a Book of Mormon in one hand and a ball in the other hand. We have enjoyed playing, teaching, and watching them grow and develop in sports, life, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I enjoyed reading the responses to the questions on the devotional discussion board on why God allows us to struggle and what sports and the gospel have in common. Teamwork, setting and achieving goals, leadership, hard work (Brother Jason Flora at last devotional also mentioned hard work), grit, valor, learning from mistakes, successes, not giving up, and enduring to the end are just a few characteristics that can be learned and developed in sports and the gospel. I can honestly say that my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ was gained, developed, and strengthened on a baseball diamond, a football field, a basketball court, and a track.
Sports, just like other activities that you might like to do, are not inherently good or bad. It’s how you use them. If the gospel is intertwined with our extracurricular activities, then they can be a great source of strength and good. If the gospel is not intertwined with our extracurricular activities, they can become a distraction and keep us from our ultimate goal of exaltation and eternal life.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf—one of my all-time favorite speakers—compares flying airplanes to gospel principles. Even though I don’t know the first thing about airplanes, I feel the Spirit and it teaches me what I need to learn each time he speaks. It doesn’t matter if your interests are flying airplanes, music, education, playing video games, or sports. We can apply these messages to ourselves and our interests.
I pray that each of us will have eyes to see and ears to hear the message being presented today. I pray that the Spirit will teach us what we need to learn from this devotional and that we will all have a renewed desire and will to “get up and win the race!”[1]
Dr. D. H. Groberg wrote the poem “The Race” many years ago. It’s about a father and a son, but it could be about a father and a daughter. I am not able to read the poem in this devotional because of its great length, but I will give you a quick summary.
This young boy is about to run a race. He wants to do well and make his father proud. During the race, he is in the lead but trying to go faster than he can, he slips and falls. Wanting to quit and give up, he sees his father in the crowd and hears a voice that says, “Get up and win the race.” He jumps up and runs as fast as he can but falls again. Now far behind the others, he really wants to quit. Again, he hears the voice from his father say, “Get up and win the race.” He gets up and, trying to catch the others, falls again. For a third time, he hears his father’s voice say, “Get up and win the race.” Determined not to quit, he gets up and runs across the finish line in last place. Disappointed and with his head down, he slowly says to his father, “I didn’t do so well.” His dad smiles at him, gives him a big hug and says, “To me, you won the race. You got up each time you fell.”[2]
Life is a lot like this poem. It doesn’t matter what our interests are; we are all in a race—the race of life. The prize at the end is not just a trophy or a ring. This prize is above anything that we can imagine or receive in this life. The prize is exaltation and eternal life. We have a loving Heavenly Father encouraging us. To win, we must overcome temptations and trials placed in our path. We must get up each time we fall, endure to the end, and win the race.
Oliver Goldsmith was credited with the following quote:
Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we may fall.[3]
President Thomas S. Monson in his talk “I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee” said the following:
Whenever we are inclined to feel burdened down with the blows of life, let us remember that others have passed the same way, have endured, and then have overcome.
The history of the Church in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times, is replete with the experiences of those who have struggled and yet who have remained steadfast and of good cheer. The reason? They have made the gospel of Jesus Christ the center of their lives. This is what will pull us through whatever comes our way. We will still experience difficult challenges, but we will be able to face them, to meet them head-on, and to emerge victorious.[4]
How do we protect ourselves and face life’s challenges head on? Let’s turn to the scriptures. Ephesians 6:11-17 talks about putting on the whole armor of God. What is the whole armor of God? The girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of preparation of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.[5] How do we make sure we have the whole armor of God on us for protection? Alma taught Helaman that, “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”[6] I am a simple man and like plainness and simplicity. I have a list of five simple things that all of us should be doing to help us put on the whole armor of God.
Personal Prayer
Start every morning and end each day with prayer. Throughout the day, have a prayer in your heart in all that you do. Pray for help, strength, and protection. Tell the Lord your wants, your desires, and your struggles. Give gratitude and thanks for the many blessings that you have in your life. Pray for forgiveness of your sins and for the enabling power of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice to overcome your trials and afflictions. As you pray daily, you will develop a personal relationship with your Heavenly Father.
Daily Scripture Study
Read your scriptures even if it is as little as five minutes each day. Start small and build up the minutes that you read. Turn five minutes into 10 minutes, 20, 30, and so forth. The idea is to establish a habit of frequent contact with the scriptures.
Attend Your Church Meetings and Partake of the Sacrament
Going to church each week and partaking of the sacrament helps strengthen our testimonies and allows the Savior’s atoning sacrifice to be part of our lives on a weekly basis. It allows us to renew our covenants with him. Having the opportunity to previously serve in a bishopric on campus, I know this isn’t happening as much as it should.
Bear Your Testimony
Bear your testimony as often as you can—on a mission, in church, class, and at home. It doesn’t matter how small a testimony you might have. By bearing your testimony to others, it will grow and get bigger and stronger.
Attend the Temple Regularly
President Thomas S. Monson in his talk “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World” said the following:
The world can be a challenging and difficult place in which to live. We are often surrounded by that which would drag us down. As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified.[7]
Bryce Harper, former professional baseball Most Valuable Player, said the following:
I thought fame, fortune, and an MVP award would make me happy. Something was missing. So, I . . . prepared and [entered] the temple. I am now on a path to [return] to my Heavenly Father and have an eternal family—which is the greatest joy in the world![8]
Again, these are just five simple things that all of us should be doing. You could do more. Remember what Alma taught Helaman: “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”[9]
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in his talk “For Times of Trouble” said:
If you work hard and prepare earnestly, it will be very difficult for you to give in or give up or wear down. If you labor with faith in God and in yourself and in your future, you will have built upon a rock. Then, when the winds blow, and the rains come—as surely they will—you shall not fall. Of course, some things are not under your control. Some disappointments come regardless of your effort and preparation, for God wishes us to be strong as well as good.
Elder Holland went on to say—and this is my favorite part of this whole talk:
You can change anything you want to change, and you can do it very fast. It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes you to say, “I’ll change”—and mean it. Of course, there will be problems to work out and restitutions to make. You may well spend . . . the rest of your life proving your repentance. . . . But change, growth, renewal, and repentance can come for you as instantaneously as for Alma and the sons of Mosiah.[10]
I am going to repeat what he said. “It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes you to say, ‘I’ll change’—and mean it.” You can change today. You can change right now.
A few years ago, one of my student leaders in the sports program at BYU-Idaho interviewed me for a paper he was writing for one of his classes. He had a few questions that related to sports and the gospel. “What was your biggest failure or disappointment playing sports?” I told him that I didn’t like the word “failure,” but an experience that shaped my life was when I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school.
My high school was the defending back-to-back baseball state champions. We were ranked #1 in the state and ranked in the top 10 in the nation. In a state elimination game, we were down one run late in the game. With two outs, I was on first base and was the potential tying run. My coach gave me the steal sign. As the pitcher came to his wind up, I took off toward second base. The batter hit the pitched ball—a line drive that flew right by my head into right field for a base hit. I rounded second base and went to third base as fast as I could.
As I got close to third, I could hear, “Home, home!” That’s where I needed to go was “home”. I rounded third base and headed to home plate. To my horror, as I looked over my left shoulder, I saw the first basemen catching the relay throw from the right fielder. I knew I wasn’t going to make it home, so I tried to stop and get back to third base. In my haste, I slipped and fell. I got up as quick as I could and dove back to third base. A sense of relief came over me for a split second. Then, “You’re out!” echoed across the baseball field. I had made a crucial, baserunning mistake in a game in which we lost by one run. I felt like I cost my team, the seniors, my coaches, and the school a state championship.
“That must have been pretty rough,” he said. He then asked me “What was your greatest success?” It was the same game. “I don’t understand,” he said to me. “I thought you would say when you won a state championship or talk about a game-winning touchdown, basket, or hit.” Those are all good memories but let me explain what happened to me after that game.
I was lost, devastated, depressed, and wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep playing baseball or sports all together. At the time, it was one of the worst feelings I had ever experienced up until that point in my life. The best way to describe it was I felt a dark, heavy, crushing feeling all over my body and it was hard to breath. No matter what I did or thought, I couldn’t get it to go away.
A few days later at seminary, we had a lesson on the Atonement. Up until that point in my life, the Savior’s Atonement only meant that I could repent of my sins. I didn’t understand the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement.
That night with new knowledge—and a little faith—I studied the Atonement in the scriptures. I then knelt and prayed like I had never prayed before. I pleaded with the Lord for help, strength, and the will to keep going. I pleaded for the Savior’s atoning sacrifice to lift me.
After many hours of prayer and scripture study, something miraculous happened to me. I didn’t see God the Father, Jesus Christ, or have angels visit me, but I did have a thought come into my head: “Get up, get up. I will carry your burdens, for my atoning sacrifice is for everyone that will believe in me.” That thought came into my mind and pierced my very soul. I immediately got up off my knees and I felt the burden—that dark, heavy feeling—being lifted off me. Make no mistake, I still felt pain, I still was extremely disappointed. But for the first time since that game, I felt like I could breathe and I knew I was going to be okay.
In sports, life, and the gospel, I have experienced many disappointments—“failures”—and successes since that day. Some of the successes have been exhilarating and some of the disappointments—“failures”—have been a lot more devastating than that game. That experience though has helped me get through all of them. That is when I gained a true testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Too many people are giving up on church, school, and life because they are tired of feeling like they are falling short. They have tried in the past, but they continually feel like they are not good enough. Don’t quit when you fall. Get up, keep trying. Don’t look for excuses and blame others. Look to the Savior and rely on His strength. As you do, you will feel the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement in your life.
I love the story of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
Life is a storm my young friend[s]. You will bask in the sunlight one moment be shattered on the rocks the next, what makes you a man [or a woman] is what you do when that storm comes.[11]
I know that God lives and Jesus is the Christ. The atoning sacrifice the Savior made is real. Let the gospel be a priority in your life and be intertwined with everything that you do. Don’t check your religion at the door when it comes to sports or any other activity that you do. Don’t compromise your integrity for winning. When you fall, “Get up and win the race!”[12] In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] D. H. Groberg, The Race: Life’s Greatest Lesson, Warner Faith, May 2004.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Oliver Goldsmith, The Citizen of the World, 1762, www.quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/27/rising/.
[4] Thomas S. Monson, “I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee,” Ensign, Nov. 2013.
[5] See Ephesians 6:11–17.
[6] Alma 37:6.
[7] Thomas S. Monson, “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,” Ensign, May 2011.
[8] Gary E. Stevenson, “Your Priesthood Playbook,” Ensign, May 2019.
[9] Alma 37:6.
[10] Jeffrey R. Holland, “For Times of Trouble,” BYU Devotional, Mar. 18, 1980.
[11] Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844, www.goodreads.com/quotes/109489-life-is-a-storm-my-young-friend-you-will-bask.
[12] D. H. Groberg, The Race: Life’s Greatest Lesson, Warner Faith, May 2004.