I am not a football fan, but several years ago I agreed to watch a movie called Facing the Giants (Provident Films). It is the story of a football coach and his team’s transformation after finding faith in God. (SPOILER ALERT- If you want to see the movie and haven’t yet, I am getting ready to spoil one of the film’s best scenes, so you might want to watch it before reading this post).
My favorite scene in the film is when Coach Grant Taylor, played by Alex Kendrick, challenges the football team’s lead player, Brock, to perform a 50-yard death crawl while carrying a teammate on his back.
After Brock agrees to the challenge, Coach Taylor places a blindfold on Brock to prevent him from quitting prematurely. Then, Coach Taylor walks alongside him as a verbal guide during the exercise. Although confident and strong in the beginning, Brock begins to struggle as he crawls farther down the field.
Every time Brock slows down or stops, Coach Taylor exclaims, “Keep moving! Keep driving it!”
The football team watches in amazement as Brock and the coach move closer to the goal line.
Brock begins to cry out, “It’s too hard!”
Coach Taylor repeatedly screams back, “You promised me your best! Keep going! Don’t quit!”
Coach Taylor removes the blindfold after Brock collapses at the goal line. It is then that Brock realizes he has gone beyond the 50-yard mark; he has made it to the end zone. Brock did not recognize his true potential until that moment.
Coach Taylor explains to Brock how much influence he is wasting through his poor attitude and actions. The coach implores him to step into his God given leadership role, and Brock agrees to do so.
Brock is forever changed by his death crawl lesson.
All around us, people remain oblivious to what God has placed inside of them. Maybe, no one has told them about their worth, or they have settled for average because extraordinary has seemed unattainable.
Despite the reasons for this less-than-the-best mentality, we need to recognize human beings as God’s image bearers. We are infused with precious gifts, wasted out of ignorance or fear.
Often, our insecurities prevent us from dispensing encouragement to others. We focus on what is wrong with them, rather than what is right. We feel the need to fix others because we can’t figure out how to fix ourselves. We speak critical words, instead of inspiring ones.
We can find excuses to expose and exploit a person’s weaknesses, but can we find better reasons to accentuate and pull out his/her strengths?
As you take a look around, do you see someone who needs to reach his/her increased potential?
Are you calling out their greatness, or are you abandoning them to mediocrity?
If we want to see greatness in our world, then we have to cultivate it in ourselves and others. We need to break down our prejudices and insecure motives. We have to look past our ugly attitudes and demolish our iron walls to see the gems God has placed before us.
We need to become the coach who is screaming, “Don’t quit!”
I challenge you. Take the time to call out the greatness in someone else this week.
I for one know that you do this a lot. I receive it on almost a daily basis. Great post, and I want to take your challenge to call out greatness in others.