Our pastor is preaching/teaching a new series entitled All In! It’s based on a book by Pastor Mark Batterson from Washington, DC of the same name. I am reading the book and it is powerful. I recommend it to all of you.
This “All In” concept is a strong exhortation to “burn the ships” and make a 100% commitment to whatever your task is. Then, once you’re all in, it’s time to go “all out!” If you don’t know the story of “burn the ships,” it concerns Cortez when he and his men landed on the shores of what is now Mexico. They had sailed from Spain and Cortez knew that the only way he could get his men to realize that “there’s no turning back now” was… when he got all of his men and supplies, weapons and horses ashore, he yelled out to the few remaining men in the water to ‘burn the ships!!!’” He was making sure that they were “all in.”
I have a friend at church who has been leading a non-profit organization that builds backyard playground equipment for children in our area who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. He also had a landscape and lawn mowing business on the side that paid the bills. Just a few months ago, he decided that he was going “all in” with this non-profit. He brought on a Board of Directors, hired an Administrative Assistant and… most significantly, SOLD all of his landscape equipment. There was NO turning back now. He has gone “all out” now to make sure that this organization works and these kids get to enjoy a back yard full of playground equipment.
How about you? What is God calling you to do? What is your job? I know that most of you who read this are high school football coaches. But, I hear from others in different walks of life from time to time. Have you made the decision to go “all in” on whatever your job is? As our pastor said this week: “there is no ‘Plan B’ if you are truly going all in.” No fall-back plan; no way back. You are in it all the way and… you’re in it for the long haul. As Winston Churchill exhorts us: “Never, never, never give up… and, never give in!”
