Have you ever stood at the crossroads of personal loss and professional victory, feeling the weight of both in equal measure? I'm back, Coach Steve, and in this raw and heartfelt exchange, I'm sharing the tumultuous journey that's kept me from you, blending tales of family heartache with the exuberant wins of the volleyball season. My daughters, true champions in their age groups, have been a beacon of light, and together, we've been threading faith into the framework of our sports community, one prayer at a time. This conversation is about embracing those life-tossed curveballs and finding solace in our collective strength.
As we approach Easter, a time of reflection and renewal, I take you with me through the trials of setting boundaries in the dynamic dance of life, sports, and faith. The power of honest dialogue is evident as we navigate these waters, sometimes choppy with competing priorities. Meanwhile, the surprising Chicago trip proves to be a fertile ground for hope. What began as an intimate hotel service bloomed into a full-blown spiritual revival, reminding us that when we lead with trust and faith, even the most unexpected places can be transformed into hallowed ground.
Towards the end, I draw upon the profound message of the resurrection to inspire us to live our faith loudly and proudly, in every act, every day. Remember, it isn't just about the church walls; it's about the church within us. As I wrap up this episode, full of gratitude for our burgeoning program, I invite you to join me in looking forward to more spiritual unity at Cornerstone Athletics. It's a powerful reminder that when we gather in faith, we are unstoppable. So, stay tuned and stay blessed, because this journey? It's only just beginning.
Have you ever stood at the crossroads of personal loss and professional victory, feeling the weight of both in equal measure? I'm back, Coach Steve, and in this raw and heartfelt exchange, I'm sharing the tumultuous journey that's kept me from you, blending tales of family heartache with the exuberant wins of the volleyball season. My daughters, true champions in their age groups, have been a beacon of light, and together, we've been threading faith into the framework of our sports community, one prayer at a time. This conversation is about embracing those life-tossed curveballs and finding solace in our collective strength.
As we approach Easter, a time of reflection and renewal, I take you with me through the trials of setting boundaries in the dynamic dance of life, sports, and faith. The power of honest dialogue is evident as we navigate these waters, sometimes choppy with competing priorities. Meanwhile, the surprising Chicago trip proves to be a fertile ground for hope. What began as an intimate hotel service bloomed into a full-blown spiritual revival, reminding us that when we lead with trust and faith, even the most unexpected places can be transformed into hallowed ground.
Towards the end, I draw upon the profound message of the resurrection to inspire us to live our faith loudly and proudly, in every act, every day. Remember, it isn't just about the church walls; it's about the church within us. As I wrap up this episode, full of gratitude for our burgeoning program, I invite you to join me in looking forward to more spiritual unity at Cornerstone Athletics. It's a powerful reminder that when we gather in faith, we are unstoppable. So, stay tuned and stay blessed, because this journey? It's only just beginning.
What's up? What's up? You haven't heard this voice in a long time and a lot going on the highs, the lows, the ups, the downs, which are exactly the same as highs and lows. I miss y'all, man. This is Coach Steve. You're listening to the Cornerstone Athletics Podcast and I am blessed to be here. I'm excited to get you caught up. It's been a lot going on the last several months and, yeah, this is going to be good. It's going to be real good. So I appreciate you all tuning in. I hope you're excited that the podcast is back.
Speaker 1:We are moving quickly through 2024. We have been moving quickly through another volleyball season, got basketball back. A lot going on on my side. I know it's a lot going on on yours. I just want to get you back to the middle, get you back balanced, get you back clear and focused so you can finish out.
Speaker 1:Whatever you're in right now, whether you're moving through a storm, whether you are riding a high wave of success, whatever it is, we're hoping to establish a sense of balance and a sense of peace in the middle of all the chaos. It is definitely chaos. So where have we been? What's been going on? I got pressed, man. I got pressed into action. I'd be lying if I told you anything different. Let's start with some of the negative stuff, just because life has always happened. Life is life and it doesn't slow down for any man or woman. It doesn't no matter what mission you're on, no matter what you're trying to achieve life is still going to take place. I had several deaths in the family. I've spoken at more funerals in the last six months than I have ever imagined, definitely than I wanted to, and so that was something sad to add to the resume, but those family members are at peace. Finally, that is refreshing. That's a blessing for them to be free of the earthly burden they were suffering.
Speaker 1:Volleyball season has kicked off, started again. It's 2024, so the last time we spoke we were probably getting into the prey of it, like starting it up, and uh, we've been having a wave of success. It's been amazing. I am so blessed as a father, as a coach, in my own right, as a husband, to be able to watch my children, although they're young, watch them set a foundation for success that will carry them through future successes, which is one of the beauties of sport. Which is one of the beauties of sport you learn so many different life lessons, so many experiences that you get to have, and if you're in the right situation, right support system, the right environment, you will fight, literally building fabric life that will mold and shape you as a young woman. So that's been a blessing.
Speaker 1:One of my daughters has won eight, three national qualifiers at the highest level in her age group. Another one of my daughters is on one of the I think it was the number one. I think they're currently sitting at the number one spot in their age group at the highest division. And then my youngest. He's been riding a wave of success for the last two to three years and if they had the rank, I'm almost certain they would be one or two, based on the landscape, what's taking place, so bless.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people that do this and never get to say that at all in their career. There's a lot of people who don't get to experience success at such a high rate. I don't take it for granted. I don't take it for granted. My wife doesn't take it for granted. We're very thankful for the success in the moment. This year's success doesn't necessarily carry over matter next year, but right here, right now, we're blessed and we're thankful to be able to be experiencing this and be a part of. So that's the sports standpoint. What else has been taking place?
Speaker 1:I said I got pressed into action, I'm hoping, because I don't really listen to my own podcast uh, not, not in a bad way, like I just shoot these and I post it, go on about my business, so, uh, but I'm almost certain. I told you about Cornerstone Athletics and what we do, but I've only gotten more clear and taking tangible action in real life I say in real life Like one thing to shoot a podcast, another thing to pay to pay to keep me deprived of my mission. I got really prompted to bring Christ into the sports space not that it hasn't, that sounds really way it was intended to. But I just got prompted, spent a lot of time, invested a lot of time to sports world and just got to prompt and say we got to bring Jesus into this thing. We got to start really linking up other people of the faith that are out there and, at the end of the day, we're all subject to what the world presents to us. World presents every system that you know body of christ, the decision to bring christ into it, not, and I decided to bring Christ to it good.
Speaker 1:So I started with a prayer group and you know that prayer group started really simply just praying before tournaments. I think first run at it was three to five families, which is amazing. Don't take anything, anything I'm saying, as a hoopoe or move how he wants to and he doesn't need much to be able to do something impactful. But we started with three to five families and some of the bigger tournaments where more teams were there add up to, I think, 10 to 15 families and everybody got different schedules, different things. We went to Orlando for a tournament and one of my daughters, the whole team. So that was pretty cool. I got a lot of encouragement, a lot of support from folks in the body saying hey man, you gotta do this, hey man, you gotta do that. You know we want more of this and we should do this more often and all that kind of stuff. So nod to the big man upstairs taking this step is.
Speaker 1:I would be lying if I didn't say it wasn't uncomfortable, just because you never know how people respond to stuff like this and it's not about other people. But again, I'm being real. You know, bring up God. People get uncomfortable for a million different reasons. Some people have been hurt by the church, some people are just flat out in opposition or reject God. Some people don't know and you know how people get when they don't know some Fear of the unknown, discomfort of the unknown. It just it just could get weird. So it was really, it just could get weird. So it was really God moving through other people to affirm, like son, what I put on your heart, what I put in your mind, you need to move, you need to take action. Okay, got it. So started communicating that.
Speaker 1:And you know, the next trip we took was to Stis for another qualifier and had more teams there from the club. And man, I tell you what, talking about an explosion, if you will. We went from, like I said, we started with three to five families. Next thing, you know, we had 10 families. Next thing, you know, we have 50 to 60 plus people there from all age groups, all teams. Now there's a little bit of a buzz. Now conversations are coming up because next tournament, which was this past weekend, over Easter weekend, conversations start coming up about hey man, would you serve? This is where stuff starts to get strange. Not really strange, but God is strange to some. Look at who he is, he's, he's, he is. He's. Interesting.
Speaker 1:Rewind back to the beginning of the season. My wife and I had been having conversations about playing on Easter. The last two seasons we played on Easter. We didn't really like it. Last season we weren't going to play on Easter. I dropped the ball on that. We didn't really like it. Last season we weren't going to play on Easter. I dropped the ball on that. I didn't communicate that as it circled around then didn't want to sit in the seat of abandoning ship unexpectedly. We played through Easter. Last year I threw it and said hey, we're through Easter.
Speaker 1:Last year, you know, I threw it and said hey, we're not doing Easter things this year Because there has to be some boundaries to some degree. And I say boundaries more just understanding where you're comfortable, operating, communicating clarity where you're at. That was really what came up. We had to have some conversation about what are we doing, how are we operating, lining some thinking, because until you have conversations to get clear on what you're in, there's a good chance that you're not thinking correctly. So there were some factors we had talked to some folks at the club that you know we didn't necessarily consider or know to consider. You know different coaches. You know a coach juggling multiple teams, a schedule for multiple teams trying to streamline team, the schedule for the team trying to streamline. Here's what's really important to the club versus what we were thinking was not important, based on our experience. It's all of this kind of stuff we have this around and around conversation. It came to a head, we got to evaluate. We got to man.
Speaker 1:When I'm telling you some prayers, when I'm telling you to sit, anytime you get a moment where principles challenge stress or values challenge stress, it's very easy to default to human emotion that is reigning, most prevalent, whatever that might. Could be anger, could be sadness, could hopelessness, could be any. Thankfully we we do our best to default to prayer. I said, man, I'm just going to sit in prayer with this. That prompting I told you about at the beginning bringing God, bringing Christ to the sports world, to our environment was weighing heavy, real heavy. I know my wife wasn't for it, I wasn't for it, but at the end of the day I'm sitting here like man. This is something that I've always lived by. You can cry about it or you can do something about it. So I kept praying and I kept reflecting and I kept looking at it and I'm like man, I feel like we're supposed to go to Chicago and pray with people. That was literally the thought. Supposed to go to Chicago and like, take this prayer thing to Chicago and you know, hey, maybe it's, you know, 10 folks. But if that's 10 more families, 10 more people who get exposed to Lord, who am I to intervene with that? Because at the end of the day, you go to scripture.
Speaker 1:We're not the only generation demographic of believers that have been under duress from the pressures of the world and what the world offers us or puts in front of us. For a good part of history in the scriptures, god's people were under persecution from another ruling empire. Their lands had been invaded and taken over and they were being ruled in their own land. Some of God's people were wanderers. Some of God's people were working in the midst of the opposition enemy doing the work, this enemy doing the work, when you track the foot miles or travel miles of the disciples. They were traveling significant distance to spread the word, and so that resonated with me.
Speaker 1:I said, well, honey, I think we're supposed to go to Chicago. I don't really have anything other than that. That's what the Lord has put on my heart, that we need it. So fast forward back to where I was at. We're doing a prayer group. The prayer group is growing. People are now asking saying, hey, are you, would you be willing to? I think you should. Is this a possibility? And I laughed because I said, well, this is funny because this is the only reason we came to Chicago. Obviously there's a volleyball tournament that would be bringing us up here. Anyway, the thing that actually pushed this thing, the direction we're going, is I was going to do some service, some message, some word, anyway, no matter who was going to show up or who wanted it or not, it could have been one person. So, talking about the power of God, we get to Chicago for the tournament and again, thankfully, man, the girls are doing well.
Speaker 1:My 13-year-old didn't win the tournament, actually, kind of I say underperformed, that's not even accurate. Look back on it. They still finished the tournament as statistically the best team. They just lost a crossover match, played bad, wrong game to have a bad game. The team they played played really well. They did. They wanted it way more than we did. They were desperate. They played lights out defense. They just again. We got out-competed, lost one match.
Speaker 1:The whole weekend weekend took care of business in the silver bracket and you know, you learn that lesson as a competitor. The difficulty of bringing it every single time, difficulty of being a number one seed and having a target on your back, is no matter who you're playing, they're going to give you everything. They're going to really want to beat you. Some teams lay down, inevitably they will. It is inevitable. Some teams, just because of the makeup, their character, their mental faculties, will just lay down and surrender. You can guarantee other teams are going to play you like. It's the national championship, super Bowl, whatever your sport is, send the house at you. And you got to be trained. You got to be mentally sound enough to be able to withstand that and 99% of the time they do. This weekend was a weekend for less. My other daughter, again, as I mentioned, won her third straight qualifier In dominating fashion and it's pretty cool. So we were having success over the weekend and Saturday.
Speaker 1:This past Saturday, word got out before the tournament that there was going to be a service in the hotel. Some of the teams that I'm connected to knew I encouraged them to spread word. Lord had been kind of downloading some stuff to me to communicate and so from there it was in motion. I'm going to kind of detail this thing out, highlight some points of the message. But you know the director sent out emails to the club because I think we had 11 or so teams there. We were still doing our prayer group every day for the teams that were able to make it.
Speaker 1:That was powerful, especially being Holy Week. It's a big week for the week. The uh, entire existence of our faith, what it's based on, happens in that week. So it was a big deal and it was cool to see people showing love and coming out and getting getting a little prayer together and adding a different dynamic to the relationship, which is really, uh, the desire of my heart, them knowing God and having a relationship with the Lord, but also being able to look around and see other young women that are on that same path, as other young women that are doing the same thing. They're doing that believe the same thing they believe. So it's been really a blessing.
Speaker 1:So we had that going and then on Saturday we started to execute the plan and it's just amazing to see the body move, the body of Christ, not just anybody, the body of Christ move in real life. We had family organize the communion. Because we took communion together, we had people welcoming. I mean again, if you've never been to a volleyball tournament, I think it's unique to some degree when I think about sports I've been exposed to. You have thousands of girls, thousands of families that are centrally located in one spot. A lot of them stay at the same hotels, all age groups see, moving about back and forth, especially in this case because pension center connected to the hotel, so you got a lot of people moving back and so we didn't have a room.
Speaker 1:I just had an idea, for I'm like man, you know what, maybe we can find an area in the hotel where they would let us, where we could just gather, even if it's out in the open, or maybe they have something going on. You know, there's a space that we can just use and I'll talk to the hotel. It was funny because I reached out to him. I called him beforehand. They were like well, uh, we are going to have ballrooms open. They're not going to be private, but they're going to be open to volleyball teams so people can go in there and eat, kind of hang out. Oh bet, would just grab those. And then you know kind of saw the saw where it was at Wonderful setup, plenty of space, they had chairs and tables in there, all of that kind of stuff. It was cool.
Speaker 1:But when we get to the night of the service it was hundreds of people in the ballroom and interestingly enough they had kind of like this hallway in between each ballroom but it was closed off so it was almost like a narrow, long ballroom, if you can imagine, and it was really perfect. People started showing up. We got there early to kind of get a lay of the land. We said a prayer, folks started showing up, started helping While I was in my prayer. They started helping get chairs from other rooms so people could sit. And man, when I tell you, the Lord will deliver in ways you couldn't even imagine I was probably hoping for. You know, maybe the folks I talked to to show up, which could have been 10, 15 families in a small ballroom on a Saturday and all ages, different families, had some people that weren't even associated with our club it was open to anybody Folks that were on the other ballrooms that decided to just pop in that a lady had shared with one of the other parents that she'd been coming to this tournament every year on Easter for her daughter and had always wanted somebody to serve. So it was pretty sweet to hear that and to see 125 people show up to this service and that the Lord just moved.
Speaker 1:Now, a lot of times, anytime I'm going to get up and speak and I've done speaking engagements, I've done sermons, if you will, to some degree in the past, and always trying to be a conduit for what the Lord wants to convey it gets heavy. Um, if anybody listening has ever experienced that like it's not an easy task, like the the physical fatigue that I experience of, just like you know, yes, nervousness, it's concern, it's Like. You know, yes, nervousness, it's concern, it's, you know, the glory of the Lord is heavy, it's heaviness, and you know I was just like man, all right, and then, once the lights come on and once it's time to go, you know you go and I got up there and you know if there's anything for you to take from it, maybe start tuning in, as I just kind of I'm just going to recount what took place, to the blessing of the Lord, if there's something there for you as a parent, if there's something here for you as a coach or an athlete, just tune in, because you know I started off with just introducing myself. You know for me as a leader, especially when I'm dealing with other families, particularly other families' children which I have, you know as a coach in the past it is critically important for me, I think for everybody me, especially for them to know who I am like. If you're going to trust me with your child, it is imperative that you're not just handing off the baton of trust foolishly or blindly. I want you to understand who I am and where my heart is and what my mission is, so you can have more confidence and comfort in okay, I trust this guy, my kid, like I trust what he's saying. I'm glad that he said that because now people could have got up and left and I would have been fine with it because they would have been basing it off something they heard that they didn't like or something of that effect.
Speaker 1:I started off with just introducing myself. We live in an age of distrust that's the default emotion distrust, disconnectedness where we're actively seeking out differences so I can put people in a box or I can isolate myself. It's dangerous. So I started off just kind of sharing a little bit of my testimony as an athlete, as a believer, introduced my family because, quite honestly, we can't see the body of Christ move enough in our day-to-day life, of Christ move enough in our day-to-day life. Too many of us are comfortable and okay with church just being a Sunday thing, and then I do the worldly thing and then I go get fixed up or recharged on Sunday, versus every single day I'm in the church, whether it's at practice, whether it's at practice, whether it's at work. Definitely it should be in my household, however, just in passing, with people. I am the church, we are the church, and we don't know each other enough, we don't have the trust enough in the real human thing to be the body. And so this was so powerful for me because we were all there for one thing under one name Wasn't Steve, it was Jesus Christ, it was the resurrection.
Speaker 1:I couldn't tell you what denominations were in there. I couldn't tell you who was the oldest, I couldn't tell you who was the youngest. Quite honestly, there was a lot of stuff I couldn't tell you about a lot of people in there. What I could tell you was they were all there seeking a word or a message from the Lord. They were there to honor what he did for us to be able to gather in a ballroom in a hotel in Chicago yes, imperfect it is. I know a lot of people want to be home in the comforts on Easter, in their church on Easter, but I have a feeling there was the Lord was smiling on that situation because, quite honestly, that's where he came from. What we were doing that night was more familiar to what he did in the church Can't see my air quotes.
Speaker 1:Then, what we typically do on a Sunday and this isn't an indictment on anything that happens on a Sunday in a church building what I'm saying is the system, if you will, of how we identify with church needs to evolve. It's both ends. It's hard to be a believer not go to church, but church isn't the only way to be a believer, it's both. You've got to be believing when you're not at church. You've got to be living it out in the day-to-day, and church magnifies that, and then what you do on the day-to-day magnifies what happens at church. It's a cycle. So the fact that we were all there is beyond powerful, because that's the body of Christ in action in real time. People saw it, people felt it. People were praying over people laying hands on people, People were hugging, people were excited and happy about resurrection, about people other people that they know and they knew in a different context celebrating the resurrection of Christ, and that's powerful and that's what the body can create. That's what the body is capable of when we allow the Lord to permeate other areas of our life.
Speaker 1:So we talked about the resurrection story, we talked about Holy Week, we talked about Christ dying for our sins, overcoming death so we can have eternal life, so we can have that eternal relationship with him, we can have a deeper relationship. And then we talked about something that usually doesn't get talked about, usually doesn't get talked about. This was the thing that was put on my heart and my mind more than anything, as we talked about what Christ didn't die for, because it's easy to fall into. What do they call that? Like autopilot. You hear the story, you know the story. You see the pictures. That Like autopilot. You hear the story, you know the story. You see the pictures. You hear the songs Whoop-de-whoop, whoo. He died for my sins. Yay, I wanted to talk about what he didn't die for. Do you know what he didn't die for. Have you asked yourself that question before?
Speaker 1:Because, as I was thinking about it and I was praying about it, and you know I was trying to talk because we had young folks in the room, some folks that were new to the faith, young in the faith and, like I, was talking about looking to the cross, aka vision, right, like when you look to the cross, you see other things as you look to the cross and you can start at any point in jesus's life looking to the cross. I, for my experience, started with the manger in Humble Beginnings. I came from Humble Beginnings. But as you look to the cross and this is the key for young people if you got young people at the house, it's hard to establish a relationship with Christ, even actually for old people too, it's hard to establish a relationship with someone that you don't feel you have anything in common with. So if you can't look to the cross and look at Jesus' life on the way to the cross and find yourself somewhere in that story, it's a major disconnect. And I just highlighted some things. I come from the hood. I come from the hood, I'm from humble beginning. Your humble beginnings might be a farm. It might be. You know a big family where you didn't have much because of how big the family. I don't know what's more humble than being born in a manger.
Speaker 1:Right, as you start to get curious, as you start to see different things, ask different questions on the way to the cross. As I look at his journey to the cross, as I use my vision, I see that he's been heartbroken. I see that he had been angry. I see that he had been, uh, let down. I see that he had been angry. I see that he had been let down. I see that he had been betrayed. He had been convicted, wrongly convicted. He had been beaten and abused. You see that on the way to the cross. When you look to the cross, when you look at the cross, you see what he went through for us to have what we have now and more. You see the nails in the hands and the feet. You see the pierced side. You see the thorn pressed into his skull. I shared with them.
Speaker 1:As I started to get curious, I started to seek other information just to make it real. Because how often do we not make what we read in Scripture real? We don't read between the lines, we don't find the human things. It's just this fantasy to a lot of people, even people who say they are believers. They say that cross, that the part that he carried Was somewhere between 200 and 300 pounds. Take that with a grain of salt, carried it for a little under half a mile.
Speaker 1:What did he go through For us to have eternal life? Crucifixion, the worst kind of death meant to humiliate, torture, the 39 lashes being being forsaken by his father. For us to have that relationship, to have this opportunity to go to heaven, should we allow him to move in our life and accept him in our life? But as powerful as that is, I think it's equally powerful to realize what he didn't die for. He didn't go through all of that. He didn't carry that 200, 300 pound cross. He didn't get embarrassed and whipped and beaten and spit on and mocked, betrayed. He didn't leave heaven to come down to earth for you to live in shame. He didn't leave heaven to come down to earth for you to live in shame, for you to live in fear, for you to spin your wheels trying to be a perfectionist, for you to be so insecure you can't do anything but ruin relationships or be self-deprecating and demean yourself.
Speaker 1:He didn't die for you to spend all of your time worshiping your favorite social media influencer. He didn't die for that. He didn't die for that. He didn't die so you can be blessed and abundant financially. Blessed with health, the ability to do everything that we can do in this country, the freedoms we're afforded. For us to sit and complain and bicker and piss and moan about nothing AKA first world problem.
Speaker 1:My Starbucks is cold. I can't believe they did that. Did you hear what she said? And I can't believe it. He didn't die for that. That's what we spend our time doing and that's why I love this podcast. That's why I love being able to talk. Right, this is you. You're listening to this. Any conviction has taken places between you and the Lord. You can't see? I'm just conveying a message. He didn't die for you to cry and whine about what you didn't have, to the point where all you can do is make excuses for not changing your life. He didn't die for you to quit every time you face some kind of resistance or adversity. He didn't die for you to not live up to the expectations and use the gifts he gave you because it's too hard. I don't want to do that it's not fun. It's not what he died for, and so, in sharing that message, the reason that was put on my heart was because that's where the human stuff is, that's where we exist.
Speaker 1:When we're talking about you know, the title, if you will, of the message was remembering sacrifice. When we talk about remembering sacrifice, you have to look to the cross. You have to look at the cross. You have to absolutely understand what he died for, but, just as equally powerful, you have to understand what he didn't die for. That's where we exist in our day-to-day. We really want to honor what he did. Our life will be different.
Speaker 1:Remembering what he didn't die for. It has to be the ups and the downs and everything that we go through. We deal with a lot in our human experience. It's very easy for us to lose sight of what he did die for very quickly. So my hope is that when you remember what he didn't die for very quickly. So my hope is that when you remember what he didn't die for, that can be something that's more tangible, and that doesn't mean you won't experience any of those things. You might experience shame, you might experience anger, you might experience anger, you will be sad, you'll be blessed, and you might be prone to being spoiled when you're blessed, not if you remember what he didn't die for. See what I'm saying? Like it's an ebb and a flow and that's why we have to see all the sides, okay, that's why we have to be able to grasp what took place last weekend in a tangible way, in a spiritual and a human way, so we can appreciate it. So the the message was good, it was great. I had some good feedback, I had people that were thankful and I was just so thankful that people showed up and that they were moved and that's, you know, kind of.
Speaker 1:To wrap this up, that's what Cornerstone has been on the last several months is actively looking at. What can we do right now to make this real, to live out the mission? I'll paraphrase the mission because it's been a while since we spoke. But step one you know, priority one personal development, slash character development, whichever way you think of that. Through spiritual development you can have all the other stuff in the world. You can have all of these other aspects of health, relational, financial, emotional, physical, you can have all of it but if we don't have that spiritual peace, we're going to be a little off some way somehow. So that's one Personal development through spiritual development for our athletes, for our people. Two, building elite level competitors on and off the field, court, whatever it is, in and out of sport. Go, conquer everything that you can conquer right now, while you can, because at some point the journey ends, the jersey goes up in the rafters or in a frame or in a box, doesn't matter, and then you will be left with the real game, which is life. That's what we're on, that's what we're after.
Speaker 1:Anything that you see take place from this point forward. One, god will be in the center of it. Two, it'll be related to those two things and there's a lot of synergy between those two things. In our opinion, it's hard to do anything as is intended, very well, at the highest degree, without there being God in the picture. You might be saying, well, I'm already super successful in all of this and guess what? With God, there's more. That's what I believe, is what I believe.
Speaker 1:So that's what's been going on, man, and you know we're. We're up and rolling, we're up and running again. I got some stuff, that's I've been cooking up that I'm just excited about. You can tell, last weekend was amazing Having conversations, putting things in place to keep that going, to make that more real intention to any and every athlete, family, coach, worker on a regular basis. So I'm excited. Just know, say whatever, whatever this involves, on a regular basis. So, uh, I'm excited. It's no, say whatever, whatever this involves. And this was the same thing I told them in closing Ever's next It'll be. It'll be God that put it together. Because if you would have told me that 120, 125 ish folks would have shown up to a Easter service, a small ballroom, on a Saturday in Chicago, away from home, I probably would have believed you, but I would have been in shock if I wasn't Saturday. I appreciate y'all tuning in. I hope you took something from this. This is again Coach Steve with the Cornerstone Athletics Podcast. Be blessed, we'll talk soon.