Jun 25 2006, 7:22 am - By gortag

Sunday, June 25, 2006 Winning vs. Whining Current mood: optimistic Category: Life Ok... my son is going to kill me for sharing, but that is alright! That's what we parents do! I want to talk about character and how it molds us into what we are "about" in life. My youngest son asked a couple weeks ago if he could enter a tennis tournament held at Catawba college. His tennis coach suggested he may want to participate in some events to play other opponents to help improve his play. So, my son decided that this particular tournament would be a good starting point. My son had approx. 7 days to prepare for this tournament. SOOO he practiced really hard. He started hanging out and practicing with a couple of other seasoned tennis players. My son was psyched about playing in this tournament. My son had been originally slated to play in the second round of play (he got a first round by in the picking order), but that changed after bad weather came through this last Friday. The tournament officials had to re-schedule everyone and they re-drew for matches. My son ended up playing first thing Saturday morning - against a guy ranked 32nd in the state of North Carolina! Remember this is my son's first tournament. On Saturday morning we arrived at the tournament. The opponents name was Drew. Very nice young man and a very seasoned tennis player. Both of Drew's parents coached high school tennis. We watched Drew warm-up before the match ~ I have never seen anyone in person serve as hard as he did! You could see a slight look of "OMG" in my son's eyes during their warm-up. Their match only lasted for approx. 15 minutes. My son was no match for this kid. Drew's serves overpowered my son! Drew's backhand was a stinger! My wife and I sat with Drew's parents and explained to them that our son had only been playing for little over a year and he was still "growing". Our son proceeded to the second round of the tournament in the consolation round. He was slated to play against the #1 seed in North Carolina (based on rankings within the organization sponsoring the tournament)! The #1 seed had lost to Drew earlier that day. It was time for my son and the #1 seed to play. Again, I have never seen someone serve like this young man ~ his serve was stronger than Drew's. And he added a professional "AAAArrrrrrgggggggg" grunt each time he would slam the ball across the fence. Their match lasted about 15 minutes. My son did win a couple of games in this match ~ but he did loose this game also. By this time you are wondering where I am going with all this?? Well, I want to tell you what I saw when I watched my son get clobbered by these seasoned players - I saw character! My son never made one excuse about his games on Saturday. My son never whined about how little experience he had. My sone never lowered his head in shame for getting his butt kicked. My son shook the hands of these young men (and their parents) and thanked them for the "opportunity" they provided him that day. I saw many young men out there who threw rackets when they lost a point. I saw young men weening (yes, I said weening) like a little kid when their serve was "off. I saw a few young men who lacked character. He took mental notes about every move he made so he could share them with his coach and work to improve. I saw my son counter these goliath players and actually stand up to them in the heat of play. You could see him start to build confidence out on the court and begin to counter their advances. Even though he was loosing in the game HE NEVER, NEVER, NEVER QUIT PLAYING. WOW! What a testimony for life! After all was said and done Saturday, on our way home, my son was in the back of the car and asked a question out of the blue "Do you think I did ok today, even though I lost?". I told my son I could never have been prouder of him! My son was too focused on the day to remember the repeated times we told him how proud were of him. He was now still and reflecting the events of the day and wondering were he stood. We again told him he was awesome and that the day was a good learning experience for building his tennis skills. My son is a man of character! He showed a small part of the world today that there are greater rewards in life than just winning. He reminded me that we may struggle sometimes in life, but we can make it through life if we do it with character. Jesus tells us about the very same thing in the scriptures. Matthew 5:1-12 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Father, thank you for this day. Lord, we yield to you our burdens. We know that you are bigger than anything that we encounter in life. We ask that your spirit fills us with "character" and that we reflect your kingdom in action and word as we journey through life. Thank you God for all your gifts and blessings. Amen.