It seems like every couple months I get guilty that I don’t do more with this blog, especially as I follow blogs like Ben’s so often. So let me tell you about last weekend.

This winter, my church decided to put together a hockey team to enter in the local church hockey league. Since I left college, I had not played a game of hockey since, and I was really missing it. Now I am in no way mistaken for Sidney Crosby or Dion Phaneuf on the ice, and after going to the first practice/try-out, I was very out-talented (for example, some of these guys were only two steps from the NHL in their junior careers, whereas I am still working on skating backwards!). However, due to the fact that I came out, I got to stay on the team.
I remember talking to Sarah about whether I should stay on the team or not, and came to the conclusion that if I wanted to improve my abilities, I needed to swallow my pride, maybe be humiliated a few times, and to stick with the team surrounding myself with better talent so that I, in turn, will get be a better hockey player.

It all paid off this past weekend! I scored not only my first goal of the season, but my first TWO goals of the season! What a rush! Well, once I realized I scored: you see, before Christmas, I just about scored. Jonny Mo gave me a sweet pass across the crease and I had the wide-open net, however the goalie whipped out his right pad in time to stop my shot. (That white pad still haunts me!) So this past weekend, I got another pass across the middle and I shot it, but I just saw the puck go into the body of the goalie. I thought he had stopped it once again, until all my teammates came skating up to me celebrating. The first words out of my mouth was, “Did I score?” I didn’t even see my first goal – I thought I shot it into his body, but apparently it went off of his blocker and between his arm and body into the net!

(Being the pastor, I feel the need for an application moment – cue the band:)
The lesson I learned through all of this is that we need to swallow our pride, not be scared to embarrass ourselves sometimes, and be willing to grow. The air is thick with egotism and arrogance. So many people try to be bigger than they really are. In the end, it only leads to more embarrassment and falling off the fragile pedestal that people tried to build up for themselves. Instead, be honest, be genuine, and in the end, you’ll feel the true experience of reward after hard-work.