Today I woke up to a new milestone in sporting history. An old man, in sports years, came to a new team in the middle of a chaos and came out on top with a group of players and coaches. Regardless of how easy or hard one might think the outcome was, this was a first. In any sport, in any era, there is no recorded time where someone of this age took a team to the championship.
There are lots of easy answers on the why. Passion, desire, leadership, determination, and will are just the beginning of the words why describe the why. The intriguing question is how. How could someone, anyone stand up to Mr. Time and prevail against the wear and tear which follows participation in a violent sport. How does a man prevail after years of celebration and the roller coaster which comes with success and failures? How?
There are several keys behind the answer to how. One of them is disciplined health. The quantity of water each day (3 liters plus), sleep, and good eating (no simple carbohydrates or highly processed food in his diet!), is more than I can imagine. I would stumble and fall on consistently consuming this much water! Then there is his willingness to get consistent sleep, often more than his children. The health centric combination forms a cornerstone on which he builds his life.
I find myself looking at my personal cornerstone. Beyond my why, how am I building on what I have placed in my personal architectural northeast corner?
Many struggle to understand how the old man can do what he does. Beyond the desire and commitment, we hear about the how our logic tells us it is not enough or maybe it is too much.
I look at my heroes and consider their personal cornerstones. The factor they share is trusting in a Supreme Being. Their lives affirm the Psalmist’s observation; “Those who trust in God are like Zion Mountain: Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on.” (Psalm 126.1).
