As a coach have you ever had a bad day, bad week, or bad year? Many of us would answer “yes.” At one point, Moses could have said he was having a “bad life.” Most of his life had been a lie. He committed murder, Pharaoh tried to kill him, and, in fear, he ran from his problems to the desert. Then came his defining moment in life—the burning bush.

At the college that I attended, we referred to long-distance runners as “jar heads.” We figured that each day they would unscrew their heads, take out their brains, and then run an unbelievable amount of miles before returning and putting their brains back in their heads.

I say this all in good fun, obviously. I have always admired distance runners and think that distance running is an amazing ability. When these runners race, they set their minds on finishing the race. Lap after lap they strain through sore muscles and tough conditions to finish what they started.

Almost every week this summer, I have been working with junior high boys trying to help them improve their basketball skills. The range of ability between sixth and eighth graders is pretty wide, and their physical size can be an even bigger gap. But we have one boy, Max, who doesn’t let his size bother him at all. In every drill and scrimmage, he uses what the Lord has given him to the best of his ability and tries to improve. It is such a joy to watch him play because he wears out his opponents with his speed and quickness. As an athlete, Max refuses to let what he can’t do get in the way of what he can do.

It’s usually a good rule of thumb to stay away from stereotypes and cultural clichés in order to avoid potentially embarrassing confrontations with the obligatory “exception to the rule.” But in Curtis Brown’s case, even he admits that a predictable portion of life in Saskatchewan—his native Canadian province—can be described in two words: farming and hockey.

Born in the small rural town of Unity, Brown grew up on a farm where he instinctively fell in line with the majority of his young friends. “What Canadians do is hockey,” Brown says. “I was probably about four when I started skating. I was just like the other kids. If you didn’t play hockey, you were definitely an outsider.”

Most students often have to answer questions about their future plans. Whether we are asked about our plans for school, the weekend, or even just the afternoon, it generally isn't that hard to answer. "Oh, I'm going to [this university] and participating in [this sport]." Or, "I'm going to chill with some friends." Etc. One day though, I found myself answering a question that was a little more serious: “What are your plans for your life?”