The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Isaiah 50:4a

Summer football practice at the 14th school in Virginia I had attended in my 16 years changed my life. A man I had not seen before was conducting a drill for the “scrubs.” We were not considered good enough to work out with the coaches and the “good” players. “Do you know what you’re doing?” asked this new man. For some reason I blurted out, “No.”  He stopped the drill and began to “coach” me. He showed me how to take a stance, to block, to be a real football player. 

Soon we were called together with the rest of the team. I noticed the man talking to the Head Coach and pointing to me. “Watch that one, Coach. He’s got potential.” By the end of the day I was on the second team. By the end of the year I was on the first team! No one had ever “coached” me before, and no one had spoken up for me before that day. My life was never the same. That man was John Saunders, a graduate of my new high school and a fullback for the 1958 Carolina Gamecocks! He didn’t know me from “Adam’s housecat.” But he stopped what he was doing and spent time “coaching” me. 

Who might you “coach” today and change their lives?

Gene Lassiter

About the Contributor

Gene Lassiter is a retired PC(USA) Pastor and is serving as Stated Supply of Landrum Presbyterian Church.