Defining Moment
By JoshCarter
"'Who are you, Lord?' I asked.
'I am Jesus or Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied.
My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked.
'Get up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.'"
-Acts 22:8
As the most feared hitter in baseball, there isn't much that San Francisco Giants' slugger, Barry Bonds hasn't accomplished. His six MVP awards and record-setting 73-home run season can attest to that fact. After hitting his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third place on the career home run list, Bonds said, "[I] finally feel like I've accomplished something in the game of baseball."
Saul was a man who was a very accomplished leader of the Jewish religion (see Philippians 3:4b-6), but it was an encounter with Jesus that ultimately defined his life. That was the point when everything in his life changed. He became the Apostle Paul and began preaching Christ as forcefully as he once persecuted His followers.
As athletes and coaches, we will have moments that define and shape our careers in athletics, but more importantly we will have moments in life that define and shape who we are and where we will spend eternity. Like Paul, the moment we trust Christ, our lives will never be the same.
1. What have been some defining moments in your athletic/coaching career? In your life?
2. What do your “defining moments” in life say about you?
3. What one moment has changed your life more than any other? Why?
Philippians 3:8a
(some defining moments in Peter’s life):
Matthew 4:18-20
Luke 9:18-20
John 21:15-19
Acts 2:1-4