Sacrifice

In lacrosse, there are many essential pieces of equipment: gloves, elbow pads, shoulder pads and, most important, helmets.

After mentally preparing myself for my final collegiate game, I started getting ready physically. I put on my game shorts, then my shoulder and arm pads. I laced up my cleats. All that was left was my helmet. I reached into my bag and found gloves, some tape, socks, a few lacrosse balls, but no helmet. I looked around thinking someone might be playing a prank on me, but this was no joke. I had left the most important piece of equipment three hours west in my locker.

The coaches looked at me in disbelief, “How could you possibly do this?” On the final day of my playing career, the only way I could play was if one of my teammates sacrificed his own ability to play and gave me his helmet. Sometimes Christ shows up in unlikely places—in this case, a locker room. In my moment of need, my teammate Ryan became a model of Christ, sacrificing his last chance to play so I could.

We need to model Christ to others, our words and actions reflecting Him. Saint Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary use words.” Ryan did that by giving me his helmet.

There are plenty of opportunities to serve our teammates: helping carry water or doing something big like Ryan. It doesn’t matter how big or small, it is still serving. Let’s find a way to model Christ to our teams.