Ask for Help

There is a story of a young freshman with an overachiever mindset in the weight room with his teammates during workouts. He made his way to the squat rack and loaded it up with weights. His coach passed by and asked, “Do you need a spotter?” the boy responded, “No, I got it.”

As the freshman took his first squat, his legs shook a bit; the next one, even more. By the third, he could not withstand the weight and collapsed, closed his eyes and braced for impact. However, he felt nothing. When he opened his eyes, his coach was holding the bar over him. His coach looked at him and said, “Never be too prideful to ask for help.”

As student-athletes, we want to excel and achieve. We want to go the farthest distance, hit the longest drive, throw the fastest pitch, and swim the quickest race. We want to compete, play and win. But this mindset also has a downfall – we forget to ask for help. We sometimes think we know best and can do it alone; therefore, we don’t ask for help. This hurts us individually, as a team, and the game.

In our walk with Christ, we often have the same mindset: “I know best and can do it on my own.” But far too often, this isn’t true – we do need help. Throughout the Bible, God reminds His people that He is their help. God teaches us that we cannot do anything apart from Him, and trying will make us end up like the freshman who crumbled under the weight. We need God’s help, provision, guidance, grace and power. Apart from Him, we will fail.

As we walk through our sport and grow in our faith, let us never be too prideful to ask for help. God has surrounded us with coaches, teammates, friends, family and Himself to come alongside and provide guidance, support and love precisely when we need it.