There were a couple of brothers that lived down the street from where my family lived. We went to the same church, same Boy Scout troop, were roughly the same age as my brother and me and their Dad worked for the same company our Dad did. We hung out together a lot.

When the older brother was in 8^th grade he set the middle school record for situps at 1,100 or 1,200 during his P.E. class which lasted roughly an hour. The situps were done while someone held your feet solid to the ground and as you did the situp your knees were bent and your hands held together behind your head. As you came up you touched your knees with your elbows. When you went back down you had to have your back and shoulders flat on the gym floor.

The record holders little brother was in 7^th grade that year and little brother decided when school started in the fall he was going to break his big brothers situp record. Recently, I asked little brother how he prepared for the competition that fall.

He began doing situps as soon as summer started. Before he went to bed each evening he did 20 situps. He continued to raise the number each week until he was doing 200 each and every night before he went to bed.

I asked him if he did pushups during this time. He said he did pushups in the same way with each evening doing so many and increasing the number each week. The most he did was 50 before bed each evening.

When school started he felt ready to claim the situp record. During the competition he felt great and never was hurting. He did 1,550 situps and wanted to continue, but the P.E. teacher made him quit, because had to go to the next class.

There is always competition between brothers of the same family. The Bible tells the story of Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, the prodigal son and his brother. Those stories tell a difficult and hard lesson to learn. May you have competition with your brother, but may your bond to your brother be strong.

1 John 4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

https://youtu.be/NtxWTRt0vhI

My memory, of my Grandfather Mac is of me sitting on his lap at his home and him reading the Bible and the great stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the whale, Moses, Samson, David and Goliath and about Jesus. My Grandpa Mac died of a heart attack walking home from work at noon hour when I was three years old and he was sixty three. My own Father found his Dad dead on the city sidewalk as he also drove home for noon hour.

My Father insisted that we go to church every Sunday. My Dad came from a family of 6 kids and he was the only one that took his family to church every Sunday. My Mother also came from a family of 6 kids and they did not go to church. When I was about 12 years old my Mother asked me how I could believe in God or Jesus when you can’t see them. I asked my Mother, “Do you believe in the wind? You can’t see the wind, but you can feel the wind. I can’t see God, but I feel the presence of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in my life.

Both sides of my extended family had issues with sin in their lives, adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitutes, sexual immorality, divorce, early deaths, suicides, children out of wedlock given up for adoption. My family is probably a lot like your family. We all have problems with sin.

There is a story written in the Touchstone magazine about the truth about men and church. The research is from 1994 and the article is from 2003, but my guess is it is very appropriate still for today. Here is a quote from that shocking article: if Dad does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in fifty will become a regular worshipper.

So today, I am humbled, grateful and thankful that my Grandpa Mac and my Dad took our family to church every Sunday back in the day.

Here is a link to the magazine article.

Kevin Stephenson first discovered St. Augustine while in seminary at Oral Roberts University, and wasn’t exactly sure what to make of him. But when Kevin read the Confessions, it moved him deeply; he was able to relate to the struggles of St. Augustine on a very personal level. Kevin was also surprised to see Christianity alive and thriving on Augustine’s home continent of Africa that early in Church history; he had been under the impression that Christianity was relatively new to Africa, and didn’t realize it was one of the first apostolic mission fields. St. Augustine became a Christian in the year 384.

Kansas State University basketball team used to practice in the upper gym at Ahearn Fieldhouse. If you went one story up from the level of the basketball practice facility there were openings in the hall ways into where the team was practicing. Those openings were covered with chain link fencing and had benches in front of them to allow you to watch and listen to practice. When the men’s team practiced, there were always a good number of people watching practice.

One day when I showed up to watch practice, the only two players left on the court floor were Scott Langton and Mike Evans who were the two starting guards. They were playing a game of one on one against each other. Their one on one started at the top of the key where one man would have the ball and the other played defense. The one with the ball would try to drive by the defender or step back to shoot a jump shot. This one on one game continued for quite some time and the longer it went the more physical the game became. Hand checking on the hip was turning into shoving and elbows were becoming more like forearm shivers from football.

All of a sudden Scott Langton, who was playing defense, reached up and grabbed Mike Evans by the hair with his left hand and hit Mike in the face with his right fist. Mike immediately hit Scott with a right handed fist as he threw his left arm up to break Scott’s grip on his hair. And both of them threw fists at each other four or five times and then each one of them jumped back away from each other. Nasty words were yelled at each other for a few moments. Both of them just stood there looking at each other for about 10 seconds saying nothing.

Eventually, Mike picked up the basketball and slammed it hard onto the court floor and then caught it. He walked back to the top of the key and waited. Scott stood in his spot for a few moments longer and slowly walked back to the top of the key to play defense. The game of one on one began again and it was just as physical if not a little more than before.

That team in 1976-1977 won the Big 8 championship and lost to Marquette 67-66, in the NCAA tournament, on a controversial call towards the end of the game. Mike Evans was 6’1” and Scott Langton was 5’11”. The other three starters were all 6’5” tall. That team had more fight and determination in them than you can imagine.

The will to win is extremely important. How badly do you want to win? Mike Evans and Scott Langton showed how badly they wanted to win by continuing the game of one on one and continuing to practice after they most likely would love to have quit practice at that moment.

The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, said it best, “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”