XC update!

Last Wednesday was an incredibly special day for the cross country team!  You see, the girls team started the season this year without having a FULL team.  Basically in order to compete as a team you must have 5 girls.  We only had 4.  Why?  My husband has them on a training program that'll kill a person and some just don't want to do the work & discipline to get better.  

In the book "So You Want to be like Christ" by Charles Swindol - late coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Landry quotes "My job is to get men to do what they don't want to do to achieve what they've always wanted to achieve."  That's Rance's philosophy!  You cannot win a state championship by doing the things you 'want to do'.  We are human and we want the easy way out of everything.  Rance's goal is not to 'kill' them as I said above - but to teach them to discipline themselves and do what they do not want to do (giving up all soft drinks/caffeine, eating healthy, practicing/running like animals) to achieve what they have always wanted to achieve!  Achieving anything requires discipline - determined, deliberate, definable actions with a clear goal in mind.  As a coach, Rance wants to help the team achieve its goal by training, motivating and encouraging runners to stick to the plan.  Swindol says in his book that the word discipline drips with sweat.  "When I see the word discipline, I think of punishing workouts that produce results that everyone admires...and no one enjoys."  Is that not the truth? 

The same concept applies to our spiritual lives and that's what Swindol's book is all about.  Why exercise spiritual disciplines?  TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST!  "When you pray, pray so that you may know Him.  When you seek to simplify, do it as a means of knowing Him more.  When you surrender, or behave with humility or sacrifice, do it with the sole purpose in mind to know Him."  I highly recommend reading this book if your desire is to KNOW HIM.  This book will suggest ways to discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). 

Back to cross country...

So the season began with just 4 girls running - Amber, Lindy, Mallory & Madison.  Even though they couldn't compete as a team in the beginning - they still worked hard and just competed individually at each school race.  Can you imagine how hard that would be though?  Knowing every race that you run that you cannot win as a team!   

Part way through the season one of Rance's cross country runners from last year, Amanda, (who is playing volleyball this year) found out the team only had 4 runners - she decided to do BOTH volleyball and cross country.  She could not come to all the practices but she ran on the Wednesday race days which meant at least we had 5 girls now and could compete as a TEAM.  

High School Cross Country Girl's Team
Lindy, Amanda, Mallory, Madison & Amber

What's incredible is - this team went from not even having enough girls to compete as a team to....








WINNING THE CONFERENCE last Wednesday!!!!!!   

Here are the ORIGINAL 4
Lindy, Mallory, Amber & Madison
(Amanda had to make it to the volleyball game so she is missing in this picture)

Jesus did NOT have to bless us with the CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP but He did!  Wednesday was full of tears because in NO WAY did we believe we had a shot at this since we did not even have a full team for part of the season.  Let's just say Jesus is full of surprises and we give Him all the GLORY for this big WIN!