Coach Makes You Brave

I had the occasion over the weekend to play in the second
annual Jim Sellers Golf Tournament—an event to raise money for the Tulsa Edison
High School football
program. Jim Sellers is my uncle and coached and directed the athletic program
at Edison over the last 40+ years. He’s also
taught generations of Tulsa
kids to swim.

My uncle is a great storyteller and I heard him tell the
story about one of the greatest complements he ever received.

One of his students, a little 4-year old boy was terrified
of the water. That is until taking “Coach Sellers” swimming class. The mother
recalled the drastic change. The boy went from never wanting to get near the
water to getting in the pool any chance he got. He loved to jump in, dive in,
go under, wrestle and splash. He couldn’t get enough.

When asked why the big change since the swimming lessons,
the little guy simply replied, “Coach makes you brave.”

That kid could have said a bunch of things. He could have
said, Coach helps you learn how to swim. He could have said, He helps you
hold your breath or He shows you how to move your arms and legs together.
But he didn’t. He said, Coach makes you brave. Courage was the key to
everything else. Courage unlocked all the other things and made it possible for
the boy to swim.

Are you making someone else brave? Who are you encouraging,
coaching, teaching, training, mentoring, leading, guiding, preparing, tutoring.
Who is it in your life that you are pouring all you have into? Who is it that
you are making brave?

You’ve been given so much. And you’ve been given so much
because you are expected to give it away. And you will never be given more
until you give away what you have. And only you can give away the stuff that’s
in you…no one can do it for you.

Make someone brave today.