"Once a Wildcat Always a Wildcat."

I've been asked recently why I have taken the time to be the Chaplain of the Edmonton Wildcat Junior Football Team. People have come up to me and asked, "When in your schedule are you going to fit this in?" "Why a football team and why be a chaplain?" These questions were ones that I have been thinking about for a while now, and as time passed my thoughts became clearer and reasons became more apparent. 

You see when first asked by our Team President if I would consider this

opportunity it was the excitement and the thrill of being close once again to the action that caught my attention. The dirt, the fight, and the victories were all a great motivation to join the team and honestly this still thrills me. As the team prepares for battle my heart prepares with them. As the game struggle begins and the team breaks through to victories my spirit is carried along, challenged by every setback, saddened by every injury and thrilled by every touchdown.

But now a new motivation is beginning to take precedence. You see, over the past year I have been honoured to be able to work along side, or meet the Wildcats from past and present. Men of honour, dedicated to each other, and to a common goal. Men who know the challenges that lie before them but without hesitation step into the fight, step up to the challenge and push through to victory. 

Now you might surmise that I am solely speaking about the football games with all their drama and excitement, but I'm not. 

Rather, I am speaking about the men of integrity that I have met in this city who have, at one time, been a Wildcat. Businessmen, lawyers, bankers and civic leaders all who at one time wore either the Edmonton Wildcat or the Edmonton Maple Leaf Jersey.

Leaders... Men among men with names like Marco, Ryan and Dave and of course Big Al all speak to us. Men whose legacy lives on beyond the time in uniform, beyond the 60 minutes on a field, to the time when they would carry those around them forward into the future. 

Men who give more then they ever expect to get back. Men who have lived their lives for others. 
Men who have sacrificed in the hope that another would win. Hmm somehow these attributes seem familiar. Almost Christ-like.

It is for these men that I stand on the sidelines and offer my heart to the new team of men. It is for the greatest leader who ever lead a team of men that I do what I do. It is for those who have come before that I give my all to encourage the team, support the team but above all pray for the team as this years men suit-up

You see the Wildcats (Maple Leafs)...

... have not solely been in the business of making a football team... 

...but rather making real men who play football... 

...and while they are at it, win championships. 

So as we are about to once again put on the pads and take the field. I call on the men of renown, the Wildcats of Old to once again rise up and call out these young men to the legacy that is theirs for the taking. Join us in battle once again, and challenge us from the stands. Further, I call on the team of today to answer the call and find within themselves the character and integrity that it means to be a wildcat. Then we will be men among boys... remember...

Oh yeah... that is why I'm a Wildcat!

What is your end game?

Erma Bombeck once said, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'."

Often in life I have heard this idea same thing. "Dave...you should slow down. Take it easy...relax."But I have decided a long time ago that I would, like Erma, live a life that would burn out rather than rust out.

So, how about you? Are you living a life that will stand after you cannot. Are you living a life that is earthly good but with eyes clearly on heaven? Does your faith live outside of the church on Sunday...or does it hide when the bright lights of Monday appear?

"Four score and ten will soon be past...only what's done for Christ will last."... is a  phrase that comes down through the years with guilt and insecurity attached to it. And yet it's not guilt that this phrase should speak to us... it is the challenge of the time that should challenge us.

You have so much value to share with others. So much thoughtful interaction that will change lives and change your life if you let it. God has placed us in a place where we can influence others to reach towards Christ, whether they have lived for Christ for years or whether they have never confessed a faith. Regardless, God has given you the treasures and hidden them in your heart and spirit, safely stored there until the moment when people will ask you for it. Then the truths well hidden inside you will spring to your mind. 

So burn... burn brightly... from both ends and place a blow torch to the centre. Lives will be changed... people transformed...hell plundered...heaven filled.

"Live a life that at your funeral they won't have ponder long to write down your eulogy." Dave Wood

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.

Erma Bombeck

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/erma_bombeck.html#2QlcIUg0yARGuao7.99

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.

Erma Bombeck

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/erma_bombeck.html#2QlcIUg0yARGuao7.99