All Categories - COACH Toby Schwarz

COACH Toby Schwarz

Pooped Out!

3/31/2023

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us.” Hebrews 12:1

Everyone on the planet has experienced the pain of going too fast, too soon, and then realizing that we underestimated the length. Whether it is a race or a hike or any task that requires some sort of energy, either physical and/or mental, when we start out of the gate thinking it is a 100m sprint and it ends up being a marathon, bad things happen to good people. We must check our mindset on a daily/hourly basis and make sure we remember that this life is not a sprint. We need to endure A LOT. A sprinter can technically hold their breath for 100m because they don't need oxygen (anaerobic) but if we try to hold our breath for even a minute in life, it isn't surprising that we end up wiped out and damaged.

Lord, help me to realize that I need endurance and please provide it when I am impatient or dumb.

Unconditional Love!

3/30/2023

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10

God's love is unconditional but salvation is not. If it were truly free for God and if we had no responsibility what-so-ever, then it would be meaningless and worth nothing.

Lord, thank you for making it easy but also making it my responsibility so that it means something and has value.

Thank You!

3/29/2023

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, 1 Peter 3:18

The only way to show appreciation for a gift that we don't deserve and could never truly reciprocate, is by not taking the gift for granted but instead, taking it and using it everyday and all day.

Lord, help my actions be a "thank you" for all You have given me.

No Better, No Worse!

3/28/2023

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23

An important truth is that no matter what people say, we are not as bad as they say we are and we are not as great as they say we are. We fall somewhere in between. We should never let others, especially those who don't know us, define who we are by either the criticism they direct toward us or the praise they may lavish on us. We also must understand that we are not perfect and no one else is either and we are bad but so is everyone else.

Lord, all have sinned, including me ... and all have sinned, not just me.

Fact-or In Meanness!

3/26/2023

When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38

Fact: Mean people are broken people. Watch any movie from the 70's and 80's and the depiction of bullies as ultimately being scared and hurt people who don't know how to ask for help is completely accurate. Unfortunately, how do we react to "mean" people? We become defensive and either run from them and allow them to hurt us or we become mean back. Neither response is helpful to them or to us. When others are "mean" to us, we must show love to them or they will remain mean and we will remain as broken as they are.

Lord, help me to see others anger or unkindness or judgement as a cry for help and not an attack on me so I can make it about helping them and not simply about me.

It's Dark Somewhere!

3/23/2023

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying. Mark 1:35

Never too early and definitely never too late to start praying.

Lord, help me to pray more.

TEAM Sport!

3/22/2023

“Make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Philippians 2:2

Lonely people are rarely joyful. And if they are, their joy may not be as complete as someone who is living life surrounded by others. Watch an individual win an individual award or championship. They jump up and down and look for someone to hug or high five. In contrast, watch a team win and it is mayhem. Life is a team sport. Life is meant to be lived with others. It is our responsibility to create our team and not a team that competes against others but a team that lives for each other.

Lord, help my selfish and/or competitive nature to not interfere with Your desire for me to be a great teammate.

Need To Hear, Want To Hear!

3/21/2023

"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." John 6:66

After hearing some really tough stuff, those who were following Jesus decided to "go another direction". Humans find themselves defensive when hearing tough stuff, instead of being receptive to possible helpful tools and guidance.

Lord, help me to be someone who isn't simply looking for confirmation of what I believe but open to hear what I need to hear and not what I want to hear.

Nice Save!

3/20/2023

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

God did not send Jesus so we would have everything that we want or that we would be flawless or that we would accomplish all of our goals or that we would meet the perfect spouse or have the perfect kids or acquire the dream job, with the dream house and have the dream life. "God isn't trying to make our lives easier; He wants to make them more meaningful." Bob Goff

Lord, thank You for sending Jesus because although You can do everything except the one thing You can't do is make me flawless, so I need Jesus to clean up my messes.

Belief System!

3/18/2023

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her! ” Luke 1:45

It is interesting what we choose to believe in. We think we believe in things that a certain but if that was the case, everyone would believe in God because everything God has promised has been fulfilled. The problem is that we choose not to see those promises because they don't fit our hopes and desires. God isn't a genie that makes our dreams come true. God is the one who makes reality better than what we can ever dream of.

Lord, help me to see that simply because things didn't go my way that it doesn't mean that your promises didn't become realized.