Identity Revisited

It’s  been a while since I’ve written something here due to my duties for our summer ministry with UW. I am very excited to get back into the swing of things and even have a couple of buffers written just in case something pops up.  I left you with a cliffhanger (I apologize) of what my identity is now.

I tweeked it a bit to fit with the Gladiator speech so it has the same flow. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you! 

My name is Trevor Drew Hester, Shepherd to the people God has given me, Leader of my Family, loyal servant to my God and King, Yahweh. Son to a holy father, Follower of a risen Son.  And I will worship my God in this life and the next.

I also wanted to possibly give you some ideas of how to take your athletes mind off of their identity in their sport and focus their identity on Christ.  I don’t have all the answers but in this regard I have some personal experience, so let me share that and hopefully something will jump out at you!

1.        Have your own priorities straight – If you have a solid identity it is easy for somebody else to see what it is.  Even if it is a cheesy line (like mine is above) share that with your child. They will know where you stand and where you identify yourself.

2.       Have them write down their identity – If you don’t know where your childs identity is then you won’t know where to guide them.  Maybe they already would identify themselves as a follower of Christ and not an athlete, then you can discuss why that is and help to apply that to other children around you.

3.       Have a reason their identity should be in Christ – Why does it matter what their identity is in?  If they want to be an athlete why not let them be an athlete?  If you need help answering this question ask your local pastor or e-mail me.

4.       Have a way to direct them – Your child probably will not know exactly what to do to help him find his identity.  You can help him by showing him the identity of characters in the bible.  You can help by directing them to different ways to react to God. 

I wanted to be transparent and honest.  Even though this is how I see myself currently it is not how I live everyday.  There are days where I still find comfort in my athletic ability or my ability to communicate with many different people.  I’m not perfect and I still struggle with identity, but figuring out who I am and who God wants me to be is a step. If this is a step for your child that you can help with.  Why not do it?