It has been my privilege since 1984 to have been hosted innumerable times by Nelson Cook in my years in sport ministry, the most recent was in 2009 where I addressed coaches over breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
This is Nelson Cook's latest letter:
Watching the military channel, I observed the suffering of the elderly women and children in Berlin, Germany, after Hitler's surrender. No food, no protection, no sources of comfort as the Russian Army raped and pillaged the people. The U.S. troops shared food and clothing along the way which reminded me of some hard truths stated years before.
A quote: "We (the USA) have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.
"But we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
"Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us." - end of quote.
Who said this? Abraham Lincoln, in an 1863 speech, about 150 years ago!
Saints, more than ever, we need the Lord to show up, mighty on our behalf. We need the Holy Spirit to bring great conviction on our compromised lives.
One way is to come together and support and encourage one another to do what God has commanded us. I just read about the obituary of a young Orange County teacher who died unexpectedly.
My first thought was, Where is he today? Why share this? Because we have so many things that engage our time and distract us from HIS purpose.
Come join us. Bring others as we are in a great year encouraging Coaches' Fellowships.
Do you realise how much you have? Are you submitting what you have to the Lord's purposes? As Stephen Covey says, "Begin with the end in mind." Do that and you'll be going onward and upward in your faith.
I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be moved. Psalms 16 verse 8
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at
www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
