As a child do you recall going to the local swimming pool and diving into the water for the first time off the diving board?

Whether it was the high dive or low dive it can be summed up in one word.

Terrifying.

You never attempted a dive before.

Your friends seemed to have mastered it.

You did not want to make a fool of yourself or get hurt.

You made your way slowly up the few steps and onto the board.

You were afraid to look down.

You walked a few more steps wanting to take the plunge as your heart beat faster.

Your heart said “do it” while your thoughts questioned “are you crazy?”

You inched out on the diving board, then back, and inched out again closer to the edge.

You silently asked yourself, “should I or shouldn’t I?”

You either reversed course or did the seemingly impossible – you jumped in.

My hunch tells me if you jumped it was an all or nothing proposition.

You were “all in”.

We are told to let our “yes, be a yes” and our “no, be a no” leaving no room for middle ground or in other words – all in!

I was reminded earlier this week of the beauty of being “all in” via the post-game comments by the head coach, Mike Tomlin, of my hometown football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I will not make this a cheering session for the black and gold, despite resisting the urge to do so!

I will make it a cheering session for a great example of going “all in”.

The only thing I regret is that I did not see one play of the game – uggghh!

To set the stage, the Steelers were playing the Chargers on Monday Night Football in San Diego.

The game was played on national TV.

Although not a “must win” for either team a loss meant heading in the wrong direction, as each team’s divisional competition won over the weekend.

The Steelers have been without their star quarterback for a couple of games due to injury.

They have an experienced backup, but he was having a time getting untracked the entire game and by no stretch of the imagination can he compare to his predecessor who has authored many fourth quarter comebacks.

The Steelers were losing 20-17 with approximately two minutes remaining in the game.

They had the ball on their own 20 yard line, needing to march 80 yards for the go ahead touchdown for the win (with the clock ticking down) or at least far enough down the field to attempt and make a game-tying field goal to send the contest into overtime.

A succession of plays moved them quickly to within the one yard line (for you non-football fans, less than 3 feet for a TD) with five seconds remaining in the game and one time-out left to call.

A penalty on the previous play stopped the clock and preserves their time-out.

The coach has a decision to make and he must make it in short order.

He could play it safe and attempt to tie the game by trying a high probability of success field goal by an inexperienced NFL kicker who is kicking in his first game (the fourth kicker they have had this year due to injury or incompetency) or he can go for the win by putting the ball in the hands of the league’s best runner and risk losing if the play is unsuccessful!

What would you do?

I awoke the next morning to learn which team won the game and the details which accompanied the outcome.

As the scenario was playing out I was tucked into bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head – translated, I did not get the network which televised the game!

Double uggghh!

In the words of the sportswriter who penned the article I read:

“In that situation, Tomlin embraced the difficulty of his position and didn’t waver…Tomlin was going for the touchdown and the victory. No overtime. He was – All in.”

I will let Coach Tomlin spell his thought process out in his own words:

“I’m just trying to win football games. I just don’t live in fear,” said Tomlin. “I don’t worry about those things. I can’t. I can’t waste time worrying about that. I have to do what I feel is appropriate, and most of it is gut-oriented, not only in terms of the men we’re working with but also based on what has transpired in that stadium to get us to that point.”

He further stated:

“We were going to play to win. We were not going to play not to lose. That’s the approach we took. We talked about it openly the night before the game. We were going to do what was necessary to win the football game from a calculated risk standpoint, whether it was conventional or non-conventional. We don’t keep secrets in that regard. We don’t live in our fears in that regard. I like the fact that the group embraces that.”

The ball was given to Le’Veon Bell, their best runner, who scored the winning touchdown on the final play of the game with no time remaining.

Steelers win, 24-20!

When coaches win the world around them is all smiles.

When coaches lose they face much scrutiny and are subject to many jeers.

You have to admire a coach (or any other person) who is willing to lay the game (or a decision) on the line no matter the consequences.

In short, you have to admire someone who rests in the power of their convictions.

In this instance, Coach Tomlin was successful because:

• He embraced the difficulty of his position.
• He didn’t waver on his decision to go for the touchdown and the victory.
• He didn’t succumb to fear.
• He played to win vs. playing not to lose.
• He did what he thought was necessary for his team to succeed.
• He was ALL IN!

I don’t mean to bore you with sports talk. However, this is why I love sports as many times in my own experience and even in watching sports it has been a classroom for me to learn valuable life lessons.

God is NOT a Steeler fan, despite my best efforts to wish that He was.

He is a YOU fan though!

As a great coach, He is in your ear and wants you to succeed.

He wants you and me to “go for it” as we walk across the various stages of our life and our journeys.

His encouragement to us is this:

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” 1 Corinthians 9:24 (NLT)

In other words, His desire for us is to be “all in”.

Here is a picture of my middle daughter, Bethany, being “all in” as she did a sky dive in Hawaii a few years ago.

Is it any wonder parents are prompted to pray?

I don’t know what situations you may be facing.

I don’t know the fears sounding off in your ears.

You may be faced with some tough decisions about one thing or another – we all are.

My encouragement to you is to let your “yes be a yes” or your “no be a no” and to go at it in such a way as to experience the beauty of being all in!

 

For some bonus coverage of someone going “all in”, check out the following video.

Photos Courtesy of Creative Commons, Brittany Castillejo, and Bethany Eby