Prepared For The Battle

Glenn’s Story

I was having a conversation with a close friend, really like a brother, who I coached football with when I moved to Rome in 1994. I was sharing about Laura’s diagnosis, and he asked how I was holding up. As I talked through it, I made the comment,

“I’ve been preparing for this my whole life.”

As we fleshed out that statement, we chatted through how, as football coaches, we were not just training our team to win football games, but really to win at life. A football season is a microcosm of what the young men would experience over the course of their lives. To prepare for a season we would begin right after the last game of the season with a winter's worth of strength training. The concept was to build a solid foundation of strength that could support the demands of a football season 8-9 months in the future. Often developing mental toughness began here as well with having to be in the weight room at 6:00 a.m. for workouts before the school day began.  

Training begins to shift as the spring rolls in and building endurance starts to become the focus. Track workouts, agility drills, technique work, and team building activities support the transition into the official start of football season in mid-summer. All of the effort over the past seven months starts to pay-off when the demands of a Georgia summer challenge the resolve of the team.  

Sometime in late August the team is prepared for the battle. Each week coaches will draw up a game plan designed to put the players in the best possible position to succeed under the Friday Night Lights. Once the first whistle blows and the game begins, all of the months of preparation are put to the test. Adversity will come and the team who is best prepared to handle it often walks away with the victory. Win or lose, the lesson learned over the course of a football season will last a lifetime.

So, when I think about how I can walk alongside my bride during this trial, it is really just putting the game plan I have been working on my whole life into action. 

Of course, I didn’t know that a play during our marriage was going to be battling cancer, but really the type or severity of the trial was never factored into my preparation. In fact, until Laura was diagnosed, I don’t even think I realized I was preparing at all. Praying, reading my Bible, getting discipled, putting Laura before me, loving her, asking for forgiveness (a lot), serving her, setting her up for success every day, hurting when she hurts, celebrating when she wins, crying when she cries,

these are things the Lord has guided me to and through since we got married.  

Much like we would prepare a young man for life through the game of football, I am now putting the same principles into action. If I had never built a foundation of trust in my walk with the Lord or made honoring God through serving and loving my wife my primary focus in this world, perhaps walking through this fire with Laura would be different.

Although nothing about it is easy, I know that through the grace of God I am Prepared for the Battle.