Coach Calls it Quits

In the news this week, football coach Urban Meyer, University of Florida, retired after the Gators' 37-24 win over Penn State in the 2011 Outback Bowl on January 1, 2011. No big deal, right? Head coaches retire all the time! Height of their career, moderate, but winning season, 100+ career wins in relatively short order.

Nothing extraordinary here, or is there? Afterall, he's walking away from a lot! Meyer signed a six-year, $24 million extension in 2009, meaning he's walking away from about $20 million in guaranteed salary! Why? To spend more time with his family; to focus on being a better husband and father!

"At the end of the day, I'm very convinced that you're going to be judged on how you are as a husband and as a father and not on how many bowl games we won," Meyer said at a campus news conference. "I've not seen my two girls play high school sports. They're both very talented Division I-A volleyball players, so I missed those four years. I missed two already with one away at college. I can't get that time back."

What kind of regrets are you living with? What's currently keeping you from doing something more important with your life? What matters most must never be at the mercy of what matters least! We give a lot of lip service to trusting God, and doing whatever He wants, and following Him to the ends of the earth, but do are actions really match our words? Do our actions serve to illustrate what's really important to us?

I'm sure there are a lot of people giving Coach Meyer a hard time about quitting his job to focus on his family. I'm sure that there are a lot of people that believe he's being unwise. In my opinion, he's doing an honorable thing. 1 Peter 2:12 says, "Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world." Take a moment and pray today that God will teach you to harmonize your words and your actions.