My good friend Joe Skaug and I have been discussing the over-exuberance of many Boise State fans, the ones who got reminded last night that as things are, even a good Group of Five team (and BSU was 10-2 this year, with two close losses to comparably equipped teams) can't hang with the Power Five night in and night out. Utah and TCU proved that when they moved up to the Power Five - it took them each a few years of recruiting with the resources of the PAC 12 or Big 12 to be good before they BECAME good at that level. But with the tools they had at the Mountain West conference, they each were sub-.500 teams that first year playing with the "big boys" every week.
My point on this subject is this: I think Boise has done a remarkable job FOR ITS LEVEL. No, they haven't been "jobbed" out of playing in the title game - that's WHY Petersen went to UW. He understood this. I also believe the U of I is doing something brilliant by moving back to the Big Sky in 2018 - that's THEIR level of dominance, given their level of resources. I personally love the idea of rooting for my favorite Power 5 team to win the CFP, my favorite Group of 5 team to be the New Year's Six qualifier, my favorite FCS team to win that title, my favorite high school to win the Great Basin conference championship, and so on. I agree that there are some fans who think Boise could beat Ohio and Alabama, just as there are some who think USC could beat the Rams. But I enjoy the success they've had at their LEVEL.
Joe and I don't disagree on his primary argument: the people who want
them fighting out of their weight class are over-exuberant at best,
delusional at worst. But it's okay to enjoy the success of your team
against teams on relatively equal footing without having to defend that
success against the fact that the New England Patriots would kick their
asses. Of COURSE they would! So what? Should a junior high team who just
won its league title be depressed because they weren't allowed to play
the high school champions? Nobody would suggest they should. It's only because we have this cross-pollination between the college levels, with the occasional underdog victory, that gives us the illusion that the levels are equal. They're not. And stop pretending they are.
This touches on a bigger issue, too.
I'm proud of my writing. But Stephen King would scoff at my success - should I then quit? Or be embarrassed? No! I write for the Lord, and from the Lord, and produce the best work that I can, in hopes that people read it, enjoy it, and perhaps think a little bit because of it. And that's all God asks of me as a writer. I don't have to win a Pulitzer Prize to fulfill my role in His puzzle.
I think I was a pretty good band director, but I never had the success John Miller had at American Fork. Was I a failure? No! I did well at my level. That's all we can do - that's all we are supposed to do. The three little school districts in rural Idaho (and the tiny one in California!) that I taught at got the best band director I could be for them, and that's all God gave me to offer. And I'm proud of those achievements, as well I should be. I did what I was expected by Him to do.
We are called by Christ to share our Christian faith with the world. If I only help my family come to Jesus, maybe a friend or two, am I a failure because I wasn't Billy Graham? NO! A thousand times no! We are called to SHARE our faith. Share it with whomever you come in contact with! So you don't have a stage to stand on - so what? Share it with that one key person you're in contact with often. Perhaps, like the man who gave little Charlie Spurgeon a ride to church every Sunday, you'll be the person who 'begats' the person who IS the next Billy Graham - or the next Charles Spurgeon.
Never be dissatisfied because you aren't the most famous or the most prolific or the most whatever at what you do. Just be the best YOU that you can be. If that's the best small town band director that I could be for three little towns in rural Idaho over the course of a quarter century, so be it. If that's the best writer of silly little Christian fiction books I can be now, so be it. And if that's the best mid-major level team they can be? So be it. It's okay to be proud of that.
Just don't boast beyond your actual success, because that opens yourself of for others to denigrate your actual accomplishments.
God put us all here for specific reasons. What's YOUR reason for living? I don't know. Only God does, and hopefully you've figured it out. (If you're not sure, try praying to Him about it. When the time is right, He'll tell you.) But whatever your raison d'existence is, just do the best that you can at it, and in the end, you'll hear those magic words - "Well Done, My good and faithful servant."
This touches on a bigger issue, too.
I'm proud of my writing. But Stephen King would scoff at my success - should I then quit? Or be embarrassed? No! I write for the Lord, and from the Lord, and produce the best work that I can, in hopes that people read it, enjoy it, and perhaps think a little bit because of it. And that's all God asks of me as a writer. I don't have to win a Pulitzer Prize to fulfill my role in His puzzle.
I think I was a pretty good band director, but I never had the success John Miller had at American Fork. Was I a failure? No! I did well at my level. That's all we can do - that's all we are supposed to do. The three little school districts in rural Idaho (and the tiny one in California!) that I taught at got the best band director I could be for them, and that's all God gave me to offer. And I'm proud of those achievements, as well I should be. I did what I was expected by Him to do.
We are called by Christ to share our Christian faith with the world. If I only help my family come to Jesus, maybe a friend or two, am I a failure because I wasn't Billy Graham? NO! A thousand times no! We are called to SHARE our faith. Share it with whomever you come in contact with! So you don't have a stage to stand on - so what? Share it with that one key person you're in contact with often. Perhaps, like the man who gave little Charlie Spurgeon a ride to church every Sunday, you'll be the person who 'begats' the person who IS the next Billy Graham - or the next Charles Spurgeon.
Never be dissatisfied because you aren't the most famous or the most prolific or the most whatever at what you do. Just be the best YOU that you can be. If that's the best small town band director that I could be for three little towns in rural Idaho over the course of a quarter century, so be it. If that's the best writer of silly little Christian fiction books I can be now, so be it. And if that's the best mid-major level team they can be? So be it. It's okay to be proud of that.
Just don't boast beyond your actual success, because that opens yourself of for others to denigrate your actual accomplishments.
God put us all here for specific reasons. What's YOUR reason for living? I don't know. Only God does, and hopefully you've figured it out. (If you're not sure, try praying to Him about it. When the time is right, He'll tell you.) But whatever your raison d'existence is, just do the best that you can at it, and in the end, you'll hear those magic words - "Well Done, My good and faithful servant."
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