{"id":1955,"date":"2023-08-26T07:39:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T14:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/insideourgooeyminds\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2023-08-26T07:39:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T14:39:23","slug":"standing-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/insideourgooeyminds\/2023\/08\/standing-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing Firm"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_1308\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1308\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1308\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1451\/2022\/11\/bow-of-sailing-ship-in-Keys-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1308\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Williams\/williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<h2 dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"color: #333300;\">STANDING FIRM<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">I was talking to a friend of mine a week or so ago and we circled back to some people we knew in high school and where are they now. I sometimes can\u2019t remember my own name so remembering people from a half century ago seems like a waste of energy. But my friend can remember names, faces, birthdays, what they were known for and maybe who their History teacher was. And when we started to talk about coaches, we landed on a coach who eventually quit teaching and coaching and went into real estate, which was a good thing for those he coached.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0He wanted you\u2026.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">He was a \u2018rah-rah\u2019 guy, wanting you, his player, to be all fired up and yelling and screaming. Hard to maintain for a three-hour game. He tried to get you angry by, at least with me, telling me the opponent who was going to be opposite me, was going to \u2018eat my lunch.\u2019 Not sure how he thought that since he wasn\u2019t my coach, nor did he play or coach the sport I was playing. But he did coach my friend and he didn\u2019t like it my friend was not a<em> rah-rah<\/em> guy. He wasn\u2019t a \u2018<em>rah-raher<\/em>.\u2019 He just quietly went about playing and playing well-when he was given the chance. So, he didn\u2019t play much.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">The man was not a \u2018coach.\u2019 He wanted the label. Probably even put it on a resume somewhere for some interview later with some real estate firm. But he wasn\u2019t that person to change young men\u2019s lives. All we needed was a pat on the shoulder pad and a \u2018nicely done\u2019 from someone we respected. We remember those coaches.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">I think a lot of people, most people, can tell who is fake and who is real.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<span style=\"color: #333300;\">When you raise\u2026.<\/span><\/h3>\n<div dir=\"auto\">When you raise boys or girls, they are different. Sorry-they just are. They should be. That\u2019s the way they\u2019re made. Each brings a piece of their specialness to the world. When you raise boys, there is a part of them who responds well to good \u2018coaching.\u2019 The world is a shady place and unfortunately, it will be until this rock turns back to carbon. Girls do too but they are different and you just need to know how.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<span style=\"color: #333300;\">Maybe\u2026.<\/span><\/h3>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Maybe it is just me, here in this time of the arena, I see it differently and out of step. That\u2019s okay. I will probably get to Big Corral before you and that will be that. But I\u2019ve always wanted the ability to stand firm when standing firm meant something. When I was younger, I had bravado and bluster. I think most young men did. Now, the luster of the metal is tarnished with age, but aged like a good Malbec.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">There was a scene in a movie, Dunkirk, which struck me. The naval commander is trying to get nearly a half a million men home and there is no chance-slim at best, it will happen. But he is standing on a pier, almost all hope is gone, but he is still there-standing firm. Then, hope arrives. I want the ability to stand and the ability to wait against hope, only to have someone say \u2018nicely done.\u2019<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<span style=\"color: #333300;\">Isn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/h3>\n<div dir=\"auto\">That\u2019s all we really need, isn\u2019t it?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Enjoy<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/bgS0GPQhzHg?si=kX9DpRChNzW5H6o5<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/insideourgooeyminds\/about\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">About \u2013 Inside Our Gooey Minds (patheos.com)<\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.markjwilliams.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Home (markjwilliams.com)<\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STANDING FIRM I was talking to a friend of mine a week or so ago and we circled back to some people we knew in high school and where are they now. I sometimes can\u2019t remember my own name so remembering people from a half century ago seems like a waste of energy. But my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4610,"featured_media":1308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[656],"tags":[659],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-standing-firm","tag-standing-firm-with-god"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Standing Firm Standing firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"STANDING FIRM I was talking to a friend of mine a week or so ago and we circled back to some people we knew in high school and where are they now. I When I was younger, I had bravado and bluster. 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