Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holiday season has been a blessing to you and your family. I pray that you continue to find joy throughout the coming year on a daily basis. One year ago I retired after a 38 year career as a teacher and football coach. I still keep in touch with other coaches and stay active in the Coaches Outreach Bible studies. I love to read inspirational stories involving coaches and the many lives they touch. I recently read a social media post about a message sent to the Clemson football team by the head coach Dabo Swinney. Each year he choses a word for his players to use as a theme for the new season. This year he chose the word JOY. He wrote: “We are made for the climb, the journey, the grind, the relationships along the way, the struggles. Those mountaintop experiences are great but life is about having JOY in the journey. Finding JOY and PURPOSE in our day to day activities is what it’s all about. Just having JOY in the moment. JOY I believe, comes from within. It comes from having the Holy Spirit inside you. We can have J.O.Y. by focusing on Jesus, others, and then yourself. This is the perspective God wants us to have daily. Quit worrying about SOMEDAY and find JOY in the journey TODAY. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
What a great perspective for our lives. Now that I am retired I have the opportunity to participate in some simple things that bring me joy. During the holidays I had a chance to go behind the house and fish a small creek with my son’s 5 weight fly rod and a woolly bugger brown fly. The sky was overcast and the barometer was dropping due to an approaching front. During this scenario the bass are usually willing to eat.
It doesn’t have to be a huge fish or an exotic location to make me happy. Any small body of water or any size fish brings me joy. Here is a video of that fun afternoon.
I hope you find the time to get outdoors and enjoy the many pleasures it has to offer. God Bless You and have a JOY filled 2019!
Tim Lumpkin
Legacy Outdoors 