Hugh Freeze’s Liberty Flames football team finished 2020 with a 10-1 record. It concluded their season with a bowl win over No. 12 Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl. Success is nothing new to Freeze, who led a struggling Ole Miss in the SEC to a 2015 Sugar Bowl win and helped his school win ten games in a season for the first time since 2003. However, it all came crashing down when he resigned because he had made a series of calls to a female escort service during his time at Old Miss. Freeze was in desperate need of a new view.

“When my walls came crumbling down around me, the faith that I stand on through the son of God, Jesus Christ—it is a solid rock. A solid foundation,” Freeze said at the Liberty’s Convocation. “And when all hell is breaking loose around you, and everybody has their opinion about what is going on, and you know that you’ve hurt the heart of God, His love never changes. Ever.” He continued: “I had to say to people that I love. ‘I am sorry, please forgive me.’ And today is really the first day I can tell the faith family, ‘I am sorry, please forgive me.’” “The foundational core of who I am is based on faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ,” Freeze said. “And that certainly doesn’t mean I’m perfect, as everyone knows, but I am forgiven, and I want everyone to experience that forgiveness, that same grace and mercy that I’ve received.” 

Job 40-42 – Spiritual Renewal 

Job also needed a new view or reminder of the holiness and power of God. He could do nothing but confess his sins and turn back to God. He renewed his trust in the Lord, “I … repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Job had heard the facts about God, but he finally saw God (spiritually speaking) in a new way. This new view of God led to a new view of self. The new Job counted the old view as dead! He realized God knew the end from the beginning. In his brokenness, he repented from his sin and submitted to God. 

The Kingdom Coach and Athlete understand that life and sports are ultimately about God, not themselves. Like Job, they see God’s purpose unfolding and cannot hinder it. They also believe His way is best, and they must not resist it.

Bible Memory Verse – “And I will ask you [Job], and you make Me know! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you know understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:3-7 (LSB)