The shake test

I stood in front of an entire football team, a team who has endured several highs and their share of lows. Over the course of the season we have almost won games we should not win, and lost games that we should win. It's been a rollercoaster of rides that I wanted to address.
I stood up and began to deliver the pre-game as we look at the way we react to such a season of emotional tide changes. I held in my hand a bottle of water, I unscrewed the top so that only the last little turn was left holding the lid on. I shook the bottle vigorously in a way that sent water spewing all over the players sitting closest to me. Some laughed, some rushed away to avoid getting soaked. I asked them this question: "Why did water come out of this bottle?"
I got several different answers from because the water was up to teh top, because the lid wasn't on tight, and because I shook the bottle. All of these were very valid answers, but not what i was looking for.
I then explained the importance of attitude. How our attitude does 3 major things in our lives. First, it reveals the real you. The real you comes out in your attitude towards others, and towards the game. Second, it determines the successes and failures of every relationship you ever have. Your relationship with everyone is affected by your attitude. Third, your attitude is always your choice.
Matthew 15:17-20 Jesus says, "Don't you see that whatever enters the mout goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of teh mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man unclean; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
Jesus is saying what goes in comes out, and when it comes out of your mouth it is from the heart. So your attitude comes out as whatever you have filled yourself up with.
The reason water came out of that bottle when I shook it up, quite simply because the bottle was full of water. What goes into us comes out of us when we get all shook up. So be careful what you watch, listen to and get involved in it must may be what comes out next time you face adversity.

Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!