Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PUNCH (08/27/20)
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TITLE: They Called Him Punch | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
09/03/20 -
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From womb to tomb little George kept his balled-up fists resting inches from his chest as if he would pop the first person who gave him trouble. He was the only child of Scottish immigrants to Canada and was the result of an early discharge when his father was wounded in battle. He was all his parents could handle.
He would make the perfect hockey legend in a country possessed with an almost religious need for aggression that didn’t involve guns and bombs. While he grew up playing soccer, hockey, lacrosse and baseball, hockey claimed his loyalty. Meticulously clean, soaked in Aqua Velva aftershave, and never seen without suit and tie, he set his stamp on mavericks and veterans alike.
The rough and tumble minor leagues in the Toronto area toughened him up and his service in the forces, as a lieutenant instructor during the Second World War, completed his hardening. His nickname Punch stuck after he was knocked out in a hockey game and awoke punching out at anyone within reach.
He valued loyalty above all and dared anyone, management, players or fans, to stand in his way. He took his Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cups on the backs of players who other teams had given up on. He had little patience for arrogant upstarts and brought one of his captains to the edge of a mental breakdown while engaging in fisty-cuffs with another.
Few liked “Punch” but they grudgingly gave him respect and got used to his harsh ways. Those who resisted didn’t last. Imlach refused to get close to his players as he had to negotiate salaries and denied everything possible, guarding the team’s finances as if they came from his own pocket. He harassed and bullied his players into submission but still found his way into the “Hockey Hall of Fame.”
Five heart attacks brought his legendary career and life to an end. We tend to admire the cost of success from afar.
The Apostle Paul punched his way into the Christian Hall of Fame with a similar aggressive style. He told the Corinthians (9:26-27) that he didn’t fight like a boxer beating the air. Instead, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
As a young man, when he was still Saul, he worked to aggressively fight his way to the top of the theological classes for Rabbi Gamaliel. He valued loyalty among his followers and sidelined Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, without hesitation when he couldn’t handle the rigors of missionary life and travel.
It’s been said that wherever Paul went he caused a riot or a revival. He received far more punches than he gave, along with thrown stones, shipwrecks, beatings and jail time. He evangelized more unbelievers, discipled more newbies, and planted more churches than many of our current apostles. Yet, he did it without jets, trains or automobiles.
Every situation was an opportunity to proclaim the good news that Jesus had come, chosen the worst of sinners in him, died in his place, forgiving him and redeeming him all by grace. His greatest message was that Jesus was alive and that he had personally met and been commissioned by Jesus.
We loudly hail his name and admire his place in the church hall of fame but we admire the cost of his success from afar.
Every crisis needs a strong leader to stand up and take others forward into places they may not choose to go on their own. This current crisis needs someone who will punch their way through the obstacles that keep the gospel from being heard. We need leaders among Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Animists. We need leaders among the street people, the new agers, the atheists and the nones.
Perhaps we need leaders, even among writers, who will take words with a punch and refuse to back down until they’ve made a point so grand and glorious that even heaven will take notice. The words with the most punch are still ahead when Jesus says “Well done good and faithful servant.” May he be praised.
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