Admission: I am a huge Eagles fan, I still occassionally root for the Bears since I spent my earliest years outside of Chicago idolizing Walter "Sweetness" Payton, but this year you may actually catch me cheering for the Steelers once in a while. I am not just jumping on the Super Bowl Champ bandwagon (really), it has more to do with the way they served as valuable object lessons for some of our teen leaders from Lancaster Teen Haven.
In mid-August, we took 7 teen boys on a road trip to visit Steelers training camp. The trip was both a reward for their service as leaders this summer, and a training camp and launching point for their future roles as leaders at Lancaster Teen Haven and at Teen Haven Camp. Too much happened during our whirlwind tour out to Western PA to share all the details, but we sense that this crew of 7 young men are ready to have as successful a year this year as the Steelers did last year.
One of the many lessons we took away from the training camp was how the Steelers are clearly not content to rest on their laurels (in the Laurel Highlands). Although the temperature was hot enough that those of us who were watching from the hillside needed to be deliberate in staying hydrated, the players ran from drill to drill and never let up. Many of the players stayed on the field after practice for extra reps in blocking, route running or just conditioning. Troy Polamalu, their star defensive back, was the last player to leave the field - after running an exhausting series of windsprints, and taking time to pray and thank God for his ability and opportunities.
Just as the training to stay at the top of the NFL never lets up, so our training in following Christ never ends (God will continue the good work that he has begun until the day of perfection).
-Jack Crowley, Teen Haven
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