Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

Momentum

by 2 Comments

As I was driving to the office this morning, I was still lamenting last night’s Washington Capitals playoff game in which they lost 4-1.  For those of you who are not sports or hockey fans, my Caps dominated the regular season.  They are the #1 seed in the playoffs and were expected to dominate the Montreal Canadians.  The Caps won 3 of the first 4 games as expected and where only 1 win away from advancing to the next round….they had all the momentum.  However, that’s when things began to change…

Montreal goal-tender, Jaroslav Halak began playing out of his mind.  He had been so bad earlier in the series that he actually got replaced by the back-up goalie, but in Game 5, he held the high scoring Caps team to just one goal.  Then last night, in the first few minutes he made 3 spectacular saves that gave he and his team the confidence they needed to sustain the momentum they had started in the previous game.  By the time the game was over, Halak has stopped an incredible 53 of 54 shots taken at him.  To put that in context…if a team gets off 35 shots in a game it’s considered a lot…or another way to think about it is…a Hall of Fame goalie over his career will stop 50 out of every 54 shots taken at him.

Ok, so here are some random thoughts of what to make of the above….

  • People, businesses, teams, churches  and organizations need to get and then sustain momentum.
  • Sometimes momentum comes from just 1 person.  By the fact the Caps got off 54 shots tells us that the rest of the Canadians were not playing well.  Halak though was a difference maker.
  • There will always be a key moment or decision that will determine whether you will gain or lose momentum.  Halak’s first few saves gave him confidence that he sustained throughout the rest of the game.  Had he even let in one of those shots the rest of the game would have likely been very different.
  • When you have momentum don’t do anything drastic that might change it.  The Canadians kept the same strategy and line-up throughout.
  • In your life, family, organization, etc, what can you do to help build momentum?
  • Have you realized that YOU, even though you are just one person, can be a difference maker that will inspire those around you?
  • One final thought, the reality is this post was just a way for me to vent my frustrations with the Caps, so I came up with a lame blog post, trying to turn what Satan meant for evil into good.  🙂

So let’s hear from you…what lessons have you learned about momentum?  And oh yeah…Let’s Go Caps in game 7 tomorrow night!

Hockey Theology

by Leave a Comment

Rock the Red

As I promised the other day in this blog, I got a lot more out of Monday’s night’s hockey game than just a good time.  Here’s a couple of thoughts God dropped in my head while there…

  • Everyone rooting for the Caps was easy to distinguish because we were all wearing red.  It should be the same way with followers of Christ…it should be easy to distinguish who’s for us and who’s against us…not because of the clothes we wear but by the fruit of our conduct.
  • You’ve heard this from me before, but why is it that the loudest and rowdiest crowds are at sporting events.  Don’t we realize that Jesus won a much more important victory for us than any athletic team ever will?  Church should be full of rowdy, loud, passionate people on Sunday mornings…shouting, clapping and jumping up and down because unlike sports, we know we’re on the winning side.
  • Every time the Caps scored, not only did Andy and I high five each other, but we also high fived complete strangers sitting around us.  Again we we’re able to distinguish those who were for us by the red they were wearing.  It’s the same with churches…if another church around us is leading people to Christ and helping them to grow in their faith, we should celebrate with them…not tear them down which is so common nowadays.
  • One of our core values at United is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.  Seeing Ovechkin and Crosby at their absolute best was quite awe-inspiring.  We need to make sure that in the same way they play all out to the best of their abilities, we do our very best to honor God with the gifts He’s given us.
  • The hockey game was quite an Experience but the excitement carried on beyond the end of the game and even went outside of the arena.  Even blocks away as we were walking to the metro, people were still excited…and that excitement got picked up by people who weren’t even there.   It should be the same for us…our faith and excitment can’t just be on Sunday mornings…it’s got to carry outside of the doors and make an impact on people whom haven’t even attended yet.

Caps vs. Pens Game 2 Thoughts

by 1 Comment

Ovie Hat Trick

  • Been almost 24 hours since the end of game 2 so here are my thoughts having been there…
  • Wow…I can’t believe we were there!
  • Even the national commentators are saying today that it was one of the most exciting games in recent history and that the noise level was unlike anything they have ever heard.
  • At arenas they blare music out of the speakers and you couldn’t even hear them from the time Ovie got his hat trick with about 5 minutes left until the end of the game.
  • My head still is ringing.
  • And oh yeah my throat is still raw from all the yelling.
  • I was making calls on the drive down and Andy missed our exit for the metro even though he was using GPS…it took us to the wrong place and I really thought we were going to miss the beginning of the game because we kept going in circles even though we were following the signs to the metro.
  • The 40 minute metro ride was interesting because some already (at least I think they were) drunk Pens fans were in our car…naaa on second thought they were just the usual obnoxious Pens fans.  🙂
  • As soon as we got off the metro at the Verizon Center you could tell it was different than the game we went to in February.
  • There was a definite buzz in the air.
  • Unlike February’s seats which were a few rows from the ice, this time we were only 3 rows from the top.
  • Still…we were there…even if there were another dozen or so obnoxious Pens fans around us.
  • Seriously people…there are more words in the dictionary than ones that begin with the letter “F”.
  • Got to be honest…I was nervous most of the game…the Caps weren’t really playing all that great.
  • I kept up-dating my Facebook and Twitter accounts which made for some fun interaction with some of you who were home watching on TV.
  • Towards the end of the 2nd Period I got a text from Curtis Bryan who attends United saying he was at the game as well…how cool is that…the wonders of modern technology.
  • The picture above is literally seconds after Ovechkin’s 3rd goal. 
  • Already that many hats had made it onto the ice and there were plenty more to come.
  • What was funny was after they almost had them all cleaned up, a bunch more came down.
  • Found out today that Sidney “Whiner ” Crosby complained.
  • As much as i dislike him, I told Andy on the way home that by the time it’s all said and done, he and Ovie will probably be in the top 20 players to ever play and we can say we were there the night they both had hat tricks in the play-offs.
  • When the game was over, the party just spilled into the streets.
  • We walked up to the next metro stop to try to avoid the crowds and blocks away the car horns and yelling were still going on.
  • Even in Frederick when we stopped to eat on the way home we were asked about the game because a guy saw we had our Caps gear on and wanted to know what it was like.
  • Today I was in Chambersburg at the Sheetz near Target and I saw a guy as I was pulling out with a Caps jersey on. 
  • I hit the car horn…Beeep, Beeep, beep, beep, beep.
  • He looked…spotted the car that had beeped and yelled to me…
  • LET’S GO CAPS!
  • Tomorrow I’ll give some spiritual insights that I gleaned from the game.
  • In the meantime…Beeep, Beeep, beep, beep, beep.