A Spider's web teaches Kagan

By 10 pm tomorrow night, the Toyota LOS filming will be finished as will the ballgame. But how did we get here? Great question! I keep asking it myself.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley once said, "God has a way of making all those strings in a spider's web intersect at ONE point."

STRING #1: God casts the vision

In May, our football team talked about hopes and dreams for the 2008 season. One of the dreams offered that day was given by our quarterback, Jermaine Hood.

"Coach, it would be great if we could be on 33/40's Friday Night Blitz," he said.

Honestly, I knew I didn't have that kind of pull, and Sunshine didn't have that kind of football reputation.

In June, I was resting at home one Friday glad to be by myself for a few hours. The team had lifted weights and done conditioning running three days that week. I needed a break, so I gave them one, too. No weights on Friday!

My cell phone rang. I looked at the number, but the area code was 312. "I don't know anyone in 312," I told myself. Now normally, I wouldn't have answered that call. But a still small voice said, "Answer it."

STRING #2: God paints on a BIG canvas

Mike Hormuth of InterSport began to talk about Sunshine's football team being selected to appear on Toyota Line-of-Scrimmage. I didn't fully understand because I don't watch pro sports. However, LOS is a segment that runs during halftime of the NBC Sunday Night NFL Football Game. Each two weeks, they highlight a high school team somewhere across America.

STRING #3: God uses every connection in life

By the time that Mike finished talking, I truly thought that someone was pulling my leg. However, he said that he had gotten our school's name from a former editor of The Demopolis Times. My mind flashed back to the spring and summer of 1989 when I served as a staff reporter for The Times. Those were six great months of my life. I've often regretted not following my desire to be a full-time writer. The thrill of telling a story on paper, whether mine or someone else's, is something magical. When I considered The Times connection and Dr Kelley's statement, I immediately knew that something was up.

I presented the offer to my principal, my superintendent, and my board chairman. We all agreed that it was a once-in-a-lifetime, chance-of-a-lifetime. After conferring with the board's lawyer, the decision was made to move forward and accept the LOS offer. We began signing the paperwork which was completed on Monday, July 14. At that point, I had not been able to sit down with the coaching staff or the team to reveal what was going on.

I knew the best time to tell the staff would be at the Alabama All-Sports Coaching Clinic Week in Huntsville, Alabama. Two of us were riding in one vehicle while one coach couldn't arrive in Huntsville until later that first night, Wednesday, July 16.

STRING #4: God invites the whole family

LOS executive producer Lauren Clister called me while we were traveling somewhere between Cullman and Huntsville. Being in the backseat, I could talk and not worry about the traffic. She said that the production staff had looked over our schedule and selected the week seven game on October 10 as the week that they would come and spend with us. As any coach should, I had my schedule memorized. Week 7 would be the Linden High Patriots.

Wow! As I listened to Lauren talk, my memories went back to being a student in the Linden City School system from the day I entered Janie Mae Crocker's first grade class in the fall of 1971 until Charlie Arledge handed me my diploma at graduation in May 1983. My memories also included the seven wonderful years I had spent as a teacher and coach in the Linden system from 1989 to 1996.

I thought, "God is drawing the strings of this web and it will be beautiful."

STRING #5: God gives shape to the vision

After a conversation with WMBV station manager Rob Moore, two Sunshine football players and I were invited to make a three-part interview with James Dancer.

Our two Tigers, Rodrigus Evans and Adrian Davis, talked about the importance of Christian wisdom from God and the importance of forgiveness from Christ and others. God began to tell me that what was happening was larger than ourselves.

August was filled with signing player release forms and starting fall practice. Then, September rocked along with one disappointment after another on the football field.

STRING #6: God confirms through nature

Throughout the disappointments, God kept reminding me of Dr Kelley's statement. How? Well now, that is a very practical story. My last teaching duty of everyday is to load the first bus in line after the dismissal bell rings. Everyday, I walk to the end of the covered sidewalk and watch as the students load onto Mr Jones's bus. At the end of the awning, a rather large spider began to construct a web the week following Labor Day. At first it was just a few strings making a rather odd-looking, backwards "Y" in the corner of the awning. Everyday, would I point the spider's web out to the students boarding Mr. Jones's bus. Everyday, they have been amazed at how it has grown in size and beauty.

Last Friday night was one of the most disappointing nights of the season. With momentum in hand, we lost the ballgame horrendously in the last eight minutes as Autaugaville used four 4th quarter touchdowns to beat us 32-8. The loss eliminated any hope for the playoffs. It was the most quiet that a Sunshine bus has ever been on the ride home. You could actually hear kids going through soul-searching. Honestly, we coaches were soul-searching, too.

STRING #7: God brings a vision to reality

Tuesday, the LOS people rolled into Newbern. Some from the West Coast. Some from the East Coast. All here near the Gulf Coast. I kept counting heads, and I kept losing count. I was finally told that LOS had brought 13 in their crew.

Our players were stunned. Not by the cameras. Not by the accents. Not even by wonderful encouragement that the LOS crew brought.

Our players were stunned by the reality that dreams cast by God really do come true.

Wednesday, I sat with eight of the players as they were interviewed by the LOS. Adrian Davis, Nathaniel Zinnerman, Jermaine Hood, Willie Williams, Shaun McCalpine, Jerderrick Crooks, Terrience Greene, and D'Angelo Cabbil had to answer questions. I learned a lot from their hearts. They found out that I knew more about their dreams than they thought. LOS helped with that soul-searching.

LOS filmed practice and scrimmage. Honestly, the team didn't make mistakes. We passed. We ran. We kicked. We blocked. We tackled. We played football. We even forgot the cameras were there.

Today, they did some fun video footage with some of the kids. LOS rode horses with Willie and shot footage of the kids running among the cows across the road. Hmmm...I hope that the kids didn't step in anything.

STRING #8: God completes His canvas

What's next? As I complete this blog, it is 6:30 pm on Thursday night and I'm still at school in my classroom. Since we didn't have school today, the team left about five hours ago. We had an early practice and fed them BBQ chicken.

So, why am I still here? For some reason, I haven't wanted to go home yet. I'll check the field lights in a few minutes before I leave. I'll soak in the last rays of sunlight. I've already checked on my friend, the spider. She has an egg sack in the web right next to her. Hmmm...guess we'll have more spiders soon. Her web? It is complete.

The setting sunlight glistened off each string...and they are all connected and are drawn together at one point.

Thank you, Lord. You've brought the dream of one player to a reality. On November 30 and December 7, the world will see how "for one brief shining moment" in time, You, Lord, will have the whole world looking at the Sunshine Tigers...