Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Deal With Disappointment | Alex Demczak | Proverbs 3:5-6

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. One of our favorite things to do is invite on our friends to be guest hosts for 10-minute Bible Talks and share about their favorite verses. So, here you go. A quick introduction to Alex Dimcheck. He's a friend of mine and one of these guys who does a little bit of everything on top of his day job. He's a speaker.

Starting point is 00:00:32 He's written a book. he and his wife just had their first kid. If you want to know more about Alex and all he's doing, you can follow him on Twitter at Alex Dimchek, A-L-E-X-D-E-M-C-Z-A-K. Here's Alex. So growing up as a child as a kid, I was super obsessed with sports.

Starting point is 00:00:56 I'm talking any type of sport. That's just what I did. That's who I was. I was always doing something. I came from a really active family. And I was just obsessed. And I think football for me is something that I gravitated towards. And, I mean, just to give you an example of how obsessed I was, my grandpa, he had a rule when he played football that he didn't date girls during football season.

Starting point is 00:01:18 And so I'm like, well, you know what, I'm going to do that too. And so literally, I think I made one exception to my freshman year of high school. I did date one girl then. But other than that, I stayed disciplined. I stayed focused. I was just all about football. And so, you know, I always wanted to play at the next level. That was a dream and goal of mine.

Starting point is 00:01:35 And so I was looking to have the chance to walk on at a bigger program. And this was a total God thing, but I actually met, I was at a fellowship of Christian Athletes Conference, and there was all these different college athletes there. And I met Jimmy Costello. Maybe you guys, some of you know him, he's from, he was one of the backup quarterbacks at Missou. And at that time, I was telling him like, hey, I'm looking, you know, I'm just talking to a few different schools and I'm looking for a place to walk on.

Starting point is 00:02:00 And he said, well, Blaine Gabbert just went to the NFL. and his younger brother, Tyler Gabbard, just transferred. So he's like, we only have like two quarterbacks or three quarterbacks on the roster. And he's like, I can talk to the coaches. And I was like, awesome. So I gave him my film. He gave it to the coaches. And the rest is history.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Total God thing. And I was able to walk on at Missouri. I didn't even grow up a Missouri fan. I didn't really know much about the program. But, you know, Jimmy, shout out to Jimmy Costello. He's serving our country in the military right now, an awesome guy. But he kind of was the person that got me in. at Missou and I just was able to kind of live out my dream that I've always thought about of playing

Starting point is 00:02:39 college football. And it was a few years ago when we were, Missou was transitioning from the Big 12 to the SEC. And, you know, it was just a great time to be a part of something like that. And just like Missou Football is now, we're doing great. We were great back then as well. And honestly, life was good. I was kind of living out my dream, I guess you could say, and didn't really have any complaints at all in life. And things were going really great and was able to kind of pursue and live out my dream. And that was my freshman and sophomore year. Obviously, as a walk-on, just for you guys that don't know, in college sports, if you're a scholarship athlete, you know, you're recruited, you're brought in. And as a walk-on, you kind of have to earn your spot every day. They don't

Starting point is 00:03:22 pay for your school. That's on you. And so you kind of have to earn your spot every day. And so going into my junior season, so I already played my first two years, things were going great. Going into my junior season, I thought I was really progressing. I thought I was improving, you know, I was involved with the program, I was doing everything right. Things were, I thought, headed in an upward trajectory. You know, things were going great. And I honestly thought, you know, maybe, maybe I could move up on the depth chart a little bit. You know, I'm realistic to know that there's a lot of great quarterbacks that have come through Missou, but I said, you know what, maybe this is the year.

Starting point is 00:04:00 A few coaches that said some positive things to me, things were looking good. And each year, you have this walk-on meeting where you, you know, it's usually really chill. You just meet with the coach or two, and they say, hey, welcome back. Let's have a great year. It's very routine. So, again, I was feeling good about where I was at. I was feeling good about my arm strength. I was in better shape than ever before.

Starting point is 00:04:23 Things were going good. and so I head to the football facility to go to this meeting, usually a very routine meeting. And I remember walking in, and usually there was only about one coach in this meeting. And so I walk in and I see three coaches, three assistant coaches, and I was like, that's weird. And as I'm walking in, one of the coaches is closing the door behind him. And so I'm like, well, that is not a good start to this meeting, I don't think. And so I sit down and this assistant coach, he was very direct. He said, Alex, I want to shoot you straight.

Starting point is 00:04:58 We have over-scholarshiped at quarterback, and we are bringing someone in to take your spot. And, you know, whenever you hear bad news, it's kind of like slow motion, right? It's kind of like your world is slowly crashing down on you, and everything kind of slowed down. My mind starts spinning, and I'm trying to process as kind of looking around the room, like, are you serious? like I've committed two and a half years of my life, blood, sweat, and tears to this program. I've done all these things. You know, I thought the right way I was progressing, getting better. And this is like what it comes to.

Starting point is 00:05:35 It's kind of like it feels like a business transaction. And the coach says, he says, so here's your options. So option number one is your cut, like you're done. And option number two is you can, you know, I know you maybe want to go into coaching someday. So option number two is you can stay on as a volunteer assistant. coach. Like no pay. You'll be making coffee for the coaches, printing off things, printing off copies, doing all the small things. And he said, oh, by the way, we need you to make that decision right now.

Starting point is 00:06:05 And, man, I didn't even know, like I said, my mind was racing at this point. And I'm sitting looking at these three coaches. I didn't know what to do. I'm like, do I transfer? I don't know. I had to make the decision right then and there. And so I didn't really want to show them any emotion, I guess, but I was like, well, I guess I'll just stay on as an assistant coach, whatever that means. And I remember just walking out of that room. And again, you know, football player, you got to be tough. So I didn't show them any emotion, of course. But, man, I remember getting in my truck after that short meeting that I thought was going to be a positive meeting.

Starting point is 00:06:39 I remember going to my truck and just going to some park in town. And I remember just parking my truck there. And I remember just crying, just feeling so humiliated, feeling so. rejected, feeling so confused. Here, I'd spent my whole entire life pursuing sports and felt like God had given me a passion for football, you know, and had given me the abilities to do that. And all of the sudden, in the blink of an eye, they're telling me, hey, we're bringing in someone to take your spot. And, you know, I come from kind of a smaller town, and I felt like I was letting so many people down, you know, my parents, family, people that's

Starting point is 00:07:20 supported me, former coaches, like I'd done all this work. And then now I'm being told, essentially, you're not good enough. And so that was on a Friday. And I remember just that whole weekend, I was just, I was depressed. I didn't know what was next for me. I didn't know what the future held. I was confused. It was tough. It was a really tough weekend. And Monday was the first practice. And so, you know, I kind of sulked in my thoughts and, you know, I was sorry for myself that entire weekend. And then I remember Monday, I was like, you know what? I I got to find a way to make the best of this. I'm just going to find a way that, you know, these coaches, coaches make a lot of money.

Starting point is 00:07:56 Maybe I'll go into coaching. You know, I can make this a positive thing. You know, I can be really involved. You know, I'm just thinking all these different positive things. Like, well, maybe they'll put me up in the press box. I'll call some plays. You know, I'll have this big role on the team, you know, trying to be optimistic. And I walk in to the football facility on that Monday before the first practice.

Starting point is 00:08:17 And one of the assistant coaches, he goes, hey, Demi, Demchick. That's my last name. He said, hey, Demchek, come here. I want to show you what your job's going to be. And I'm like, sweet. Maybe he's going to give me some free gear for being a coach now. I'm going to get all these big accolades, whatever. And I walk over there. And he hands me, literally, I still have this flag to this day. He hands me this yellow flag. And he said, you know, Alex, there's a lot of guys on the team that were a great, obviously a great defense and a great team. But sometimes we lack discipline when our players, you know, jump off. too much in practice. So what we need you to do is, he's like, listen carefully. He's like, we need you to, when someone jumps off sides, you're going to take this flag and you're going to throw it down. And then you're going to walk over and you're going to pick it up and you're going to take this flag again. And when someone else jumps off sides, you're going to throw it down. And it sounds ridiculous, just like how I was thinking at the time. I'm thinking, hashtag what is life, right? I'm kind of looking around the room like, okay, am I on like the punked TV show? Like, what is this? Like,

Starting point is 00:09:24 what are you talking about? And so I said, well, I mean, do you want me to do this for the entire practice or like, what is, do I do this for a few drills? And he said, the entire practice, we need you to do this for the entire season. And he was dead serious. And he was dead serious. And I'm thinking, oh my goodness. Like I talk about the biggest demotion ever. I'm thinking I'm getting a promotion. And I just went from being an SEC quarterback to like a professional flag thrower, which isn't even a real thing in the blink of an eye. And man, that was rough news to take as well. So literally, there's a lot more things I did that year. But long story short, my entire junior season, you know, I was an assistant coach. I was throwing the darn flag. I was printing off

Starting point is 00:10:14 copies, making coffee for the coaches, doing all these little things that I felt like no one was even noticing, no one even saw. And I'll just tell you right now, like, that season of my life was tough. That year, I think the biggest reason why is that my identity was completely stripped from me. It was completely taken in the blink of an eye. Here, sports, football, it was such a big, it was kind of king. It was kind of king in some ways in my life. And so when that was taken away, it was almost like, who am I? What am I supposed to do? And how do I move forward? And so that entire season, my junior year where I thought I was getting promoted, I did all these small things. I had, you know, it was just tough. And, you know, a few cool things I will say happened that year.

Starting point is 00:10:59 Number one, just the sheer humility of it, me being friends with everyone on the team, obviously, and being in my street clothes during practice and on game day when they're in their uniform, I think just the humility of the situation and sticking. with it when it was just really hard, I think allowed me to connect with some guys on the team that even today I still am friends with years later, I think because of that situation and not to brag on myself or anything, it was just, I felt like I had nothing left at that point. I literally, part of my role was now to try to make other people look better as a coach. That's what you do.

Starting point is 00:11:35 You're trying to, I had to, I was helping with the quarterbacks. I had to make the person who took my spot look better, right? and talk about humility at that point, it just really humbles you, for sure. During that year, I obviously had a little bit more time. I started working on my first book. It was called Thrive You. It is called Thrive View. And it's a daily devotional book with from 100 different athletes, professional and college athletes from all over the country. And, you know, that resource has been used now by thousands of people across the country. And so, you know, the reason I want to share that with you is that that entire junior season was was very, very hard in a lot of ways. And I

Starting point is 00:12:12 questioned God a lot of times during that process. But here's why I share the story. So my senior year comes around and I actually get back on the team as a quarterback and, you know, we had a great season. We went to the citrus bowl. We beat Minnesota. It was a great ending to my career. You know, it was an awesome experience. And, you know, when I look back now at my full career, I look back at all my years as a player, and then I look back at the one year that I was a flag thrower, right? I was, I had no title. I had no, I felt like I was nobody. I would actually argue, and I think some of my old coaches and teammates would agree that in some ways I had a bigger impact that year than I did all of my other years as a player. And I think the biggest thing that I had

Starting point is 00:13:01 to learn that year is number one, that leadership requires no title. You know, you don't have to have a title to lead, but also I had to really learn. I had to really learn in so many ways to trust God when I fully did not understand. You know, I questioned God so many times like, God, why would you give me this passion for football, for you, you know, for sports, and then why would you just take that away from me in that way? And, you know, I think about a verse that I had to cling to big time during this time was Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, which says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. And that verse was so relevant during that time, it still is today.

Starting point is 00:13:57 but the irony, the funny thing looking back now, as much as I complained or I was sorry for myself during that year, the absolute irony now is that for literally for my career now, I travel a country and speak to organizations, teams, on leadership, on overcoming adversity. And it's just crazy to think that God used that time to equip me, to refine me, so that now when, let's say, an athlete who tours ACL reaches out to me on Instagram or whatever, or I meet him in an event, I may be able to have a little bit more compassion. I'm able to connect and resonate with that person a little bit more because I have been through a similar experience. And it's so interesting to see how God will use these situations for our own good to refine us, to equip us for what is

Starting point is 00:14:49 next in our lives. And so I just want to challenge you. I don't know where you're at. I don't know where you're at in your life right now, but I want to encourage you. There might be times, maybe right now even, where in some ways you feel like a flag thrower, right? You feel like, God, I should not be in this position. I'm, you know, I'm better than this. Or God, why can't I be over in this role where I want to be? And I think the biggest thing that I just want to challenge, as I challenge myself, and I also want to challenge you with, is that you don't understand, you don't know how God might use a trial in your life or God might use a time where you have to overcome something for your good or for the good of others to advance his kingdom. And so I want to encourage you next time

Starting point is 00:15:37 you're questioning God for your future. I want you to remember to trust in God with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually.

Starting point is 00:16:09 If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Deal With Disappointment | Alex Demczak | Proverbs 3:5-6

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.