Understanding brokenness

We know (or should know) that our strength comes from God. God wants us to depend on Him, and sometimes He will drive us to brokenness in order to get His point across.

On page 106 of One Yard Short, Les Steckel writes about a woman in church who told him about brokenness after he was fired by the Minnesota Vikings after the miserable 3-13 season:

Back when the Vikings had just fired me, a woman in a church crowd had used the term (brokenness). After I finished speaking, she came up to me and said, 'I believe God removed you from that position to put you through brokenness.'

Brokenness? What's that? I told the woman I had no idea what she was talking about. And I was being honest, for even after the Vikings fiasco, I still didn't get it.

Steckel eventually understood brokenness in 1990, when he was fired by the New England Patriots.

I understand brokenness. I felt extremely broken during my childhood -- my parents divorced when I was 4, and my stepdad didn't treat me very well. I have been working to deal with my parents' divorce and the treatment by my stepdad my entire life. But I know that God was with me during that entire time and ensured that I made my way through it. It's a paradox: when we are weakest we are at our strongest, because at that point we are relying on God.

To coach the Vikings or the Gophers?

When Les Steckel was a coach for the Minnesota Vikings, he lived in my neighborhood in Bloomington. Many Minnesotans remember Les Steckel, although possibly not very fondly. He was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, when the team had a 3-13 season. Before being head coach, Steckel coached the receivers, tight ends and special teams.

Steckel was obsessed with being a head coach, and the University of Minnesota approached him about their head coaching position in 1983. On page 77-78 of One Yard Short, Steckel recounts how he consulted God as to whether to stay with the Vikings or go to the Gophers:

I rose from bed, walked into my study, and dropped to my knees beside the window. A huge harvest moon looked down on me from the night sky.

I prayed, 'Lord, I'm scared to death. This head coaching thing is all I can talk about, all I can think about, everything I've dreamed about. You know what's inside me, Lord; you know me better that I know myself. Tomorrow they're going to make the offer. I want it, but I don't know if you want it for me.'

I paused and had a crazy thought. 'Lord,' I said, 'let something fall out of the sky. I just need a clear answer. Please, let something fall out of the sky to tell me what to do.'

A few hours later I left for work. And at the end of the day, Bud Grant materialized in my doorway -- something that didn't happen too often with assistants. He said, 'Les, can I see you for five minutes?'

The word was out about the college job. Reporters knew, players were asking me if I was leaving, and I figured Bud had the same question. I was in for a shocker.

He said, 'Les, I understand you're going to be offered the job at the university. We respect you a great deal as a coach and as a person, and I want you to know one thing. I'm going to retire at the end of the season, and I want you to be my successor. The general manager and the owner agree with me. We want you to be the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.'

So Steckel became the Vikings' head coach, and Lou Holtz ended up taking the head coaching job for the Gopher football team.

Miracle in Music City

Les Steckel, currently the national president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, had a long football coaching career, including 23 years in the NFL. He tells his story, and the role that God played in his ups and downs, in the book One Yard Short.

On January 8, 2000, Steckel was coaching the Tennessee Titans as their offensive coordinator in a playoff game against the Buffalo Bills. It had been a critical season for the Titans; the team was 13-3 with a perfect record at home. It was the first time that Tennessee had big NFL success.

The Bills were ahead 16-15 with 16 seconds left. The Titans had led most of the game, and the possibly of losing the game was almost too much for Steckel, as he writes on page 8 of the book:

'Lord, I never want to coach again,' I had prayed moments earlier. 'I've had it.'

Then I had one of those extraordinary moments: I heard the quiet voice of God.

I heard him ask, 'Do you have faith?'

I know what you're thinking. But listen, this isn't something that happens to me on an everyday basis. I can tell you that when it does, the words, the message, and the source are unmistakable. I answered the question immediately and instinctively.

'Yes, Lord, I have faith.'

And just like that, I had hope. I can't explain it even today, but I was excited even as everyone around me had given up. Sure, I was tense. But I was hopeful that something good was going to happen.

What happened next was the "Music City Miracle" -- a special play involving an improvised handoff and a pass to Kevin Dyson, who scored! The Titans won the game and were on to the next round of the playoffs.