Transferring Belief…Again (Bot9 #376)
Let me tell you a story about a guy named Ken Bostdorff.
When I was 24 years old, I went to a teacher fair at the University of Northern Colorado. I had just finished my Masters Degree in Teaching and was ready to start my career. In those teacher fairs, you interview and “speed date” a number of school districts over a couple of days in hopes of landing a job. I had met Ken on day one. He was the principal at Sheridan High School. At the beginning of day two, I saw my name on the big board up front in bold black letters “Keith Wahl - see Mr. Bostdorff with Sheridan Schools.” I was invited on a campus tour a couple of weekends later and offered my first job.
A number of years later in the spring of 2017, we had just moved back to Colorado. I really wasn’t sure what my next steps would be after my last experience had ended. On a snowy spring day, Ken called me. He immediately launched into telling me about a history position at his school and that he wanted to bring me in for the position. The irony here is that I had never taught a history class. He knew me and believed. I didn’t follow him on that journey, but it was an important call to receive because I knew someone still had faith in me.
Ken died later that winter, but I’ll never forget his belief in me.
I’ve also shared about my high school baseball coach, Bill Percy, after he had coached his final game. His belief in me was foundational in my life as it set me on a course to coach and be involved in athletics.
This fall, I wrote about this idea of “transferring belief” after having it packaged in that phrase during a leadership coaching session. It’s a powerful thought and one that can transform the life of another human being. When you give your belief to someone else, powerful things can come as a result. We might not even realize it at the time.
In the fall of 2020, I was serving as a head softball coach. We had a talented freshman come into the program that summer. A two-sport athlete who played softball but really believed basketball was going to be her sport. After a blowout opening win where this young lady homered in her first high school at bat and led the offensive explosion, I walked the long path back to the cars with her dad. We talked about the day and about his daughter’s future. All I did was ask him a question: “Are you sure basketball’s her best sport?” A few years later she would commit to play softball at Wisconsin.
A few years later, I had the opportunity to coach the same team and same player in a run to the state softball tournament. Trailing by two runs going into the top of the seventh, we had 7-8-9 coming up in our lineup. The now-senior was our leadoff hitter. I made a simple plea to the team, “Someone get on base and give Kaylie a shot to tie it up!” One of the girls reached base and, with two outs in the top of the seventh, she tied the game. While we ended up coming up short to the eventual state champion, the power of transferring belief in that moment was real. The photo above now hangs in my office as a reminder of the moment.
I heard a profound statement this past week. The Gospel is representative of a God who looks at us with open arms and not a pointed finger. The open arms of love and belief allow us to represent Jesus in our day to day. It’s the opposite of the doubt and nitpicking of a pointed finger. Transferring belief is how we can represent Jesus to others and taking advantage of the opportunity can transform a moment or a life.
The problem we run into is that team sports are a limited vehicle to deliver the good news. It’s a great way, but not a perfect way. Playing time and opportunities are not as freely available to every kid on every team in every situation as I imagine they might be in heaven. Sometimes coaches are just loaded with talented players at a certain position, and a kid who could have started other years can’t even earn a chance to see the field. You might call this the Jeter or the Ripken rule - what if you were a shortstop in the Yankee or Oriole organization while those Hall of Famers were playing the position? No amount of belief can change things when a situation like this presents itself.
However, in the vast majority of situations, there are opportunities to transfer belief. I was lucky enough to have a couple of influential people transform my life through their belief and it became something I have the opportunity to then share with others. More than anything, I hope someone will take this as an invitation to believe in someone else today and alter the course of their life. Don’t keep the belief to yourself, transfer belief to them. You never know how that story might end.