Ed Schilling

Determination and hard work are attributes I have always admired. In fact, I have made them the pattern for my life. But while my life was by no means unsuccessful by ordinary standards before I became a Christian, I had to learn that determination and hard work aren't always enough. In the fall of 1990, about three months after I was married, I was speaking on the phone with a friend who was the head coach at Spartanburg Methodist Junior College regarding a defense that he uses. For some reason the conversation led to my decision to come down to visit with him. I really had no business going to see him, because the trip from Indiana to South Carolina was more than a second-year high school coach and teacher could afford. But for some reason I made the flight reservations and requested permission for an excused absence from school. The next thing I knew I was on my way to Spartanburg, S.C., to see my friend, Scott Rigot. On the flight I began thinking about my new marriage and the huge change it had made in my life. I am an only child, my mother is an only child and my father has only one older sister: Even in college at Miami of Ohio, excluding my freshman year: I lived in a single room. I wasn't used to having a roommate, let alone a wife. Things were in a very unsettled state at the time. I was not accustomed to failure. I had always been able to achieve success athletically and academically by working hard, and I thought my work ethic would carry me through any challenge. But now I was struggling. My wife is an awesome individual - talented, attractive, kind and intelligent - but being married was something I just wasn't used to. On the flight to South Carolina I thought about how this whole marriage thing wasn't nearly as enjoyable as when I was single and living alone. I was working hard, but it was not working. The harder I worked, the worse things got. My wife and I weren't screaming and fighting all the time, but I just wasn't as happy as I had been when I was single. As the plane landed, I made up my mind that I was going to do something about the situation after I returned home. Scott met me at the airport and we had an enjoyable few days. I learned the defense and how to implement it, but I really could have learned it just as well by reading his material and watching video tape. I really didn't need to have made the trip. The day before I left I asked Scott a few questions about his faith. I knew he was a Christian because he prayed before he ate and he had also made a few comments while we worked the Five-Star Basketball Camp together that summer in Pittsburgh. I was not a Christian. My parents are very kind people, educators who hold many Christian ideals, but they were not Christians. I was basically against the whole religion thing as I grew up, because it seemed that whenever I had questions about religion nobody could answer them for me. Actually, I had never really investigated Christianity. I thought being a Christian meant you couldn't have fun, and I was turned off by people who pushed their religious views without tact. Scott never pushed his views on me; he would mention things now and then, but he never stepped out of bounds. But when I asked him a few of my spiritual questions, his answers made sense. He patiently and quietly explained why Christianity was so wonderful and gave some facts that were hard to dispute. That night we stayed up late talking about the Lord. I had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning to catch my flight home, so we cut short our conversation and went to bed. First, though, Scott picked up a small pamphlet from the floor and handed it to me. It explained how to receive Christ. He also gave me the book Peace with God, by Dr. Billy Graham. He explained that it dealt with a lot of the things we had talked about. "And who knows?" he added. "You might sit next to a pastor on the plane and he might see you reading it and answer some more of your questions." We both laughed and went to bed. I didn't go right to sleep. I read the pamphlet several times and did my best to ask for forgiveness, receive Jesus as the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins, and promised to live for Him. I held the bed tightly expecting thunder lightning or some type of miracle to happen. Nothing happened, so I asked God to give me some kind of sign to show me he had heard me. Nothing exciting took place, and I drifted off to sleep for the a few hours until it was time to awake. I boarded the plane in Greenville with my Billy Graham book under my arm. It was such an early flight that I just sat in a seat on the aisle, although my ticket was a window seat. I'm not sure I was even in the right row. Anyway, I self-consciously got out my book and tried to read it without letting the few people on the plane see it. I didn't want them to think I was a "Jesus freak." I would read a few lines, look around to see if anyone was watching, then read a few more lines, all while covering the title the best I could. After a few minutes I noticed a lady walking toward me. She sat down across the aisle from my seat. We both smiled and said hello, and I went back to my reading. As the airplane started to take off she leaned over and asked what I was reading. I hesitantly told her the name of the book and returned to it. A minute later she asked me how I liked it and what it was about. I explained that I had just started it, and as I did I looked over and discovered that she was reading the Bible! As we talked I finally confessed what had happened the previous night. I even told her what Scott had said about a pastor sitting next to me and noticing the book. I laughed because she looked nothing like any pastor I had ever seen. She also laughed and said, "I am not a pastor but my husband is an evangelist." We talked nonstop the rest of the flight. Those questions that didn't get answered in Spartanburg were answered on the plane. She even offered to give me her Bible and suggested some other books I might like. I was still flying after I got off the plane. From that moment I knew that divorce was not an option for me. I also knew that my formula for success (hard work) was not ultimately a winning one. I had a new formula, and it was not the result of hard work and determination, but a free gift from God by faith alone. I couldn't wait to tell my wife what had happened. She was shocked, but she could see the joy in my eyes. The experience was just too much to be a mere coincidence. I shouldn't have even gone to South Carolina; the cost was too much and I was too busy. I went to learn a defense I could have learned without making the trip. I was given a book and told I might sit next to a pastor who would notice it. I didn't sit in my correct seat and a beautiful lady sat next to me who wasn't a pastor but an evangelist's wife. Coincidence? I don't think so. It seems that the prayers of those who had been praying for my acceptance of Christ had paid off. Ever since I walked off that plane I have been a Christian. I have been baptized and I try to live each day for the Lord. I still believe in hard work, but it is combined with Jesus' formula for ultimate success. My life's goal now is to bring honor and glory to the Lord, and I know He will give me all that is necessary to accomplish this goal. Yes, I went to learn a defense for my basketball team, but I came back with a game plan for life that will make me a winner - not only now, but for eternity.