Life Lessons Learned from a National Championship—Lesson 1
Sports touch the lives of many people in the world and is a huge business. They keep records about sporting events. On Monday night January 19, 2026, many experts say that one of the most remarkable, miraculous events occurred in sports. It even exceeded the US upset victory over the Russians in hockey in 1984. It was the comeback story of the Indiana Hoosiers football team.
I love to look at events such as this in history and see what I can learn from them. Let me share lessons which I think would be very applicable to any organization, business, sports team, or church group. Here are some lessons I think we can learn.
Lesson 1
Past performance does not determine present accomplishments. If you go by past performance, Indiana would never have had a chance in the National Championship game. Of all the college football teams in America, they had more football losses than any other school!
But past performance doesn’t determine present accomplishments. They proved that on January 19. They went from worst to first. They went from the losingest team to setting a record in one year that only one other football team in 150 years had accomplished. They beat Miami in the National title game to win their 16th game. They were 16-0. The only other team to do this was the Yale football team back in the 1800’s.
Now that’s a miracle comeback. At the beginning of the year, nobody gave Indiana much of a chance to even finish in the top twenty-five, much less finish as the best team. But Indiana went from a basketball school to becoming a football school!
Oftentimes in business, sports, and church, we always talk about the handicap of what happened in the past. The past is real, but it does not have to define the present or the future. Jesus didn’t come to patch old garments or wineskins. He came to give new ones. (Matthew 8:16) Paul said that Jesus makes a man a new creation—the old has passed away and the new has come. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Acts 15 tells how Paul started to plan his second missionary journey with Barnabas. Barbabas wanted to take along Mark with them, but Paul insisted they would not take him because he had messed up on the first journey and went home and didn’t finish with them. It created a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, so Barnabas took Mark with him, and Paul picked Silas for his trip.
Mark’s past performance portrayed him as a loser, but Barnabas saw him as what he could be. Mark had a total turn around and became such an asset. His work even got the attention of Paul who later was able to say, “Bring Mark with you for he has been very helpful in my ministry.” (II Timothy 4:11). Mark’s past performance didn’t dictate his future accomplishments.
Be a Barnabas to the Mark on your team, in your church, or working in your company.
Are you governed by past performance or present possibilities?
