Just as a football team can never be sure when a blitz is coming, our lives can often be blindsided by unexpected death, illness, infidelity or job loss, but preparing for crisis and responding well in the moment can lead to life being more full and rich than ever before.
That’s the thesis behind “Facing the Blitz: Three Strategies for Turning Trials into Triumphs” by former NFL quarterback Jeff Kemp, son of the late football star and political figure Jack Kemp. The younger Kemp is now a vice president at FamilyLife, a Christian ministry based in Arkansas.
As most football fans know, a blitz occurs when a defense sends more players than usual after the quarterback. But while that puts an offense in immediate peril, Kemp says it doesn’t have to end that way.
“It’s not just danger. It’s also opportunity. If the offense comes together and does the right things and adapts and changes, the ball may end up in the end zone. The biggest play of the game may come on a blitz,” said Kemp, who says the same principle applies in life.
“The lesson of life is that all of us are going to get blitzed. We have tough stuff happen. Life is great but it’s not easy. I think more than ever people are getting hit with things, whether it be economic loss, job loss, a breakup in our family , deep wounds, cancer, losing a loved one,” he said.
Everyone faces the blitz at various times in life, says Kemp, and responding to these trials in the right way can actually make life better than ever.
“Those are actually opportunities if we see the blitz problems through a different lens. We can respond better and make the best of it. Sometimes they turn into a blessing, not just for us but for others. If we go through tough stuff and can help other people, we’re making a difference in other people’s lives,” said Kemp.
In “Facing the Blitz,” Kemp focuses on three key principles to emerge strong from the crises of life: taking a long-term view of life, being willing to change and reaching out to others.
Kemp says being able to see the big picture in our toughest challenges is vital because getting consumed with the problems of today is never helpful.
“You don’t see the possibilities of future. You’re not looking at character, you’re just looking at circumstances. You might give up on a marriage before you should or give up on a kid before you should. You may blow some steam off and say something at work that did some damage you can’t rebuild. Many people have looked at the pain they’re in at the moment and thought this won’t change, but it can,” said Kemp.
But what does a healthy long-term view look like?
“A long-term view means, ‘What do I want to be remembered for? What impact will this have on my kids? What impact will this have on others? Maybe I’m supposed to learn something from this rather than just jump our of the situation?” said Kemp, who says those concerns ought to trump temporary feelings or desires.
“If we focus everything on the here and now and our circumstances and trying to be happy, we never will be full of joy. We’ll never develop the character that God wants us to have. We’ll never have the impact on this world we were meant to have. We are souls and not just bodies,” said Kemp.
Kemp says the healthiest long-term view not only considers our earthly relationships but also keeps eternity in the front of our minds.
“Heaven is a real place. If we’ve got a little, tiny view of heaven, then we’ll get carried away with trying to get all of our happiness on earth. If we have a big view of heaven, a big view of God, an amazing view of Him and we look at the true long-term, that’s going to change things,” said Kemp.
“We’re more willing to suffer and go through trials, like Jesus was. [They] change us to be more like Him, which is more loving, more forgiving, more generous, more kind, more others-centered. That makes our relationships go well and relationships are what make our lives go well or not well. That’s why heaven, eternity, a long-term view makes all the difference,” he said.
When trying to decide how to respond in a crisis, the instinctive reaction of many in our culture is to assign blame rather doing some introspection. Kemp encourages people to think about whether that strategy has mad your life any better to this point.
“How well has selfishness worked out for me. How well has it worked out for me that I’ve stayed kind of prideful and that I’m prickly when anyone criticizes me? How well is it working out for me that anytime my wife says something to me I don’t like, that I argue with her and get defensive instead of listening and trying to understand what she really is experiencing?” asked Kemp.
“I think most people realize that doesn’t turn out well. To change is to transform, to become better. It’s to grow more toward the version of who you will be for eternity in heaven,” he said.
Taking the long view of life and evaluating where we can change are helpful when facing the blitz, but Kemp says adopting those mindsets before crisis strikes will make the tough days easier to manage.
“If you work more on becoming a relationship investor and less of a consumer, if you work on asking questions and seeking to understand others rather than always wanting them to understand you, if you work on teamwork and not just a solo approach to life right now, when the blitz comes you’re going to be so much more ready to handle the blitz,” said Kemp.
He says being spiritually prepared is another critical factor.
“It does make sense to pursue your relationship with God now and know what the Bible says. Know that Jesus is your identity, not your job. Your happiness isn’t your circumstances, it’s your relationships. If you develop that now, it makes so much sense to be ready for the blitz but don’t be shocked when the blitz comes and you’re not exactly ready, because it always surprises us,” said Kemp.
Once in the midst of a personal or family blitz, Kemp says we have two options: remove ourselves from the rest of the world and focus on our issues or reach out to connect with others and even focus on their problems.
“You come out of your blitz better when you focus on serving others. One of the most powerful set of stories in the book is about a gal that lost her son from PTSD after serving in Iraq. She was in depression for two years but she came back to life when she went on a missions trip to New Orleans to chaperone young people who were serving Katrina victims. She started to come alive and got a vision for helping others,” said Kemp.
Kemp also shared an example of this from his own life during a difficult moment in his NFL career.
“There was a year where I got cut from the Philadelphia Eagles. Training camp was going terribly. I wasn’t getting a chance, but I focused on encouraging another guy on my team. It was a piece of advice from my wife,” he said. “I took him to lunch and patted him on the back and talked with him, spent time with him and prayed for him,” he said.
“When you focus on others, you’re not stuck as a victim, and that’s kind of the key point here,” said Kemp.
