The Ultimate Goal / Guest Post by Cade Pawluck

What if you could win every game that you have ever played? That’s the goal of every athlete, right? For me, that goal became an obsession. I grew up in a competitive household, and I expected the best from myself. Losing wasn’t an option, and winning became my identity. I took that mindset with me through my entire hockey career, and eventually, it broke me. It was exhausting mentally, physically, and spiritually because I allowed the enemy to steal my joy by placing my identity in being an athlete. I played for performance instead of purpose.

When I began playing hockey at Liberty University, I carried that same competitive mentality with me. In my very first game, I scored my first career college goal. I was riding high on confidence rooted in pride. In the very next game, I was hit from behind and suffered my first-ever concussion. Just like that, everything I’d clung to was gone. My identity was “athlete,” and suddenly, the rug was pulled out from underneath my feet. In that season, I felt the Lord say, “Cade, if I’m going to allow you to be at Liberty, it’s going to be for My glory, not your own.” Hockey was the crutch that I leaned on for so many years to find my identity, worth, and confidence. That season, God graciously stripped away the idol I had made of hockey. I eventually recovered and returned to the ice, but something wasn’t the same.

In the next season, I was blessed to be named assistant captain. It was a role that stretched me in every way, and I wanted to embrace the opportunity to lead both athletically and spiritually. Early in the season, we played a rival, Florida Gulf Coast University, and we swept the weekend. It was a major win, but for the first time, I felt convicted after a win. Eventually, through prayer and conviction, the Lord realigned my heart. The following weekend, before we prayed with the other team, I shared the Gospel. It was not perfect, but it was real. For the first time, God revealed to me that win or lose, hockey was just a platform to embrace His glory, not mine. I was so encouraged to see how quickly my teammates rallied alongside me with an eagerness to also share the Gospel. If God had not refined me in the previous season, I never would have been available to be used for His glory.

Despite our spiritual momentum, it was a tough season. We had seen God do incredible things in our locker room—baptizing four guys—and outside of our locker room as we built a culture that honored the Lord. Still, despite a winning record, we struggled in our performance, as we were a .500-level team. Regardless, with a win over Rowan University at the end of the season, we managed to clinch Nationals with the auto bid. During the month-long stretch of Nationals prep, God once again chose injury to grab my attention and reveal to me the biggest lesson I’ve ever learned through hockey. During this time, I sustained a severe injury to my right leg outside of the rink. I broke my right fibula in two places near the ankle, which called for immediate surgery. It was a heartbreaking end to my season. I wrestled with myself and the Lord. After everything God had done, why this? Why now?

After surgery, God provided a much-needed season of rest. He provided an opportunity to read the Word, pray, and listen. Through the Word and others who encouraged me during that time, God revealed to me everything He had been teaching me with ultimate clarity. It was one phrase: Compete from victory, not for victory. Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can stand against us?” The victory has already been won through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As athletes, our job isn’t to fight for victory. Our job is to compete from the victory that Christ has already secured.

But what about the trials? That’s when a David Guzik quote resonated deeply with me: “Our faith isn’t tested because God doesn’t know how much or what kind of faith we have. It is tested because we often are ignorant of how much or what kind of faith we have. God’s purpose in testing is to display the enduring quality of our faith.” Taking hockey from me in short seasons has been the most gracious thing He has ever done. He reminded me that winning is not my identity. He never needed to see how strong my faith was—I did. He used injury in sports to refine my heart, my identity, and my mission.

Hear me, this is not a call to lackadaisical effort or mediocrity. As Colossians 3:23–24 reminds us, whatever we do, we do it wholeheartedly as unto the Lord. But no amount of winning will ever provide the confidence that comes from knowing who you are in Christ. That’s what it means to be a Competitor for Christ. That’s where joy is restored. That’s where lives are changed. He gave me this platform so that I could finally see victory was never the goal—Jesus was. If you are an athlete, I want to encourage you to compete from victory, not for victory.