Trust the Process

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan. I grew up with posters of Bernie Kosar, Kevin Mack, and Ketucky’s own Frank Minnifield on the wall of my bedroom. We had playoff parties every year growing up, because the Browns were actually good back then. I still have memorabilia from the 80s that we got at places like McDonald’s and Kroger. It wasn’t until I got older that I learned the rich history of the Browns.

In 1945, Arthur McBride approached Paul Brown to be the coach of a new football team in Cleveland that would be a part of the All-America Football Conference that was starting the next year. Brown was a former Ohio State football coach who led them to their first-ever national title. He was also a state-champion head coach at Massillon High School in Massillon, Ohio, and the current head coach of the Great Lakes Bluejackets, the college team from Great Lakes Naval Base outside of Chicago. At every level, Brown was a winner. That’s why the team was, quite literally, named after him as the Cleveland Browns.

Over the first ten years of the team’s existence, the Browns did something that has never been matched since. They played in their league’s championship game every year. For the four years of the AAFC, the Browns were the champions, winning the title every year. In 1950, the Browns moved to the NFL, where they would win the NFL championship in their first year in the league. Over the next 12 years, they would win three more championships, cementing their place in football lore. At the center of it all was their leader, Paul Brown.

He was heavily respected by other coaches and players, but he had some unique things that separated him from the rest. He was the first coach to run an offense that today is called the West Coast Offense, where passing plays would sometimes outnumber running plays. This was unheard of at the time. At the time, quarterbacks called the plays on the field. Brown didn’t feel this was the best way to run a game, so he would send out substitutions every play to send in the next offensive play to the quarterback. When analyzing a player’s ability in the league, he had them timed in a 40-yard dash, claiming that very few players would ever have to run further than 40 yards on most plays. In his first year in the AAFC, he signed two black players, Bill Willis and Marion Motley, to play on the Browns. This was one year before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His most unique strategy, however, came in the form of technology.

In 1956, Ohio inventors John Campbell and George Sarles came to Brown with the idea of putting a radio receiver in the quarterback’s helmet to relay plays onto the field. This would speed up gameplay and reduce the need for so many substitutions throughout the game. Brown agreed to give it a try and Cleveland became the first team in professional sports history to use technology on the field. This technology, however, did get banned by the league only a few months later.

Brown’s unusual coaching methods were always considered odd by many, but his results were always the same….wins. Because of this, players would follow him to the ends of the earth. They had faith that their leader would lead them to victory, regardless of his unconventional methods.

This reminds me of the story of Gideon. Here we have a military leader who had built an impressive army for the Lord to take on the armies of Midion. I’m sure the whole of Israel felt they would be victorious in battle, celebrating how great their army was and declaring the might of the people. This wasn’t how God wanted things to go, however.

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
Judges 7:2–3

God has just cut the army of Israel by more than half. I’m sure Gideon was thinking, “This could be putting us at a disadvantage, but 10,000 men is still a good army. We can take Midian.” God wasn’t done here, though.

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”
Judges 7:4–5

At this point, Gideon had to be wondering, “Wouldn’t you want the strongest soldiers on the field, God? Why is their method of drinking water so important?” Either way, I’m sure Gideon assumed there would be several thousand that would still be available to him for battle. He was mistaken.

And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”
Judges 7:6–7

At this point, Gideon had to be getting nervous. He just went from 32,000 men to 300. How in the world are they going to find victory on the battlefield with so few men? They were surely going to be overtaken, right? Actually, Gideon had faith that God would do what he said. He never questioned God. He never clapped back. His trust that the Lord would deliver Midian into his hands was stronger than his doubt, and he led the most unusual attack in military history.

And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ”
 Judges 7:16–18

What were these three hundred men now thinking? “How are we going to win a battle by blowing trumpets and yelling?” While I’m the one doubting this will work, the soldiers obeyed their commander and didn’t flinch. They had faith that the Lord would take them to victory, regardless of the unconventional way they would do battle.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.
Judges 7:19–21

The battle belonged to the Lord. The victory was his before the first of Gideon’s trumpets blew their initial note. The soldiers had faith in Gideon. Gideon had faith in his God. No matter how unusual or unconventional God’s ways may seem to us, His ways are always best.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:25

It’s not always important to ask why. Sometimes, we just need to have faith, even when life doesn’t make sense. Just as Gideon had to lose more than 90 percent of his army to gain a military victory, we may face loss or trials in our lives in order to see victory as well. While we can’t see what the future holds, God holds that future in his hands. We just need to trust God and trust the process.