To learn something, a coach really helps. A teacher may lay out the facts and the principles, a trainer may spell out the procedures, but it all comes together as life change when a coach watches you and

helps you acquire a given skill. A coach observes you, analyzes what you do well or where you need to improve, and then helps you make adjustments. Without a coach you can go for years with a bad habit and never see how it handicaps you.

If Tiger Woods needs to employ a coach to fix the inevitable glitches that develop in his swing, how much more do we need a spiritual coach to help us find our way to the one who fashioned our souls out of the ether and breathed life into our bodies.

Coaches have in their minds’ eye a standard of excellence and use the tools of encouragement and challenge to help us conform to that standard. We all need spiritual coaches (also called disciplers) to help us draw near to our heavenly Father.

I don’t understand how people can bumble through life without one, pretending as though the details of their natural life are equivalent to the life they were created to live. It’s a shadow play, a charade. The real world is the spiritual one, and we need a coach to help us get there.