Last month, I wrote about the importance of discerning our divinely ordained vision both individually and organizationally. This month, I want to illustrate the process of discerning individual vision and the important role of fathers to help us find and fulfill our divinely ordained vision. To do this, I will share a story.
From a young age, Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger (born August 23, 1948) had dreamed of playing football at Notre Dame. His family were avid Notre Dame football fans and only permitted Notre Dame games to be viewed on their home television. Not surprisingly, for Rudy the epitome of success was to play football at Notre Dame.
Vision for our lives is often developed in and through our families of origin. Many people have followed family career paths, particularly if there was a strong bond with a family member. For Rudy, this bond was with his father, whom he loved and admired.
Rudy’s family was middle class. His father was a supervisor at a steel mill and Rudy’s brothers also worked at the steel mill. After Rudy completed high school, he joined his father and brothers at the mill but his vision for playing football at Notre Dame never diminished.
Often there are obstacles to overcome in finding and fulfilling one’s vision. This was certainly the case for Rudy.
During his final year at a Catholic high school, a teacher discouraged Rudy from applying to Notre Dame. The teacher did not believe that Rudy had the requisite intellectual acumen. Rudy believed the teacher until he witnessed the death of his best friend, who also worked at the mill. At the funeral, the stark reality of death and the brevity of life became glaringly clear to Rudy. He realized that if he didn’t pursue his vision soon, he would never pursue it.
Determined to play football at Notre Dame, Rudy quit his job, packed his clothes, and left to board an evening bus to Notre Dame, Indiana. While waiting at the station, his father came to see him and shared a story about his own father's unsuccessful efforts to "chase the dream.” This failure led Rudy's grandfather to abandon the family. Consequently, Rudy's father and uncle were raised by separate foster families—essentially as orphans. At the station that evening, Rudy’s father spoke out of the pain of his own experience. He was unable to support his son’s vision—a vision that he had helped inspire.
This was a difficult moment for Rudy. The man that he admired most, who had helped shape his vision, now opposed it. Perhaps deep down Rudy knew that his father was speaking out of hurt and pain. Nevertheless, Rudy knew that he had to go to Notre Dame; he had to try. Without even applying to the school, Rudy left that evening to pursue his vision.
He arrived at Notre Dame before sunrise the next morning. Campus administrative offices were closed so a security officer directed Rudy to see a priest. The priest erroneously assumed Rudy wanted to become a priest. After Rudy explained that he had wanted to play football at Notre Dame since childhood but did not have the transcript to be admitted, the priest kindly offered an option. Rudy could attend a local junior college to work on his academic qualifications and, if he did well, Notre Dame might accept him. The priest could get him admitted to the local junior college for one semester, but in order to stay and have any hope of being admitted to Notre Dame, Rudy would have to demonstrate his commitment to learning.
While at the junior college, he visited the Notre Dame Football Stadium, probably to daydream about the glory of playing football there. He met the groundskeeper—a former Notre Dame football player who had given up on his dream. Because of this, the groundskeeper had a negative attitude toward the world. Nevertheless, like the priest, the groundskeeper was moved to help Rudy. He offered him a job, which Rudy needed while he attended junior college. All his money had been used to pay for tuition and books. Rudy also needed a place to live. In the maintenance area of the stadium, there was a workroom with a cot. Surreptitiously, Rudy unlocked an outside window to get back into the workroom. When he snuck in through the window that night, he found blankets and a key to the room on the cot. Clearly, the groundskeeper had left these items for Rudy but would never admit it.
After several semesters of study at the local junior college, Rudy was admitted to Notre Dame. The next step was to win a spot on the football team, which would not be easy. The competition was intense and the coaches were demanding. Through hard work and dedication, Rudy convinced one of the coaches that he would be an asset to the team and secured a position.
Now with an athletic scholarship, Rudy no longer had to work for the groundskeeper, but he stayed in contact with him. This proved to be very important because it was the groundkeeper who would share his own story with Rudy when he wanted to give up on his vision.
Rudy’s story is not only a simple story about the vision to play football; it is also a story about finding and fulfilling part of the purpose of God for his life. The story provides insight into the journey. The story involves four fathers—a natural father and three spiritual fathers—the priest, the groundskeeper, and the coach who believed in him. These fathers helped guide Rudy and made a tremendous difference for him as he pursued his vision.
The influence of multiple fathers is important because no single father has the capability to see everything clearly, and fathers have their own issues that can block their vision. For example, Rudy’s natural father helped inspire his vision but could not support the vision because of his wounds from his own father’s mistakes. Hence, spiritual fathers were critical in supporting Rudy when his natural father could not.
The first spiritual father, the priest, helped Rudy gain entrance to Notre Dame. The second spiritual father, the groundskeeper, provided employment and a place for Rudy to live until he was admitted. But more importantly, the groundskeeper helped Rudy overcome his discouragement and stay the course when he wanted to give up. And the third spiritual father, the coach, believed that Rudy’s energy and drive would be an asset to the team. Of all the Notre Dame coaches, only this one coach gave Rudy the chance to play.
For Rudy to develop his vision took a natural father. For Rudy to fulfill his vision took his natural father and three other father figures—all of whom served as commissioning agents.
What an inspiring picture of how God uses fathers to help us find and fulfill our life purpose. Certainly, Rudy’s vision to play football at Notre Dame was not a comprehensive vision for his life. Rather, it was a snapshot of part of Rudy’s life vision and how his vision was developed and fulfilled.
Finding and fulfilling one’s life purpose is not easy and therefore no one can accomplish it well unilaterally. We all need fathers and mothers in our lives to help us. We need guidance, correction, and encouragement. This is what natural and spiritual parents do for us.
Rudy’s fathers showed compassion but demanded performance. They challenged him but encouraged him. They believed in him and set a context for him to succeed. With the help of his fathers and Rudy’s commitment, he stepped up to fulfill the vision for at least this part of his life. Hopefully, he learned the power of being submitted to natural and spiritual authority. If so, the lessons that he learned from this experience would serve him for the rest of his life and help him find and fulfill all of God’s purpose for his life.
May we learn these lessons well and may we be encouraged to find and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives by living in submitted relationships to the fathers whom God has assigned to each one of us.
(This article was inspired by the movie Rudy produced by TriStar Pictures.)
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