Sport-Specific Contexts
There is one person in this boat who is not rowing.
Every other seat has an oar in the water. The coxswain has a microphone and a rudder and the responsibility for everything that happens in the boat that the rowers themselves cannot manage from inside their own strokes. They can see the race. They know where the boat is relative to the competition. They know when the rate needs to change, when the technique is breaking down, when the boat has more in it than the rowers know.
The coxswain is the most information-rich person in the race. And they don’t touch an oar.
Read this passage slowly.
On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.
1 Corinthians 12:22 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
The parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable. The coxswain, measured by the metric of physical output, contributes nothing to the propulsion of the boat. Measured by the metric of what the boat cannot do without them, they are indispensable. The race information, the technical corrections, the calls that unlock the boat’s additional speed in the final 500 meters, the emotional and strategic intelligence that the rowers cannot access from inside their own exertion — all of that belongs to the coxswain.
A good coxswain knows when to push and when to wait. They know which rower in the boat is the most responsive to a direct challenge in the hard middle of a race and which one needs encouragement rather than demand. They have studied the race plan and they know when the plan is holding and when the conditions are requiring an adjustment. They are the only person in the boat who can see the whole picture in real time.
The coxswain’s role is a model of leadership through knowledge rather than physical dominance. The authority comes from the information advantage and the trust the rowers have placed in the person who sees what they cannot see from where they are sitting. That trust has to be earned in practice before it is available in a race.
The coxswain’s authority comes from the information advantage and the trust rowers have placed in the person who sees what they cannot see from where they are sitting.
To the rowers: what do you need from the coxswain in the hard middle of a race that you can’t get for yourself? To the coxswain: what does the boat need from you that it hasn’t told you?
This question creates a direct exchange between the coxswain and the rowers. Let it happen. The relationship it builds is the performance relationship.
The indispensable parts are not always the most visible ones. Trust the coxswain. They can see the race.
This devotional works best with the full boat present, including the coxswain. The exchange between coxswain and rowers is the point.