Tony Dungy is known for a number of things, but losing isn’t really one of them. In fact, even in Tampa, he had only one losing season and a .500 season. But most people probably don’t realize that before the Bucs had their big turnaround (of course now they’ve done another ‘about face’ at 1-8), Dungy was winless for a while, and if memory serves me correctly, he was also 1-8.

So he knows what it is like to experience losing. The experience of losing qualifies him to be an affective mentor to other losers. In fact it has even led winless New Mexico head football coach Mike Locksley to seek Dungy out as a mentor. Allegedly there was some physical alteration with another assistant coach. New Mexico has had some violence issues, as you may remember, with New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert’s “rough play.”

Losing (game, jobs, family) stinks, but one thing it does is qualify us to minister to others who can’t say, “You don’t know what I’m going through.” Losing qualifies us to minister to other losers. And even when we can’t empathize perfectly, we can point them to a high priest who can (Hebrews 4:15).