My first year of coaching was with a football program at a small Christian school. I believe there were only 20-22 players on the team. We were lacking size and had average speed. With only so few players, most of the starters played "iron man" football. A few players played the whole game on defense, offense, kick off and kick return. Would you be willing to bet those players were both physically and mentally spent by half time, much less the end of the game?

This was our time. My college basketball team had been in the middle of a rough losing streak, but now we found ourselves in a close game with a rival team on their court. This was our time.

After a series of tough foul calls, we were still within reach--down by three with one minute to go. During the timeout, all my coach asked of me was to get open on the wing and skip it to my teammate coming off of a fade screen. No way could I mess this up for my team.

Jesus chose the disciples as His team—all twelve of them—and all twelve failed! When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested, the disciples ran away into hiding. They started out wanting to defend Jesus, but fear took over. Jesus predicted this would happen, yet still wanted these men on His team.

We all fail. As athletes we will blow an assignment, strike out, or miss a shot. When this happens will the coach still want us on the team? Truthfully, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But if we keep trying and do not give up, we are more likely to keep our spot on the team.