A while ago, our baseball team played an opponent we should have probably defeated, but we made some costly errors. The following day I was doing my devotion from “The Daily Light Journal” by Anne Graham Lotz. The title was “The Fruit of the Spirit Is…Joy.” That prompted me to think about the joys that had come through even in our team’s struggles: the salvation of a teammate, the development of many young players, the ability to lose and continue to practice hard. The list goes on and on.

The Monday after our Saturday game was not easy. We had lost again. We eventually lost all nine games that season—a tough year. If you had asked our players how the year went, they would have said they were disappointed that we didn’t win a game. But the Lord put something on my heart.