The time-out. What a great tool! When you realize that your athletes are becoming unnerved, out of breath and in need of a break, a time-out is a great way to stop, reenergize, refocus, reward and reassure them. Something as simple as a water break time-out to reenergize your team is all it takes to get them going again. In the same way, our “thirst” for God requires that we take time-outs in our lives in order to be reenergized by our Coach, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we call a time-out to refocus because the other team threw something at us that we weren’t expecting. It’s like that in life too. Things happen that are out of our control. We’re upset by the events of the moment and lose our focus. The way to get our focus back is to keep our eyes on Christ.

Other times we call a time-out to just rest in the moment and reward our team for a job well done. God desires to do that for us. One day, we may hear those awesome words from the Master Coach: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Sometimes we are in a hopeless situation and need to call a time-out to reassure our team. If our athletes realize that they have meaning and purpose in life, they will run through “brick walls” for us, because they know that we care about them. God seeks to reassure us in the same way. We are truly free to run through any of the brick walls in our lives, because of the power of His Love for us—“that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!”

God is our Coach. We need time-outs so that we can listen to what He has to say. If we’re obedient to His calling, He can set a pace for us so that we don’t get run-down or lose focus or faith. We can rest in Him and know that He is God.