My wife coached with the Houston Comets when they were crowned the first WNBA champions. When most people see her championship ring, very few think about what it took to obtain it. The Comets won it all because that team consisted of true champions.

A champion is by definition an ardent defender or supporter of a cause or another person; one who fights; a mighty warrior. In the case of Goliath, it literally means the man between the two, denoting the position he held between the quarreling camps. From this vantage point, we’re given a very clear indication of what a true champion is: one who willingly steps up when it’s time to do battle.

Life rarely turns out as we thought it would. Sports aren’t any different. It may be fun to dream of the players we could be, but things do not always turn out as planned. Sometimes it’s hard to see, but looking back we realize it all worked for the best. I am glad for the things that are not as I had intended, because I would have missed a lot.

God does not often work in the ways we may think He would. He works beyond them. He does not fit in the box in which we are prone to put Him. In fact, He seems to do what does not make sense. The Savior of the world came as an infant, became a carpenter, rode on a donkey, served alongside fishermen, and died alongside criminals.

Endurance means putting one foot in front of the other no matter how things are going. At the London Marathon, a lot of the hard parts of that race were talking myself through the rough patches. The marathon is a good analogy for life in general. You’re going to go through those rough patches where you don’t feel good. You can either get down on yourself and cave in and start doing poorly, or you can tell yourself you’re doing great and you’re going to do your best no matter how you’re feeling or how slow you start. I really had to mentally coach myself through some rough patches in that race, and I think that’s the big part of endurance. Tough times are inevitable. They’re going to come.