Coaches face pressure on a daily basis. Whether it’s your won-lost record, player’s academics, boosters, parents—the expectations placed on coaches are never-ending.

What a comforting truth Matthew brings us! Jesus was declaring His willingness to stand in the gap for us. He liberates us to focus on Him, producing a pressure-free response to His Spirit and truth.

Basketball coaches love it when their players have court awareness. Unlike dribbling, passing or shooting where athletes rely strictly on athletic talent during the course of a game, court awareness is a talent that involves competing with mental alertness, seeing all the obstacles in advance and reacting while moving at full speed. The great players have that special ability.

Many times over the years our team has competed against opponents with more physical talent. The games all start the same way. The opponents strut onto the court with a sense of confidence and a swagger in their own abilities. Their body language indicates they’re confident of dominating the contest.

Timeout was called. There were only five seconds on the clock before halftime — enough time to run a good out-of-bounds play to score. Everyone paid attention in the huddle and knew the play. The ball was ready to go in. The play began, but Matt had a different plan. He received the ball and went to the basket, just missing the shot. He was so excited when he got into the locker room until a teammate informed him that he had shot at the wrong basket. Matt did what every good player would do in this situation: he hid as long as he could from the coach, which happened to be me!

The neighborhood gang gathered to play ball at the park and a new guy showed up. Everyone brought their usual stuff: Tom brought the favorite bat, Jimmy his bases, Alex had a cooler of water and cups, Derek had extra gloves. Joe, the new guy, had nothing. Tom asked him, “You wanna play?”

Joe replied, “Sure.”

Tom then asked, “What do you got to play with?” Joe walked away dejected.

In Romans 12, Paul pleaded with the people to offer themselves to the Lord. Too many times we think we need to give God something. Paul urged the Roman people, in view of all God had done for them, to simply present their bodies back to the Lord for His glory and honor.

As an athlete, I constantly struggle with my thoughts. I have thoughts of doubt, confusion, and pride—just to name a few. I wrestle with doubting my athletic ability and potential, my place on the team, and my acceptance from teammates. It is usually my mind that is the greatest challenge, not my physical ability. My mind runs wild with speculation.

My college lacrosse coach would post his daily practice plan before practice began. Based on where he would put my name on the practice plan, I would think better or worse of my ability. My thoughts would consume me as to why my coach had listed me in the order that he did—thinking that he had either moved me up or down in the rotation. I later found out that he had no real reason for moving the names around.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme didn't rush into the locker rooms after losing Super Bowl XXXVIII by three points to the New England Patriots. Quite the contrary. He stood on the sidelines and forced himself to watch the Patriots in jubilee. Delhomme commented afterwards, "I guess I just wanted it to hurt as much as possible. I wanted to watch the celebration so that it could hurt. So I could remember it for motivation."