Exit the Roller Coaster

Whoever said life is a roller coaster must have been a coach. It seems that on a daily basis, the coaching profession can send us rocketing toward glorious, adrenaline-boosted highs. But it can also throw us into a downward spiral with exasperating emotional lows.

One of our best opportunities to be witnesses to our players is to show them that, as Christians, our emotions aren’t bound to these ups and downs. If we appear to be exuberant when we are winning but seem nearly suicidal after a bad practice, we are not modeling the consistent joy of Christ. Our players need to see that our joy is not based on what they do or do not do, but that it is based entirely on what Christ did for us at Calvary. The reality of His death and resurrection is the source of our daily and eternal joy! That means we can honor God on good and bad days. As author Jerry Bridges wrote, “The purpose of joy is to glorify God by demonstrating to an unbelieving world that our loving and faithful heavenly Father cares for us and provides for us all that we need.”3

So let’s exit the emotional roller coaster. Let’s remember that Paul and Silas remained joyful throughout their imprisonment and sang praises to God in their jail cells because they knew in whom they had placed their faith! Surely, we too can remain joyful in Jesus throughout our seasons and give God the glory He deserves in our locker rooms!