SEPTEMBER 20, 2026

 “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

ECCLESIASTES 10-12

4If a ruler’s anger rises against you,

do not leave your post;

calmness can lay great offenses to rest. (10:4)

2 CORINTHIANS 11:16-33

 I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

JOURNAL 

Thursday night reminded me why I love athletics and why sports can teach us so much about life. Our eighth graders had not won a football game in two years. Then they found themselves down fourteen points. It would have been easy for them to believe that this was simply another loss, another night when things were not going their way. But they didn't quit. They stayed at their post. They kept playing, kept believing, kept fighting for the guy beside them, and somehow found a way to come back and win.

The joy of that moment was intoxicating. Watching those kids celebrate was about so much more than a scoreboard. I was watching young men experience what happens when they persist through something difficult and discover that the outcome has not yet been decided. They had every reason to become discouraged, but they kept swinging the hammer. For one night, they got to experience the victory that perseverance sometimes produces.

And maybe that is why the moment meant so much. If winning were guaranteed, there would have been no joy like that. The two years without a win, being down fourteen, the mistakes, frustration, practices, disappointment, and moments when quitting would have been easier were the very things that gave the victory its meaning. The struggle wasn't something that got in the way of the story. The struggle was what made the story worth telling.

That is what I continue to learn about life. I spend too much time wanting difficulty removed when difficulty is often where effort, grit, discipline, brotherhood, faith, and love become real. Athletics puts that truth right in front of us. You cannot hide from the scoreboard, the mistake, the missed tackle, or the disappointment. You have to respond.

Thursday reminded me that maybe the goal is not to avoid being down fourteen. The goal is to become the kind of person who keeps playing when you are. We will not always get the comeback or the celebration, and that cannot be why we persevere. We persist because giving everything we have to the moment in front of us is how we are called to live.

But every once in a while, God gives us a Thursday night when the comeback happens, the kids experience victory, and for a few beautiful minutes we get to see why we kept swinging the hammer.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2