The Game of Faith

15-0. POW! She smacks the tennis ball at me and I fail to return it over the net. 5 seconds later: 40- 0. POW! She aces the ball at me and wins the first point.  That one game only lasted about 30 seconds, but we still had plenty more rounds to go.

She is winning 5-3 and I am serving.  I had never been so nervous in my life, but I was willing to take some chances.  POW POW POW POW! I win the point in about 20 seconds, leaving her wide mouthed and angry.  Her next point she decides that every shot I hit is out.  It makes me so angry I can't even play right.  After 5 times of her calling shots that were obviously in, out, I snapped. "NO, THAT SHOT WAS IN. SO YOU CAN GET OVER IT.  BE A PERSON AND STOP CHEATING."  I didn't mean for those words to come out, but they did. After that I was on a rampage.

I was franctically trying to get the ball in and hit it right.  My coach had already told me to calm down and play my game. (Luckily she had not seen my outburst and neither had anyone else.) In my head I found myself talking to God.  Dear God, please let me win this match.  she is already beating me 5-4 and I don't want to have to work even harder to win the 2nd set.  If I win, I promise I'll read my Bible more and be nicer to my siblings.

After the prayer I had just made while getting a sip of water, I felt terrible.  Who was I to try to compromise with the One who 1) gave me my tennis abilities 2) created me and 3) could take anything I ever had away from me?  Prayer isn't a time to compromise with God.  In fact, it isn't a request for the things you want either. 
Psalm 50:15  states:
"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Was I really in trouble because I was losing a tennis match? Or was I just being selfish and taking advantage of what I knew God could do?  I most certainly wasn't being humble. If anything I was being arrogant towards the One who had saved me from so much already.  Temptations, dating, healing of broken friendships, you name it.  He was there.

As I was trying to let this sink in I was still playing in the match.  This girl was mad after I had told her off about making bad calls.  So, once I hit her the ball and she returned to hit me in the chest with a ball going at least 110 mph.  I thought I was going to cry.  "Ohh I'm sorry, you okay?" she said in a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, I'm.... fine."  But I wasn't fine.  I had never felt so angry in all my life.  She was embarassing me and now she was not only hurting me mentally, but physically as well.  Too bad the set was over- her winning 6-4.  However, we still had a whole other set to go, and I knew more than ever that I was ready.  My first serve I felt fresh.  I was calculating the best place to hit the ball to her.  "Love all, first serve," I stated.  Then, a force took over me and I smacked the ball harder than I ever had before, and it planted right into her nose.  She screamed and started yelping as she went to find a towel for her nose bleed. "Oh, I'm sorry, did that HURT?!"

It had felt so great to finally say those words, but seeing that hurt on her face made me realize how I had felt the whole match, and how I had let it all turn to bitterness.  I hated that feeling.  Then I looked to the sky and in my mind told God that I was sorry I just did that, and that I was being such an idiot.  I wanted him to know that His will be done in the match, and it wasn't my decision anymore.   I was playing for Him now.  Not my team, not for the coach, and most certainly not for me.  Now, I'm not going to say I didn't get frustrated after some points, because I did.  But I tried to let God handle the situations and find rest in that He was right there with me.  2 hours later I had beaten her 7-5 in the second set and defeated her 10-7 in the tiebraker.  Total game time: 3 hours. Longest match of my life, but I had gotten through it because of the glory and power of God. 

I think it's amazing how God takes bad situations and turns them into important life lessons.  It's also incredible how much faith can do for you.  There's a song by Kutless called What Faith Can Do, and in one part it says "You gotta face the clouds to find that silver lining."  Basically, this means you have to go through alot before you realize what you really need in life.  God wants to supply you with everything necessary to live this life on earth.  Sometimes we just get caught in the moment and forget who exactly we are fighting for.  But I have a goal for the next time I see that girl.  I am going to play her without showing obvious frustrations, and I will compliment her at the end of the match.  This is the only way I can think of apologizing to her.  From now on, I'm not just living for Christ, I'm playing for him too.

"We faintly hear, we dimly see,
In differing phrase we pray;
But dim or clear, we own in Him
The life, the truth, the way."
~John Greenleaf Whittier