At First Glance,

AT FIRST GLANCE, curling might not look like a sport, yet it made quite an impression at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Never heard of curling? That’s okay. It’s sort of like shuffleboard played on ice—except for the fact that curling’s a team sport and shuffleboard is an individual endeavor. The key pieces of equipment in curling are a large, heavy object and brooms. That’s right, brooms. One player skids the heavy object, called a stone, along the ice and lets it go toward the target. Then two athletes with brooms madly sweep in front of the stone . . . looking sort of like street cleaners stuck on fast-forward. But all this sweeping has a purpose: It speeds up, turns, and helps maneuver the stone toward its goal.

Enough history. At the 2002 Games, Canada was heavily favored to win the gold with skipper Kevin Martin at the helm. Martin earned his way to Salt Lake City by getting through the toughest qualification in the world. However, he entered the Games without ever winning a world-level event.

And that proved to be the case again. In the finals, Martin came up just short of Norway’s Pal Trulsen. Martin had a chance to lead his team to victory with the final stone, but he threw it too hard and it knocked the Norwegian stone into the scoring circle and skidded away. Trulsen and his Norwegian teammates won 6–5 in a huge upset.

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POINT Kevin Martin experienced great pressure in the curling finals. Pal Trulsen and his teammates weren’t stressed at all. With the weight of his country on his shoulders, Martin made a key mistake with his last stone. He let it go with too much speed and his teammates couldn’t slow it down.

A lot of times in life we want to slow down. The pressures mount up and we wonder how to cope. This time of year can be especially stressful with the holidays, concerts, family get-togethers, and school tests. But Jesus tells us not to be troubled.

GOAL! When you start feeling like you’re going to burst, turn to God. Ask for his calming presence to help you. By trusting in him, you can make it through the most stressful times you face.