God's Coaching #331

God's Coaching #331

When your parents ask you to sweep the kitchen—do it! They may be training you to become an Olympic curler. Unless you live in Canada or close to it, the sport of curling probably looks a little strange. It’s kind of like shuffleboard on ice. One player slides a smooth granite stone down a sheet of ice toward a big, flat bull’s-eye. Sweepers with special brooms wildly brush the ice in front of the stone to keep the stone moving smoothly and in the right path.

Some curlers from the Coaldale Curling Club in Alberta, Canada, wanted to bring attention to their sport in 2010, so they set a world record. Team Rough Cookie took on Technical Foul in the longest curling match in history: 57 straight hours. That’s almost two and half days and nights of nonstop curling! Each team had five teens, including one sub. Each player got a five-minute break every hour and a two-hour nap every eight hours—but the bed had to stay on the ice.

Once the curlers had broken the old record of 54 hours, the focus became more about winning. Rough Cookie beat Technical Foul 178–172. The teams raised $8,000 for renovations to their curling club and claimed the world record!

What’s the Score?

Think you could play any game for almost three straight days? You would definitely have to be passionate about the sport. Rough Cookie and Technical Foul showed a lot of endurance and patience—two traits God wants us to show in our spiritual lives.

Sometimes it takes awhile to hear God’s answers to our prayers. He wants us to learn through the process. Colossians 1:11 says, “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.” Sometimes we have to keep showing Christ’s love to people around us. Sometimes we can feel tired because people make fun of us for not going along with activities that don’t please God. But just like these Canadian curlers, we can set a strong example that gains respect. When we show endurance and patience, other people see our commitment and want to get involved—with God!

On the Ball

Ask your parents or friends to pray for you to have endurance and patience in your spiritual life.

Coach’s Comment

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. Colossians 1:11