God's Coaching Us into Who We're Becoming

Posted by: Leah Gartner, Director of Marketing and Events | Monday, June 29th, 2026 ( 9:06am)

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.—James 1:2-4

Have you ever had a good coach in your life? A coach that not only knows the sport inside and out, but who also understands there is a lot more to the game than what we see on the field.

I admit it, I am baseball Mom. My son is 15, and we are in the heart of travel baseball season. I never even liked the sport growing up, and now I watch it all the time and say phrases I never even knew existed. And yes, I am that Mom that cheers way too loud when my son has a great hit or strikes someone out with a nasty curve ball.

My son has been on many teams over the years, but he is very excited about his current one, especially the coaches. Because these guys know what they are doing. Coaching is their full-time job. They not only run this team of 15 year olds, but they also coach at the collegiate level. They see the bigger picture; not just understanding what it takes to help athletes with their goals but also helping them move on to the next level. They know that baseball is unique in that it's based on failure. A really good batting average in the big leagues is .300, meaning that a person gets a hit only three times for every 10 times they step up to the plate! To be one of the best you have to learn how to be mentally tough and figure out how to deal with failure. That's why good coaching makes all of the difference. They aren’t just looking at how you swing a bat, run to a base, or throw a ball, but how you deal with the disappointment that’s often a part of it.

Sometimes as parents we lose sight of the big picture and zero in on the details. We don’t understand why our kid is sitting on the bench or is lower in the batting order. We start to think, “What is the coach doing? Doesn’t he realize who my kid is?” But maybe that is exactly what the coach is really trying to figure out. How my son reacts in those moments can build character and emotional maturity. The coach is looking to see if, when my son sits on the bench, will he make it about himself and mope and complain? Or will he lift up his teammates, pick up balls hit over the fence, and be the best bench warmer there ever was? Will he want to give up when things don’t go his way, or will he hit the batting cages a little earlier and ask the coach how to improve? A good coach is looking for the player that has the mechanics and the mental fortitude to fall down and get back up again...not just for himself, but for the whole team.

As I have been watching my son play baseball this year, God has really used it to speak to me. There is no better coach than the one who made me. Talk about someone who can see the whole picture. God has set the path for me. It could be all rainbows and sunshine all the time, but would that really help me grow? We live in a fallen world and, like it or not, I am not perfect. Life is going to be full of failures and setbacks. I need to learn how to go to my “coach” to help me get back up again. To take trials and turn them into perseverance and maturity. God wants me to be “whole and complete and lacking nothing.” That means I am going to have to learn how to rely on His strength, understanding, and knowledge, and trust that God knows infinitely more than I do. After all, He made the playbook to begin with. He knows exactly how I need to learn and grow to become the person He created me to be. That’s a victory no matter how challenging the game might be.