In the game of baseball, pitcher Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees is the King of the Hill. He is the sport’s all-time greatest closer with over 600 saves. When Mariano comes out of the bullpen, the game is over. Mariano is a picture of power from the pitcher’s mound.

Having the power to perform well in sports is one thing. Having power for life is something else entirely. In life we have three opponents – the lie of the devil, the lure of our flesh, and the love of the world. (1 John 2:15-17)

When I commit to the TeamFCA Competitor's Creed, I realize that "I am made to strive, to strain, to stretch and to succeed in the arena of competition." That is a bold and intentional statement. But I think all competitors truly understand what it takes to strive, to strain, to stretch and to succeed. We must stay hungry to grow and to learn in our sports. That hunger to know the game allows us to compete at new levels. In order to be a hungry competitor we must look at the physical, the mental and the spiritual. A well-balanced athlete or coach knows that it is critical to balance all three areas.

Aside from my father, the most influential man in my life has been my coach. He was always very clear about the fact that, regardless of the issues that accompany academics, athletics, and disciplinary measures, he cared about me and valued me as a person. One of his many memorable sayings was, “When you fistfight or curse, you have run out of ideas.” Later I had the unparalleled honor of teaching with him for a short while, and he went on to found the FCA chapter for which I have now been Huddle Coach for twenty-one years. At the time of the Huddle’s birth, Jesus had just changed my life, and that’s when the coach asked me to co-sponsor. One year later he took another job, leaving the Huddle to me.

Chris is an awesome long snapper. He never misses a snap. Punt, kick, he's always on the mark. This fall, he started to come down with a condition that made him extremely dizzy and faint. It was an inner ear disorder that causes vertigo. Vertigo is a sensation of dizziness that makes you feel like you are being whirled around in your environment. And it is definitely not a good condition for a long snapper in football.

Often it seems like life itself is a race—a rat race that sucks away time while I grasp at minutes in desperation. I’m an endurance athlete; I train for hours to shave seconds off my race time. I’m a busy American. Another paycheck will come, but each moment, once past, is gone forever. Time is my best friend and my fiercest enemy; it is my greatest challenge. At least it was until my husband re-worded his financial motto from “It ain’t our money,” to “It ain’t our time.”

During times of trial, a standing joke with my family and myself has been, “Please don’t mention Moses. It seems as if this man had an incredibly long and tiring road with ungrateful people and fair-weather fans (sound familiar?). As if this was not enough, Moses and his clan finally reached the edge of the Promised Land and wandered for forty years, not being allowed to enter. Is this the most encouraging devotional you have ever read?