Power Perfected in Weakness

"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

It has been an interesting year for the Scottsbluff High School Girls Tennis Team. For those of you who don't know, in addition to my full time responsibilities as an Area Representative for FCA in Western Nebraska, I also serve as an Assistant Tennis Coach at SHS for both the boys in the fall and the girls in the spring.

This year brought a new coach who taught tennis in a brand new way. The intensity level has been increased, the commitment level has been increased, and both the technical and tactical side of the game have been challenged. Along with all of this has come a lot of frustration from the girls as they have been challenged to play the game the right way which has not resulted in many wins because they have never played the game the right way before. It is almost like they are starting over. Part of what has slowed the process as well has been the flat our refusal from some girls on the team to admit they are wrong in the current state of their game and be willing to make changes.

This whole senerio has triggered an interesting parable for me throughout the season. We have been trained to never let anyone know that we are wrong. Everybody needs to be right and mainly for selfish reasons and motivations. There is a problem with this train of thought on a couple fronts. Number one, logically there is no possible way everyone could always be right because then no one would be wrong. Secondly, this flies right in the face of how God has instructed us to live. If it were not for the fact that we admited we were wrong when we first realized our need for God, non of us would be Christians. We would continue to live by the standard of righteousness that we have set for ourselves and never get any closer to God.

What is interesting now is that the girls on the team are finally starting to realize that it is ok to be wrong because it is an opportunity to get better and they are! They are starting to realize that they don't have it all figured out and that by admiting their weakness, they are actually becoming stronger tennis players. May it be so in our walk with Christ. May we not be so prideful to not admit where we fall short and humbily see it as an opportunity to grow stronger in a more intimate relationship with Christ.

Nate Lewis
Area Representative
Western Nebraska