Nicole’s e-Pistle
October 8, 2025
Greetings, Friends!
Well, tomorrow marks the end of my son’s first ever season of playing soccer. While I will admit it was not quite as much fun as watching him play T-ball, when most of the kids were picking flowers and doing cartwheels in the outfield, our whole family enjoyed the nights we spent at the Whitfield County recreation fields. Bjorn, who earned a full-ride college scholarship for soccer, was a fantastic, unofficial sideline coach. (Not to worry, he wasn’t one of those parents.)
I was most impressed with the parents of all the teams as we watched the kids play. People were animated and excited to cheer for and encourage not just their own children, but kids on the opposing teams as well. Even in T-ball, I’ve never seen such good sports from the lines of parents and grandparents!…
However…
It was clear that our team was inexperienced at playing soccer. We had several kids who were skilled at running drills during the few practices we had at the beginning of the season, but none of them knew how to play as a team. (Keep in mind I know little about soccer except to know which direction the ball is supposed to go to get into the proper net.) Our modus operandi all season was for someone on the far end of the field to kick the ball toward the middle. If one of our own team members happened to get a hold of it, they would then kick it closer to soccer’s equivalent of an in-field. However, once a kid in any position kicked the ball, they immediately stopped running after it and waited for someone to return it to their spot of the field… which the opposing teams almost always did eventually. My poor husband must have called out 1,000 times, “PUSH UP!! MOVE FORWARD!!”
It occurs to me that in life, many of us are masters at self-improvement. We are self-reflective and are constantly looking for ways to make ourselves better people. However, when it comes to working alongside others toward a common goal, we often get in our own way at best or wait for others to meet us where we stand at worst. It seems to me that the world could do with a lot more teamwork, and of course we all need to listen more closely to our Coach!
Many people love to quote Jeremiah 29:11 – For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. This is not prosperity gospel stuff (God wants you to get rich quick – or – If you live right for God, God will reward you with worldly possessions). Jeremiah writes this message to those who are still living in exile in Babylon. He tells them to make houses for themselves, get married, have babies, watch your children grow. Then he warns people not to listen to false prophets or to be deceived by their own dreams, for he will bring them back out of exile. [Enter Jeremiah 29:11.] Old Testament scholar Kathleen O’Connor writes about these passages, saying, “It breaks open possibility, implies that life is open-ended, able to be penetrated by a reality beyond the obvious, beyond the despair of the present… Such calm endurance shows the people of Judah how to survive captivity until the time of their rescue. The ideal survivor, Jeremiah accepts, digs in, and lives day to day.”
We can have no better coach in life than our Creator. God sees the whole field of life and knows every play. No matter how hopeless the game may seem, we can rest assure that our God’s got this! Thanks be to God!
Blessings and Peace!
