Jane Vaquez is on the volleyball team at school. She’s ignored by her coach every game – never getting to play, not even being used as a sub. And she’s been on club teams since she was 10! Jane knows she’s a good player. So she sits on the bench and gets more and more frustrated. She watches her teammates play and yells out corrections, calls names, makes sure everyone around her knows that she should not be on the bench. In fact, if the coach just got his act together, she wouldn’t be on the bench, and maybe the team would actually win a game once in a while! Jane goes home after each match angry, planning what she’ll say next game, fuming that she is overlooked and underappreciated. Her mood carries over into her other relationships, and hardly anyone wants to be around her. Jane notices people avoiding her at lunch, rushing to their cars after class. Volleyball is ruining her life! And it’s all her coach’s fault.
Sally Lu is also on the volleyball team at school. She’s also overlooked by her coach, benched every game. She is also tempted to give into feelings of frustration. It’s tough sitting the bench game after game, when she works so hard in practice to be given a shot on the court. But when those thoughts come, she recognizes them for what they are – tools the Enemy uses to get her focus off Jesus. She knows that giving into those feelings of anger and frustration would just make her more unhappy. So she refuses to give those thoughts any real estate in her mind. Instead, she asks God what He wants from her – and she tries to encourage her teammates, to cheer for those on the court, to support her coach. Sally goes home after each match surrounded by friends. Those friends seek her out on weekends, invite her over for movie nights. Best of all, those friends ask her for prayer when they’re struggling because they know that there’s something different about Sally – they see her attitude and want to know how she can remain so positive, even in the face of negative circumstances. Volleyball is giving Sally so many amazing opportunities! And it’s all because of Jesus.
