Tennis: New to the Game (Part 1)

Published: July 10, 2023, 1 p.m.

b'The tennis team needed help. A lot of help. They desperately needed more players, and that\\u2019s why they asked me to join. I had never even held a tennis racquet before my first practice! Some of the rules of the game came pretty easy. Possessing what I would call an average amount of hand-eye coordination, I was able to pick up the general game play. I understood \\u201chit the ball over the net\\u201d and \\u201ckeep the ball within the lines.\\u201d\\n\\n\\n\\nBut some things about tennis just didn\\u2019t make sense to me. The first day of practice my friend yelled from across the net, \\u201cLove, love!\\u201d Before I could say, \\u201cLove you too, bro,\\u201d he smacked the ball and it screamed past me! What just happened? He explained that \\u201clove\\u201d means zero, so \\u201clove, love\\u201d (zero, zero) was the score. That\\u2019s weird, I thought to myself as I nodded.\\n\\n\\n\\nHe yelled, \\u201cFifteen, love,\\u201d and fired another shot! Pretty confused, I asked how he had fifteen points already. Walking up to the net he said, \\u201cOne point equals fifteen, two points equals thirty, three points equals forty, and four points equals game!\\u201d He continued, \\u201cSix games win a set, and two or three sets wins a match. Got it?\\u201d Still confused, I stuttered, \\u201cI think so?\\u201d As he rambled on with some other terms and concepts about the game I didn\\u2019t understand, my attention shifted to staring at my uneven shoelaces. This was going to be a little harder than I realized.\\n\\n\\n\\nLearning to play tennis reminds me of starting our journey with Jesus. Believing in the gospel and putting our trust in Jesus is filled with excitement and newfound hope! But sometimes discouragement can creep in when we encounter terms we don\\u2019t understand or new biblical truths that seem difficult to live out. But Jesus said in John 16:13, \\u201cWhen the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.\\u201d Even better than a friend explaining the game of tennis, we have the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, guiding us and helping us understand God\\u2019s love and how to live in relationship with God and others (Ephesians 3:18-19). And God has also given us His people, the church, to walk alongside us. We are not alone on this journey. \\u2022 Dathan Tenter\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 As we seek to understand the gospel and how it affects every part of our lives, God welcomes our questions. What questions do you have about the Bible, church, or following Jesus?\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 No matter how long we\\u2019ve been walking with Jesus, we will always have questions. And that\\u2019s a good thing! We can bring these questions to God in prayer anytime. In addition to talking to God, who is someone in your life who can help you with these questions?\\n\\n\\n\\nWe ask God\\u2026to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Colossians 1:9 (NLT)\\xa0\\n\\n\\n\\nREAD: JOHN 16:5-15; COLOSSIANS 1:3-14'