Baltimore Orioles’ second baseman and leadoff hitter Brian Roberts knows what it means to trust the Lord amidst injury and trials. The 12-year Major League Baseball veteran has spent the last year battling through a myriad of injuries making him dig deep with his faith and trust the Lord with the results.

When asked what God has taught him through his experience battling injury, he explained how it has produced spiritual growth and ultimate trust in the Lord, “If we never went through trials we would never grow. If I just hit .300 every year and everything went smooth, I wouldn’t ever grow in my faith. I would never have to rely on Him or trust in Him for everything.”

Coaches often travel the country recruiting future players, selling their programs, and hoping that future stars will pick their particular school. Blue-chip recruits are in high demand, and every coach is inwardly crying, “Pick me! Pick me!” This is a great analogy for choosing godly wisdom, as illustrated in Proverbs.

In chapter 8, wisdom calls out to us and pleads her case about why we should pick her. Choosing wisdom is invaluable. It is better than the best thing we could ever want. Why? As the writer says at the end of the chapter, whoever finds wisdom finds happiness and life, and obtains favor from the Lord.

Many endurance athletes measure their level of effort during workouts or competitions by monitoring their percent of maximum heart rate. They identify their "max HR" by using a specific testing method either in the lab or real-life settings such as a track. Then, based on that number, they can review future performances in the context of that maximum effort data. While specific interpretation of the data varies based on a coach, the sport and the athlete, it can be quite beneficial in determining the actual effort put forth in a specific setting.

If you haven’t caught Lin-Sanity yet, you should probably turn on ESPN. Well, turn on any channel for that matter. It’s been featured on more than just the sports stations, even infiltrating the national news based on his incredibly fast rise to sports fame.

His name is Jeremy Lin, and he is now the starting point guard for the New York Knicks. Since he took over the starting position, the Knicks have been on fire, and Lin himself has gone crazy on the scoring end amassing a total of 146 points in just six games. His popularity has skyrocketed so high that you can’t even access the Knicks’ homepage without first going through a big banner of Lin-Sanity.

All this from a second-year kid from Harvard? Yep!

After playing in and coaching thousands of games, I have found that I struggle with one main issue: Whose team is God on—my team or the other team? How can God pick sides? If He does pick sides, how does He decide which side to be on? If there are Christians on both teams, then how can God be on both teams? These questions challenge us as athletes and coaches.

“You have no wall.” The cardboard sign tacked to the telephone pole couldn’t have appeared at a better time. As I pushed my legs up the hill of mile 10 in the local half marathon, I knew this would be the toughest part of the race. During training, mile 10 had always been the hardest both mentally and physically—and now it was uphill.

“You have no wall.” It was like God’s voice resonating in my mind as I pushed my legs a little harder, trying to crest the incline as fast as I could. And just then it hit me—I had no wall. I had trained hard enough to make it through mile 10 and finish the race well.