Voting on Your Future Craig GROESHEL
In high school I played several sports , but my best was tennis . I drew the interest of a college team , who sent a recruiter to see me play in the state championship tournament . He sat in the stands watching me compete in the semifinal match against a top-ranked , undefeated opponent . I played the match of my life and beat him 6 – 3 , 6 – 2 . ( I say “ beat ,” but the more accurate way to describe it is “ wiped the court with his undefeated butt .” Yes , I ’ m bragging . But remember , pride comes before a fall .)
The scout came over and signed me on the spot .
He left , and I went on to play in the finals against a guy I had defeated two weeks earlier , but he beat me . ( I say “ beat ,” but the more accurate way to describe it is “ waxed the court with my overconfident butt .”) It ’ s safe to say that if the recruiter had watched my last match , I would never have gotten the chance to play for this top-ranked NAIA school . I was about to learn I was significantly outclassed .
Soon I was off to college with my tennis scholarship . On my first day there I played a practice match against one of my teammates — and lost 6 – 0 , 6 – 0 . ( Waxed again .) I didn ’ t win a game . Not a single one . It ’ s impossible to adequately describe how embarrassed and humiliated I felt . It was painfully obvious to everyone that I had no business playing for a team of this caliber .
I wasn ’ t a Christian yet , and I was not very Christian-y . I screamed . I cussed . I slammed my racket . Then I slammed my backup racket and stormed off the court in shame .
One of the guys on our team knew my high school coach and called to let him know what happened .
Two hours later I was sitting in my dorm room , still steaming , employing my full arsenal of profanity , committed to quitting the team . I wasn ’ t anywhere close to good enough , and I couldn ’ t face the shame of being outclassed . That ’ s when there was a knock on my dorm
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