Babe Ruth statue at Cooperstown, NY (Photo Courtesy: Dan Gaken/Flickr)
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” — James 1:2-3
Joy in the Process
Babe Ruth, one of the best hitters of all time, had a lifetime batting average of .342. This means the Great Bambino failed almost seven out of 10 times at the plate. Being one of the best baseball players of all time came with a large share of failure and adversity.
Although unique to each individual, we all know that life throws us a curveball every now and again. Some of these trials fade quickly, while others seem to linger on forever. As Christians, we must ask ourselves what God has to say about this adversity.
We must first understand that trials are inevitable. No one said it would be easy! In 1 Peter 4:12 we read, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” James then tells us, “Count it all joy” (James 1:20.
You may say to yourself, “How can I count this trial as joy?” “You must not know my situation, it’s not joyful at all!”
Strikeouts don’t bring joy, but knowing that the strikeout is temporary brings hope. That hope leads to an unwavering faith that your next at-bat or opportunity is on the horizon. Steadfastness begins when you enter that batter’s box again with an assurance that the game is much larger than us. The joy we feel may not be from the trial, but rather in the process of leaning on God’s promises and developing a deeper union with Him along the way.
Be encouraged by baseball’s example of success despite multiple failures and trials. Whatever you may be going through today, don’t forget that you have a savior in Jesus Christ who will never leave you!
— Ryan Noelte
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Ilia Malinin. He’s known to the world as the Quad God: the first male figure skater in history to master and land all six types of quadruple jumps, the first to ever land the elite quadruple axel jump in competition (4.5 revolutions in the air), and the first to ever land seven quad jumps in a single program. He holds many scoring world records and has elevated his sport to heights never seen. Many are already saying that, by the end of his career, he will go down as likely the greatest male figure skater of all time.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics were supposed to be his crowning moment. Nobody had been able to beat him in more than two years. While he did walk away with a gold medal in the team competition, the individual event shockingly didn’t turn out that way. Literally moments away from hearing his national anthem, he had a disastrous skate in the men’s long program and finished in eighth place.
The world was surprised at how well Malinin handled the moments that followed, yet his relationship with failure was born long before the Olympics happened. He says there have been two guiding principles by which he has dealt with disappointment:
1. You don’t get better by never falling. In his disastrous free skate at the Olympics, Malinin had multiple falls — extremely uncharacteristic mistakes for a skater of his caliber. And yet, he was quick to point out that falls are part of the journey, especially in the sport of figure skating, and improvement doesn’t come by being scared of tumbling to the ice. Falling is part of the process, and you must accept that in order to improve.
Sometimes it’s easy to think that the Christian life is supposed to be this steady, upward climb. We’ve somehow put in this idea that we’re supposed to be perfect and never fall. But the Bible doesn’t promise us that. Rather, it promises that, even if we stumble, God will hold our hand and help us back up.
2. God’s sovereignty is what gives purpose to even our falls. In an interview shortly after his epic collapse, Malinin told NBC, “I always say that everything happens for a reason. God puts things there the way He wants it, and I’m always taking that for granted and knowing that there’s always something that has to be done.” This philosophy was on display in the exhibition gala that followed the end of figure skating competition as Malinin chose to skate to Christian singer NF’s song “Fear,” and the world was hushed in a special moment on the ice.
There’s a peace that comes from knowing that even our most disastrous mistakes and failures can and will be used by God for good. We can be confident in knowing that He’s in control of everything that happens. He knows ahead of time how things will turn out, and nothing will take place outside of His plan.
Our falls might not take place with a global audience watching as happened for Ilia Malinin. Most likely, they will happen when few are watching except for God. But no matter how or when they happen, the fact that God will catch you no matter what, and still use your stumbles for His glory and your good, can free you up to not be scared of failure, but to welcome it when it shows up.
I was frustrated. I was having a difficult time getting the girls to take practice seriously. I often reminded them, “You play the way you practice,” yet their effort and focus were not reflecting the standard I believed they were capable of reaching. As a coach, I knew something had to change — not just in what we practiced, but in how we practiced.
Before one practice, I wrote a true-or-false question on the dry erase board: “Practice makes perfect?” I gave the girls time to discuss it among themselves, then asked them to record their answers. Seven players chose true, while two chose false. I then asked each group to explain their reasoning.
“You need to practice if you want to get better,” said our captain, speaking for the true group. The others agreed, adding that without practice there can be no improvement at all. They weren’t wrong, but I felt there was something deeper still missing.
Then one of our junior players raised her hand. Violet said, “I agree that you have to practice to improve, but you have to practice correctly to get better. And I don’t think anyone except Jesus is perfect. So I would change the saying to, ‘Perfect practice makes you better.’”
So often in life — at practice, at work, in school, or even in our walk with Christ — we simply go through the motions. We show up, but our hearts aren’t fully engaged. We may be busy, but we are not always intentional. Just as careless repetition on the court does not lead to growth, careless habits in our faith do not lead us closer to God.
Spiritual growth, like athletic growth, requires purposeful practice. It requires humility, reflection and a willingness to recognize when we are doing something incorrectly. We will make mistakes, but growth happens when we acknowledge them, repent and allow God to correct and shape us. Scripture reminds us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
When we raise our standards, pursue excellence with the right heart, and practice with intention, we grow stronger — both on and off the court. Walking in His ways becomes more natural, discipline becomes more meaningful, and improvement follows.
Perfect practice doesn’t make us perfect, but it does make us better!
Georgia Tech pitcher Tate McKee, May 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Tate McKee has become a key piece of one of the best teams in college baseball this season, the ace of a staff with sights set on its first national championship.
The Georgia Tech right-hander is 6-0 with a 3.50 ERA through nine starts, leading the team with 43.2 innings pitched and 45 strikeouts. He’s made 25 consecutive series-opening starts, and the Yellow Jackets are 21-4 (.840) in those games. They have won each of the last 12 series begun by him, including a program-record nine series wins to start this season.
His consistency has helped power Georgia Tech to a 31-5 record and No. 2 national ranking, after a sweep of No. 5 Florida State this past weekend and a mid-week win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets have tied the best 36-game start to a season in program history, and are on a 13-game winning streak, their longest since 2011 and the second longest active streak in Division I, behind only No. 1 UCLA.
Seven of Georgia Tech’s wins during the streak have come against top-15 opponents (No. 14 NC State, No. 11 Auburn, No. 5 Florida State). The Yellow Jackets take that momentum into a pivotal ACC road series this weekend at No. 3 North Carolina. McKee will take the mound for the Friday-night opener.
Georgia Tech finished last season as the ACC regular-season champions and advanced to the 64-team NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years, but the program hasn’t reached the College World Series (the final eight teams of the tournament) since 2006. McKee and company are hoping to change that.
While McKee’s performance has been steady on the mound, his growth off the field has been a major part of his development. Speaking on the heels of the 2025 season, he said on Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up?” podcast that he’s seen a noticeable shift in the team’s spiritual culture, particularly through Bible studies and consistent connection among players.
“This year to last year we had a big growth in our team with Bible studies and more people coming in,” he said. “It’s a true blessing. We get to see how many guys were getting together with Christ. Then, building that relationship with that small group chat that we had … just to build a small relationship through that was great.”
That environment has helped shape how he approaches the game on a daily basis.
“Baseball itself, I feel like every day you see little bits of Christ through even a practice game, stuff like that,” he said.
WHAT'S UP Tate McKee!
On Monday, you can listen to our full conversation with the @gtbaseball pitcher. @TateMckee1 shares about this past baseball season, what he's all about right now, leading at FCA, and more! Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/Q9jaTOd0gA
McKee’s growth on the mound mirrors his development over the past two seasons. As a freshman in 2024, he struck out 61 batters in 47 innings but finished with a 7.28 ERA while adjusting to the college level. By 2025, he had taken over as the team’s Friday night starter, opening all 16 series and helping lead Georgia Tech through the postseason with a 2.03 ERA in ACC and NCAA Tournament play.
This season, he’s taken another step forward, becoming one of the most reliable arms on one of the top teams in the country.
As he’s grown as a player, McKee has also been intentional about his own spiritual habits.
“I set a bunch of different goals for 2025 — different ways that I could connect with the Lord and build my relationship,” he said on the podcast. “I would say this year has been just such a blessing with being a part of the FCA leadership team, this reading plan I’m doing every day, journaling about Christ every day, it’s been awesome.”
Those routines have stayed consistent regardless of how he’s performed.
“Even when I was struggling down in those times [last] season, I was keeping consistent with what I was doing every day,” he said on the podcast.
That faith is something he carries with him onto the field as well. Through Georgia Tech’s partnership with 44 Gloves, McKee designed a custom black alligator-skin glove that features a teal and mint green cross along with Philippians 4:13.
“That’s probably one of my favorite gloves I’ve ever gotten,” he said. “To be out there pitching with Him on my glove, it’s very meaningful.”
His faith is also reinforced through relationships within the program, including with head coach James Ramsey and teammates. McKee is part of a group chat where he, Ramsey and other coaches send a Bible verse to each other every day.
“That’s just kind of how our relationship is,” McKee said. “Just knowing the guy running the show has a relationship, like me, with Christ, that means so much.”
UConn was down by 19 to Duke. Then, all of a sudden, the Huskies were headed back to the Final Four.
The furious comeback culminated with freshman Braylon Mullins hitting a near half-court 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give No. 2 seed UConn a 73-72 lead and a stunning Elite Eight win over No. 1 seed Duke. For more than half the game, Duke appeared ready to cruise into the Final Four. But UConn kept slowly chipping away, eventually cutting the lead to one point in the final minute.
With 10 seconds left to play, all Duke really had to do was hold the ball and head to the free-throw line. But as the Huskies applied full-court pressure, they deflected a pass and the ball ended up in the hands of Mullins with about 2.5 seconds left. He had to shoot it. Nothing but net.
It goes down as one of the most epic March Madness moments we’ve seen in recent memory, and it all came after a massive comeback by UConn. The Huskies could’ve relented and given up, but instead, they kept chipping away. As they say, it’s never over until it’s over, even down to the last second.
In life, when trials, failures and disappointments add up, we’re tempted to think the deficit is too big to overcome. We go through seasons where it feels like the outcome is already decided. We just feel defeated.
But that’s not the story the Gospel tells us.
The story of Jesus is the ultimate comeback story, at least in the sense of redefining what we thought was final. The cross looked like the end, and everything about that moment appeared to say it was over. My church occasionally sings the song “Name Above All Names” by Charity Gayle, and part of the lyrics go like this:
The sun was darkened and the Heavens thundered And for a moment death had thought it conquered But it wasn’t over ’til You said, “It’s over” Your Word is greater still
That’s because three days after Jesus went into the grave, He proved it wasn’t over.
What these come-from-behind, last-second wins remind us is that as long as there’s still time on the clock, the story isn’t finished. We see that with the man on the cross next to Jesus who secured his place in Heaven in his final breaths. God is always at work, and He’s always available, even if it feels otherwise.
Philippians 1:6 tells us that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Life will deal you some big deficits occasionally, and at times things will feel like they’re “over.” But with Jesus, that’s far from the truth.
