The basics

So as we all know by now I am enjoying tremendously my times as a softball coach. I am now working hard with Alexa(or she's working hard with me I'm not sure) to help her get ready to play softball this fall. She seems to enjoy it, and even at the race track last Saturday night we had to go over and pitch some. She took a bucket of softballs and the gloves so that we could do that in our down time.
She really, really wants to pitch. Every day we do a few little drills and some pitches trying to make sure she has the fundementals down right. In highschool and college young athletes go through slumps. They go through times where they have a hard time hitting the ball, fielding or throwing. They all deal with these things but the one thing that great ball players always exemplify is good mechanics. They do things correct all the time and when things get really bad, they still do things right. In a pinch, those basic mechanics are all that endures the rough times of sports.
It's the same way with us as Christians. There are basics that we do like pray, read our Bibles and go to church. THere are also basic attributes that will rise to the surface when times get tough. Faith, hope and love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. BUt the greatest of these is love."
Love is by far the greatest of all human qualities and it is an attribute we get from God Himself. Love involves unselfish service to others; to show it gives evidence that you care. Faith is the foundation and content of God's message; hpe is the attitude and focus; love is the action. When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you fully understand how God loves first.
So when the chips get down, and times are tough we will still have our faith, that will produce in our hearts the hope that Christ brought us and to put those two to work is love. Love is the acting out of our faith and hope in Jesus Christ.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!