Legacy Letters: Play Your Heart Out. Leave the Scoreboard to God.
Sunday Legacy Letters — Turning gratitude into action, one story at a time.
Sometimes the greatest victory isn’t winning. It’s learning to trust God with the outcome.
If you grew up in Southern California’s Inland Empire during the 1970s and 1980s, and you happened to love tennis, you were living in something of a golden age. Tennis was everywhere! Public courts were packed, tournaments were enormous, and on any given weekend, you could find some incredibly talented players battling it out under the Southern California sun.
And when I say enormous tournaments, I’m not exaggerating. It wasn’t unusual for a tournament to attract more than 800 entries! The B and C divisions were so popular that organizers had to split them into three separate levels just to accommodate everyone. B+, B, B-. You get the picture. Everybody wanted to play, and there was certainly no shortage of competition.
But the granddaddy of them all was the San Bernardino Open.
That tournament was something special. Players traveled from across the country to compete, and for those of us who took our tennis seriously, it was one of the highlights of the year. I would begin preparing months in advance, practicing, conditioning, working on my game, and imagining what it would feel like to compete against some of the best players in the draw.
I loved tennis. I loved the sound of a perfectly struck ball, the feeling of moving across the court, the strategy of figuring out an opponent, and especially the competition. I still do! There’s something about stepping onto a tennis court, looking across the net, and knowing that for the next couple of hours, you’re going to find out exactly what you’re made of.
Interestingly enough, I was usually a better match player than a practice player. Practice was fine, but put a scoreboard out there, give me an opponent who wanted to beat me, and suddenly everything became a little more interesting. LOL!
One year, when the San Bernardino Open draw was published, I discovered that my first-round opponent was the tournament’s number three seed.
Number three!
Now, some players might have looked at that draw and wondered what terrible thing they’d done to deserve such an unfortunate opening match. Not me. I was excited! Here was an opportunity to test myself against one of the tournament favorites. What more could a competitor ask for?
On the morning of the match, I met my doubles partner (David Salmon) for a warm-up. We hit for a while, working through our usual routine, when he mentioned that he knew my opponent.
He proceeded to tell me just how good this guy was and how difficult the match was going to be.
Well, thank you very much for that encouraging scouting report! LOL!
But I remember telling him something that, looking back, has become one of the most important lessons of my life.
I told him that I wasn’t particularly worried about winning or losing. Of course I wanted to win! I was a competitor, after all. But winning wasn’t the only thing that mattered to me.
What mattered was that I showed up prepared, competed with everything I had, and refused to quit.
I could control my effort. I could control my attitude. I could control how hard I fought for every point.
But I couldn’t control the outcome. That part belonged to God.
When the match began, I quickly discovered that my doubles partner hadn’t been exaggerating. My opponent was every bit as good as advertised. We battled through long rallies, momentum changes, and those exhausting points where your lungs are begging for mercy, but your competitive spirit keeps telling your legs to move.
Neither of us was willing to give an inch.
The match went three grueling sets. I don’t remember every game, every point, or even the final score anymore. Isn’t that interesting? At the time, every point seemed so important. Decades later, most of those details have faded.
But I remember the battle.
And I remember winning.
After the final point, we walked to the net, shook hands, and acknowledged what had been an incredible match. Then, quietly, I thanked God.
I thanked Him for the opportunity to compete. I thanked Him for the strength to keep fighting when I was tired. And yes, I thanked Him for the victory.
But here’s something I want you to understand.
I would have thanked Him even if I had lost.
Because the lesson wasn’t about God helping me beat the number three seed. I don’t believe God loved me more than the fellow standing across the net. And I certainly don’t believe He was sitting in heaven keeping track of my unforced errors!
The lesson was about trusting Him enough to give my very best without demanding that He deliver the outcome I wanted.
“The Lord Will Do What Is Good in His Sight”
Years later, I came across a passage of Scripture that reminded me of that morning on the tennis court.
“Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”
Think about that for a moment.
Joab, the commander of Israel’s army, was preparing his men for battle against a formidable enemy. This wasn’t a tennis match. There were no trophies, no handshakes at the net, and certainly no opportunity to come back next weekend and try again.
Lives were at stake.
And yet, listen to what Joab told his men.
Be strong. Fight bravely. Do what you’ve been called to do.
And then trust God to do what is right.
Joab didn’t promise his soldiers they would win. He didn’t guarantee that everything would turn out the way they hoped. He didn’t even know whether they would survive the battle.
What he knew was that they had a responsibility to show up, stand together, and fight courageously.
The outcome belonged to God.
I’ve thought about that passage many times over the years, especially during seasons when life felt a whole lot more difficult than a three-set tennis match.
Because here’s what I’ve discovered after more than six decades of living.
Life doesn’t always reward our best efforts with the results we want.
Sometimes you work harder than you’ve ever worked, and the business still struggles. Sometimes you pour your heart into a relationship, and it still falls apart. Sometimes you pray with everything inside you, and the answer isn’t the one you were hoping to hear.
Sometimes you do everything right, and life still knocks you flat on your backside.
And believe me, I’ve spent enough time on my backside to know what I’m talking about! LOL!
But faith was never supposed to be a guarantee that we’d win every battle.
Faith is the confidence that even when we don’t know how the battle will end, we know Who is standing beside us.
That’s the part I love most.
In Psalm 91:14–15, God speaks of His love, protection, and deliverance. But tucked into those promises is something especially meaningful:
“I will be with him in trouble.”
Notice what God doesn’t say.
He doesn’t promise we’ll never experience trouble. He doesn’t promise every prayer will be answered exactly as we want. He doesn’t promise that following Him means we’ll never lose, suffer, struggle, or find ourselves facing something that seems impossible.
He promises something better.
He promises His presence.
And my friends, there have been moments in my life when that promise was the only thing I had left to hold on to.
Looking back at that young tennis player preparing to face the number three seed, I realize I was learning a lesson that would serve me long after I put away my competitive tennis shoes.
I was learning that courage isn’t knowing you’re going to win.
It’s being willing to step onto the court when you don’t know the outcome.
I was learning that faith isn’t asking God to make everything easy.
It’s trusting Him enough to keep going when everything is hard.
And perhaps most importantly, I was learning that my responsibility was never to control the scoreboard.
My responsibility was to play the very best match I could.
So, whatever you’re facing today, whether it’s a challenge at work, a difficult diagnosis, a struggling relationship, an uncertain future, or simply one of those seasons when life seems determined to test every ounce of strength you have, I want to encourage you.
Show up. Be strong. Fight bravely. Give it everything you’ve got.
Don’t let the fear of losing keep you from stepping onto the court.
Don’t allow the size of the challenge to convince you that you don’t belong in the match.
And don’t measure God’s faithfulness by whether the scoreboard happens to favor you today.
Do your part. Trust Him with His.
Because when the match is over, the thing that will matter most isn’t whether you won every point.
It’s whether you played with courage, lived with faith, and trusted the One who promised never to leave your side.
Today, play your heart out. Leave the scoreboard to God.
And remember, my friend…
You are never, ever alone.
Until next Sunday,
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Sunday Legacy Letter?
A Sunday Legacy Letter is a weekly series by Brett Stacy featuring personal stories and faith-based reflections, turning gratitude into action, one story at a time.
What is the verse in this story?
1 Chronicles 19:13: “Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.” These are Joab’s words before battle, expressing trust in God with the outcome.
Who was Joab facing in the story?
Joab, commander of Israel’s army, faced a formidable enemy with thirty-two thousand chariots, yet trusted that God would do what was right.
What does Psalm 91:14–15 promise?
Among promises of love, protection, and deliverance, God says, “I will be with him in trouble” — the promise of His presence.
How can I read more Legacy Letters?
Visit HometownHeroCredit.blog for Brett’s latest Sunday Legacy Letters.
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Brett Stacy
Founder & National Director, Operation T.A.G.™
National Brand Ambassador, Hometown Hero Credit™
Military Family Advocate | Author | Speaker
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