During my last year of teaching high school English before moving overseas, the wrestling coach announced that he needed an advisor for the Stat Team, and asked me if I would do the job. I knew nothing about wrestling and I didn’t know what stats were, but I liked the kids who were involved in the sport. I also knew that since this was my last year at the school, the coach couldn’t con me into making the job permanent. So I agreed, and became the Stat Team advisor. 

I learned that stat was short for statistics - all the important details of a wrestling match - which the girls on the Stat Team carefully recorded for each wrestler. I must have also learned the names of wrestling moves and other important Stat Sheet information, but that was a long time ago and I don’t remember any of it now. What I do remember, however, is that wrestling is a full-on contact sport! In fact, I can’t think of any high school sport that utilizes body contact more than wrestling does.

We’re familiar with the wrestling metaphor that Paul used to describe our ongoing struggle against the spiritual forces of evil in this world (Ephesians 6:12). He also chose wrestling as an analogy to describe prayer. Paul reminded the church in Colossae that Epaphrus, their founder, made a habit of wrestling in prayer for them so that they would stand firm in the will of God and grow to be mature Christians. 

So, what does this mean for us? In the same way that wrestling is a full-contact sport, we need to see our fight against the enemy as a full-contact, ongoing wrestling match, with our most powerful move being prayer. We should expect some blood, sweat, tears, and perhaps even a few injuries during the tournament. We must be willing to invest time on our knees on the wrestling mat as we fight for our families, our colleagues, and the people we have been called to serve.  

The good news? Our coach has already triumphed over our opponent; we just need to be faithful in the fight.