Your spiritual life and your tennis life have many common characteristics.  Here is little story that may help you to understand this concept better.

Pastor Richard L. Flynn writes:
"Regular attendance at worship has a remarkable impact on our lives. It is a little bit like learning to play tennis. This is an analogy that I use with all our new member classes. If you wanted to be a better tennis player, you might go to Steffi Graf and say, "I want to be a better tennis player." She would hand you a bucket of balls and a racquet. She would show you how to grip it and the proper stroke for a backhand. And she would tell you to find a brick wall and hit 1,000 backhands a day for ninety days and then come see her again. My guess is, at the end of that ninety days, your tennis game would have improved and you would be a force to be reckoned with on the court. What would happen in the ninety days, I'm not sure I could tell you. I just know that it would be different in the end.

If you would make a pledge or promise to yourself to attend all of the public worship services offered by..(a)..church for the next year. I know God's promise is that your life would be different. Your life would be changed. When that would happen during the year, I am not sure I could tell you. I just believe that your life would be full of more direction, more meaning and more purpose because you had been in the presence of God and the fellowship of the community, and your life would make more sense."

Here are some common characteristics between an advanced level tennis player and a man or women of God.
1.  A good tennis coach, or person to disciple you in your spiritual life.
2.  Good tennis practice habits or a good Bible study and prayer life.
3.  Never giving up no matter how difficult it appears at the moment.
4.  Identify the weaknesses in your game, and in your spiritual life, and work on them.
5.  Have a goal for your tennis game and a vision for the future in your spiritual life.
6.  Look at defeat as necessary and as a way to learn.
7.  Enter the battle of tournaments and experience the spiritual battle of outreach missions.
8.  No matter what the sacrifice, be willing to go where you need to go, to learn what you need to learn.
9.  Have a tennis hero that you can look up to and a role model in your spiritual life.

Blessings,
Rev. Bob Kraft