John Schuerholz, the former General Manager of the Atlanta Braves, orchestrated teams that accomplished incredible success, including a World Series win and 14 straight division titles. He began as GM in 1990, and since 1991 the New York Yankees are the only team to have won more games than the Braves.

However, this season they are setting records for losing, and if they continue on this pace will finish with the most losses in modern-day baseball history. Needless to say, the season is extremely difficult and challenging for the whole franchise.

Schuerholz is no longer the GM, but still has a role in the organization’s front office. He has to remind everyone how bad it was in 1990 before turning things around and becoming one of the great sports teams of the ’90s.

In an article with the headline, “Braves, on Pace for Record 134 Losses, Cling to Faith in Future,” Schuerholz said, “We understand the concern, but you have to look at this over 25 years. We lived it. We know how to do it. And we will do it again.

“I’ll be honest as I’m sitting here, I feel now very much like I felt in the spring of ’91 when we started winning. That’s how enthused and energized I am about the future of the organization. I tell people, ‘Just relax. Have a glass of tea. Have a glass of wine. We haven’t forgotten how to build teams.’ Really, we’ll be all right.”

I love Schuerholz’s mindset and think it’s fair to trust in the team’s plan for the future because they’ve done it before. They have a history of turning things around, which allows fans to have hope for the future…despite this brutal season.

I believe we can have that same mindset when it comes to our own challenging seasons in life. When we look at the past, we can see how God was good and faithful and can have hope that He will come through again.

The Bible says in Proverbs 23:18 (ESV), “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” And Romans 15:4 (ESV) tells us, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Life is hard and we will go through many troublesome seasons, but if our trust is in Jesus, we will spend eternity with Him. We can take Schuerholz’s advice to “relax” and believe that we will be “all right” because we know the hope we have for our future. I’ll raise a glass of tea to that! I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpack that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I thank you for the hope that is found in Your power and in Your son, Jesus. When life gets hard, please remind me of Your faithfulness from the past and give me hope for the future. Help me to relax and trust that I will be all right, even during seasons that are not easy. Thank you for Your Word that provides encouragement and hope. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.