In the eighth grade, my class at school participated in a mock trial. This was the biggest event of the entire eighth grade program and something that we looked forward to for years. Our trial was based on a real criminal trial from South Carolina and included witness statements, maps, and expert testimony. Each student was to be assigned a role to play in the mock trial, either as an attorney or a witness. But our class of six students was so small that we all had to double up. For example, I was both a defense attorney and a prosecution witness. What this meant was that we all had to know both sides of the case really well. What could go wrong, right?

The week finally came for us to face off two nights in a row against teams from nearby schools. The trial was held in the Charlotte Federal Courthouse and overseen by a real federal judge. We were all as nervous as could be. The first night was a success. Heading into night two, we were confident. While we were on the prosecution side that night, I took the witness stand. During the cross-examination, the other team’s attorney threw some tough questions at me. I got a little frazzled. At one point, I made some long-winded statements, then paused, and to my horror realized that I had slipped back into my defense attorney arguments. I was on the witness stand as a prosecution witness but I had said the exact opposite of what I should have said, playing right to the other team’s advantage. The questions ended shortly and I got down from the stand feeling crushed. I had failed my team. I feared that my mistake would cost the whole team any chance we had of winning.

While the jury recessed, I whispered to my teammates how bad I felt for messing things up. They were kind and didn’t seem bothered. And you know what? We still won that night. Despite my mistake, we still won because it was a fantastic team that had worked really hard to be prepared. One mistake didn’t undercut all the work of preparation.

Sometimes in life we feel like a failure. And when we’ve messed up, it’s good to acknowledge where we went wrong and own up to our mistakes. But it’s not okay to get stuck in the past. The moments when you feel like you’re a failure are the times when it’s most important to be surrounded by a winning team that has got your back. And that’s exactly what the church is. Because of God’s transformative power at work in us, we are a winning team. Don’t try to go through life on your own. It’s much better to be part of a family—because you will fail; you will mess up; we all do. But when you do, someone’s there to catch you.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thess. 5:11.