Sometimes when I look in the mirror I see a scoreboard above my head. It's a simple board, with very view visual elements. There are two words on the board, "WINS" and "LOSSES." Under each of those headings is a number. It seems like no matter when I look, no matter what's going on in my life, the number of losses is always way bigger than the number of wins.

If I were a college football team, I would have been fired a long time ago. I'm not a very good coach of my life.

Perhaps you've had a similar experience. No matter what you do, you just can't seem to get a winning record. No matter what, you can't even close the win/loss gap.

You and I are perpetual losers.

That's not a great feeling.

Not at all.

Sometimes I can convince myself everyone can see my numbers. Sometimes I can convince myself no one can see my numbers.

Regardless, I'm really good at convincing myself of things that aren't true.

Here are some other lies I've often thought were true:

"God can't use me right now."

"God hates me right now."

"God doesn't want to even talk to me right now."

"God must be so mad at me."

When I believe those lies, I'm in a dark place.

Do you know the place?

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. Even the disciples found themselves in dark places on occasion.

John 21:1-3

Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. 

This is how it happened. 

Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.