The Faithful Travel Season Survival Kit
How to chase the dream without losing your faith or your family
— Hey, we've been where you are —
We're Shane and Carlie, married since 2003 and raising five kids — three by birth and two adopted from Brazil. Between them we've done baseball and softball, volleyball, soccer, and karate, and Shane coached a lot of those teams himself. Two of our boys now play college baseball, so we've lived the early call times, the long drives, the hotel breakfasts, and yes — tens of thousands of dollars.
We've also felt the exact tension you're feeling: how do you go all-in on your kids' sports without your family and your faith getting steamrolled? Faith and church run deep for us — Carlie leads worship and Shane serves as an elder — and even so, some seasons we've wrestled with this hard. We don't have it all figured out, and we're not here to tell you you're doing it wrong. We're just the family two rows over in the bleachers who's been at this a while and learned a few things the hard way. This kit is the stuff we wish someone had handed us before our first season.
Three parts: a game plan for the Sunday conflict, a 5-day devotional you can actually do on the road, and a checklist to set your season up right. Use what helps, leave the rest.
PART 1 — The Sunday Game Plan
The hardest squeeze in travel sports is the calendar: games scheduled right over church, practices eating weeknights, tournaments swallowing whole weekends. You don't have to choose between your kid's development and your family's faith. You just need a plan you decided before the season — not in the parking lot at 7 a.m.
Step 1: Decide your family's non-negotiables (before you commit to a team).
Sit down as parents (and with kids old enough to weigh in) and name what you'll protect this season. For many families that's some combination of: staying connected to church somehow, one unhurried family meal a week, and a real day of rest. You can't protect everything — but naming 2–3 anchors keeps the season from running you.
Step 2: Build your "stay connected to church" toolkit.
When you can't be in your home church's seats, you've still got options. Pick a couple that fit your family:
- A Saturday-evening service at your church or a nearby one.
- Your church's online/livestream service watched together in the hotel.
- Finding a local church near the tournament — sometimes a great family memory.
- A simple family worship time: a song, a few verses, and prayer in the room before the field. (Part 2 is built exactly for this.)
The goal isn't a perfect attendance record. It's keeping your family's faith active even when your routine isn't.
Step 3: Talk to the coach early and graciously.
Most conflict comes from surprise, not from your convictions. Coaches respect a parent who communicates early, respectfully, and isn't asking for special treatment — just being clear. Three scripts you can copy and make your own:
Notice what these don't do: they don't lecture, over-apologize, or make it the coach's problem. Warm, clear, early. That's the whole move.
A word of grace: some seasons you'll make the game. Some seasons you'll make church. You're not failing either way — you're teaching your kids that faith and family stay on the list, even when life is full.
PART 2 — The 5-Day Road-Trip Family Devotional
Short enough to do in the car or the hotel, real enough to matter. Each day: a theme, a passage to read together, a quick thought, a question, and a prayer. Five minutes.
Day 1 — Who you really are.
Read: Colossians 3:23–24.
Whatever your kid does today, they're doing it for the Lord, not just the scoreboard or the scouts. Their worth isn't their stat line — it's settled before they ever step on the field.
Talk about it: If you played today and nobody was watching, would you still give your best? Why?
Pray: Thank God that our identity is His, not our performance.
Day 2 — Effort over outcome.
Read: Colossians 3:23 and 1 Corinthians 10:31.
We can't always control the result — the call, the bounce, the playing time. We can control our effort and attitude, and offer both to God.
Talk about it: What's one thing you can control today no matter how the games go?
Pray: Ask for grace to give your best and leave the rest with God.
Day 3 — Winning and losing well.
Read: Philippians 2:3–4.
How we handle a win says as much as how we handle a loss. Humility in victory, grace in defeat — that's the long game.
Talk about it: Who do you admire for how they act after a win or a tough loss?
Pray: Ask God to help you honor others whether you win or lose today.
Day 4 — Love your team.
Read: John 13:34–35.
Your kid's teammates watch how they treat people more than how they hit. Encouraging the kid on the bench is its own kind of greatness.
Talk about it: Who on your team needs encouragement this weekend? How can you give it?
Pray: Thank God for your teammates and ask for a chance to build someone up.
Day 5 — Gratitude.
Read: 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18.
The early mornings and long drives are a gift, not a given. Not every family gets these days. Thank God for the chance to be together, sore feet and all.
Talk about it: What's one thing about this weekend — even small — you're grateful for?
Pray: Thank God for this family, this game, and this day.
PART 3 — The Faithful Season Planning Checklist
Run through this before the season starts. Twenty minutes now saves a season of scrambling.
Set your anchors
Map the calendar
Money plan
Communication plan
Marriage & family connection
— You've got this —
The travel-sports years go fast. Done right, they're not a threat to your family and faith — they can grow them. That's the whole reason we started The Faithful Playbook: to help families like yours chase the dream and keep what matters most.
You're on our newsletter now, so we'll be in your corner all season with practical, faith-and-family-first plays. And if you want the complete system — the full season planner, the deeper playbooks, and the tools we use ourselves — keep an eye out for The Faithful Season Playbook & Planner, coming soon.
Now go enjoy the game.
— Shane & Carlie, The Faithful Playbook