Day Three of UTC

1 Timothy 4:8-9 "Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it"

Today we discussed two more principles: Holy Sweat and Hurtin' for Certain

HOLY SWEAT/HOLLY SURRENDER: 

We read Luke 4:1-13 which is about when Jesus goes into the desert and the devil tempts Jesus.

After reading and reflecting on these verses I realized that I have falling into temptation and fail in my walk with Jesus. However, in order to help prevent this I need to be in the Word daily to fight these temptations with truth from God's Word. Secondly, I need to surround myself with other Christians walking with the Lord because they are there to help keep my accountable and strong in my faith; and hopefully wont tempt me so much as others.

The principle Holy Sweat/Holy Surrender is about relying on the Holy Spirit to be your strength for life and your sport. It's about growth.

God's goal for us is to be imitations of Jesus and to surrender completely to the Lord. I need to find success in fighting temptation by memorizing scripture like I mentioned before. When I say surrender, I mean surrender and let go of control and give it to the Spirit.  They gave a really good example that made since:

When you are lifting weights and have too much weight on, instead of trying to do it yourself surrender to your spotter and let them help. By letting them help, you can get more reps in and accomplish more with a little help. you don't have to do it all yourself. It's okay to ask for help!

HURTIN' FOR CERTAIN:

We read Genesis 37; 39:1-15; 41:39-43; 45:1-7 which talks about Joseph's trials and how he reacts to them. It also shows how in the most difficult times when you think no good could come out of it, God's plan prevails! 

Hurtin' for Certain is about how to deal with pain. Sports can be God's avenue for teaching you to respond appropriately to trials. We are either about to enter a storm, in a storm, or just ended a storm; thus no one is immune from trials, they happen to everyone. Only God knows, he has a plan and we wont know until later in life when we can make connections.

I learned you can have either a BITTER or BETTER response during your trials. "Life is 10% what happens to you, 90% of how you respond to it." Chuck Swindoll

Tough circumstances test our faithfulness to the Lord. Trials are a refining process to shape us more like Jesus. It reveals our true character (how we react in tough times). Time for another analogy:

If you like baking, you know that each ingredient is important to make the end product.  Raw eggs by themselves don't taste good, nor flour, salt, etc... But once you put all of them together and mix them together and finally bake them, the result is delicious. Trials are the same. In the midst they taste bad but in the end after the Lord's plan is revealed to you, it is so much sweeter!

After discussing the principles, we practiced them on the volleyball courts yet again. The refs were rigged, making us apply these principles. However, as much as I do not want to admit, I was very frustrated. We had a ref who called things so obviously incorrect that it was just RIDICULOUS!  People continued to say find your focal point, nail it and press on. But I was so in my head I couldn't get over it. It was an eye opener to really see how I'd react in a situation like that. I learned a lot.

Day Two of UTC

Day two!!! So we went over two principles today. The first one is called "Audience of One" and the second one is called "Inside Game"

Audience of One:

We read 1 Kings 18:1-40 which is about the Israelite people worshiping both God and an idol called Baal. 

Audience of One means worshiping God through your sport (or career, relationship, etc..) and playing for God and only God. Audience of One talks about identifying your idols and repenting, or turning away from them. God should be the only one you worship. We tend to worship so many different types of things, whether it is relationships, money, your career, sport, or self. But each of these things will never satisfy you and will always end up letting you down. Only God accepts you for who you are and will never be disappointed in you. Therefore, I am to play basketball for my Audience of One--my Lord and God--to glorify him and use the gifts he has given me.

Inside Game:

We read Luke 15:11-32 which is about the Lost Son. If you haven't read this before it's a must. It's a beautiful story that shows that the Lord loves us no matter what we do.

Inside game is about what motivates me? It should be God's love for me as the maximum motivation. 

Something we talked about was Grace Motivation which is your identity in Christ. To allow what God says is true about you to motivate you. There are many different types of things that motivate us like: recognition, revenge, success, winning, money, parents, etc... Although these are great short term motivational goals, they will never satisfy you. 

I also learned that my self worth is not determined by my performance and others opinion of me. But my self worth is dependent on what God declares true about me.

Finally, after learning about the principles we went to the volleyball fields to practice them and I learned how to use God as my motivation through "Thanks-You Responses". For example, I would thank God for his love and grace before each serve. By doing so I would put all my energy and strength into it. It was interesting. I think this tool will be helpful for me to keep God at the center of my sport. I tend to struggle using him as motivation in basketball since it is such a fast pace sport and so many things are going on, but if I can think of one thing and focus on it throughout the game and repeat thanks to God, I will glorify him and perform better because I will not be in my head and thinking negative things.

That was the main points for day two, tomorrow we talk about pain and suffering which I am looking forward to. Stay in tune! :0)

Day one of Ultimate Training Camp

I am at a Sports Ministry Camp in Colorado called Ultimate Training Camp (UTC) and plan to share with you the next 6 days what I have learned and how I am growing in my walk with Christ. I am really excited for this week because like my last post stated; I am in a dry period. I hope to discover areas in my life which I am blind to. I pray that God can open my eyes and take off my blinders to the struggles, lies, and darkness in my life. So that is what I hope to achieve in the next week. And here is what I learned and discovered tonight:

Tonight was short but I took away a couple points.

First, I learned a little more about the spirit. Tonight the spirit was described to me as a way for God to connect to us and have a relationship with us. God wants us to be close to him and this is through the spirit. The spirit isn't in anything other than human beings and it is made up of the soul, will, and emotions.


Secondly, I heard a great analogy for sin tonight that hit home. I'll share it with you:


For the sport of archery, the athlete shoots the arrow at a target trying to hit the small red dot in the center. Next to the target, a referee stands there to call out if he missed or hit the target. If the athlete misses the red center, the referee yells out SIN! (which translated means: missing the mark of perfection).
This is so funny to me that sin is mentioned in sports because so many times we relate sin to religion. But sin is just that: missing the mark of perfection. My perception of sin was always a bad evil thing, but it's just imperfection. Showing us that we are not perfect and need Christ to be seen perfect and redeemed.


These are the two things I took from tonight's discussion. The camp is just about to begin and I can't wait for what is to come. I just ask that you can continue to pray for me and my roommate this week. That our ears, hearts, and eyes are opened to things we are hiding from and try to ignore. Thanks! :0) and check back tomorrow for more!

Where have I been heading???

When do you need to stop reaching out to others and recognize that you need to focus on yourself? 

I have been so focused on praying for my roommate to attend a sports ministry camp called Ultimate Training Camp through the organization Athletes in Action, that I have not focused enough attention on MY walk with Christ. All I have been doing is asking for prayer for her, helping her raise money, praying over and over again for her eyes, heart, and ears to be opened  for what is to come. Although, after reflecting over the past few months I have realized the power of prayer. I have have prayed harder and more often that I have ever done, and God has provided my roommate with the opportunity to attend this camp. 

I have realized I do this [focus on others to a point that I risk my own relationship with Christ] so often, focus excessively on others and not enough on my struggles, issues, and personal walk. I get too caught up in others and wanting to help, and forget my relationship with Jesus. How can I reflect Jesus and share him with others when I am not focused on him and learning more? 

But the big question is how. Now that I have graduated, I no longer have all the support and fellowship I did at school at my disposal. This makes it harder...thus why I am looking forward to UTC (Ultimate Training Camp) and then FCA Camp I plan to work at the end of June. But I can not depend on these fellowship and learning opportunities to carry me throughout the summer. I need to take it upon myself to study and be focused on the Lord. 

So...as you as my witness, I am going to focus on MY walk. Take time for MY growth. So if you know me personally, people don't hesitate to keep me in check and accountable. Please ask me and challenge me to grow because we are all brothers and sisters and pursuing the same goal: to be more like Christ.