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.