It is amazing how God continues to blow me away over and over again! It shouldn’t be a surprise at all, but God continually works in people’s lives in ways beyond my expectations! There is so much I could say, so many amazing stories of God working in students lives this past week, so I could write a novel, but I will try to just write an over view and a few thoughts here!
I attended Athletes In Action (AIA) National Training Camp (NTC) in 2004 (at TWU) and again in 2005 (at the U of A), and I felt called to intern this year. I wasn’t really sure why, but I just felt like it was something that I had to do. AIA used to hold two NTC’s each year, one in Western Canada and one in Eastern Canada. In 2006 I was planning to intern at the Western one and it got cancelled due to there not being enough participants signed up, so I was not able to attend. This year I was trying to get my little brother to come with me, so I signed up hoping that that if I attended so would Nathan. Nathan couldn’t come due to work, but I still felt like I needed to go. I was not disappointed at all!
I find it hard to explain exactly what NTC is, as it impacts the lives of people in so many different ways. I will do my best to try to explain it for a background. NTC is a week long conference to help create an environment where athletes can learn how to integrate their faith into their sport (and their whole lives). It is a safe environment for athletes to learn different truths and principles that they can then use in their sport. Many of the principles are good to help with focus and motivation in sport, but also to learn how to worship God through sport and through all aspects of life. It is always amazing to see athletes wrestle through the principles and see them experience freedom in their lives as the week progresses. NTC ends with a 24 hour sports marathon, called the SPECIAL, that brings all of the learning from the week together and the athletes seem to always meet God in really personal and profound ways.
It was an amazing week, starting with a few days of meetings with the AIA campus staff before the students arrived in Ottawa. It was amazing to get to know the staff better and hear stories of how God is moving in the many campuses across Canada!
Then the students arrived and it was awesome to watch them bond quickly and allow God to work in their lives! There were literally student athletes from all across Canada, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (Mount Allison) to BC (TWU), and everywhere in between! So many universities were represented and it was so amazing to see how God is working in the lives of student athletes across the country! The Holy Spirit is working in the lives of so many athletes across Canada and is building up leaders to further His kingdom. I feel like the Holy Spirit is really moving among key student athletes across Canada and I am so excited to see how the Lord is going to work through these athletes as they go back to their campuses! There were more athletes at NTC than in several years, and many very elite athletes, I really feel like this is the beginning of a movement amongst the University athletic community. I feel like God is building up a group of leaders across Canada who will have an amazing impact on their teams, athletic programs, campuses and Canada as a whole! There is much potential in these athletes and I look forward to seeing how God uses them in the future!
A common theme that I saw was the theme of God’s love for these athletes. That God loves each of them not due to their performance but because He loves them! Christ died on the cross for our sins and we are the most valuable things on this earth! Nothing we do can decrease or increase our value in His eyes. I saw the freedom that this experience gave each of the athletes! They do not have to perform to earn God’s love, and no matter their past God loves them just the same!
The other theme that really struck home to me was seeing athletes giving their whole lives to God, including their sport! This was huge because so much of an athlete’s identity is their sport! I loved seeing athletes using their bodies as living sacrifices for God (Romans 12:1 was very prominent), and using the SPECIAL as a way of worshipping God. It was awesome watching athletes really experiencing the Holy Spirit through sport and just committing and giving up their whole lives to Christ, sport and all!
When I woke up this morning I turned on my iPod and a song by “The United Pursuit Band” came on titled “Even Now.” It really spoke to me especially with the commitments that were made this past week. It speaks of giving one’s heart to God. Giving up our hearts to God is all of us, our lives, our sports, our relationships, our finances, our security, all of us! I saw athletes experience God’s love in ways that they hadn’t before, and laying down their whole life to God. It was beautiful to see! Here is a snippet of the lyrics that really hit home:
It doesn't always work like I've planned it
I've seen a lot of good things, a lot of things been out of my hands
Even when I don't understand it
We have all got choices to make
And this one is mine…
Even now here's my heart God
I'm in love
Runnin' out of reasons to doubt You
Can't live another day here without You
Even now here's my heart God
I'm in love
Your love is sweeter than honey
Your love is stronger than death
Your love lifts me off my burdens
And teaches me to dance
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment