Competition, Feb 13 devotional

Hello
Tonight, I’d like to talk with you guys about competition. I know that in a league like this, a recreational league that’s “just for fun,” the word competition seems like a bad word, a “no-no,” but is it our duty as a Christian to compete in everything that we do? First off, let’s clear some misunderstandings about the word, “competition”

Ok, could you guys please tell me what you think to compete means?

According to Webster’s New World dictionary, the definition of compete, which is the actual context that I want to explore, is to be in rivalry, contend, vie. I actually think that Sir Webster took this word out of context and applied his own personal meaning to that word in the dictionary. So I went to this website, wordinfo.info, which tells me the meaning of the greek and latin roots, and the part, com is latin for together, together with, or with. And the part pet, is latin for to aim at, aim for, go toward, seek, seek out, ask, request, strive after.

Now, I want to focus on two of the meanings that I mentioned above… together and strive after.

Well, first, the together part, is pretty obvious, so I’m going to go over the “strive after” part. I looked up the word strive in the webster’s dictionary, even though I don’t agree with it’s definition of compete, and the definition hit it right on… the word strive means to make great efforts, try very hard.

To try very hard, and then you put the entire word together… it means to try very hard, together. Two weeks ago, Deb had this awesome devotional about the playing field being our place of worship. This kind of expands on her devotional because would God like it if we didn’t give Him our all? If we just trudged through our day, just going through the motions, are we giving God our all?

The way that I see it is we are striving together, competing with each other, to improve each other. You can’t get faster in running a mile if you just run by yourself, as opposed to running with a partner who motivates and encourages you. I know I can’t run further and faster if I don’t have someone helping me, and teaching me how to run lighter on my feet so that I can run further and faster. You can’t learn how to wrestle better if you just shadow wrestle by yourself, because your opponent doesn’t just stand there and take whatever moves you use on him/her, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, which is one of newton’s laws for those who don’t know. You can’t learn how to tackle someone by tackling a motionless dummy that just flops down when you jump on the dummy… You have to learn how to tackle someone who will try and jump over you, jukestep you, or spin you off. But when you compete with someone else, it’s like Proverbs 27:17, As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

By ourselves, we are not being held accountable for our actions, we’re not learning anything, we’re not improving ourselves. We need another person to compete with us, to teach us, to tutor us in our ways. Right now, I’m struggling with my running, because I tend to run heavily on my feet, so I can only go so fast, and so far, so I need to find someone to work with me on my running so I can run faster and farther.

So how does that apply to our Christian walk? We need someone to walk beside us in our walk, we need someone to keep us accountable. Christianity, contrary to popular belief, is not a solitary lifestyle, you can’t do it by yourself. You need to compete with other Christians, not in the context of “who’s the best Christian” Christianity is not done on a grading scale, you can’t get an A, B, C, D, or F for being a role model Christian or not, it’s a pass/fail thing, you either go to heaven or you don’t. But what we need is competition, we need to improve our lives as a Christian, as a mode of bringing others to Christ. And how do we do that? By walking beside other Christians, asking questions about specific issues that we encounter everyday, and our stances on that. We need people to hold ourselves accountable, and we need to hold others accountable too. If we see someone struggling with something, just like we’ve experienced here on the volleyball court, if someone’s struggling with their serve, we help them serve the ball better by giving them pointers. If someone is not playing fairly, or being a ball hog, we need to pull them aside and let them know what they are doing, and how it's affecting the team.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts?

Worship in Sports? You Bet!

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"Sports Ministry is using athletics and recreation to be a witness for Christ. We are called by God to cultivate the gifts, abilities and talents that He bestows (Ephesians 4:6). The court, field or track becomes an "alter" for the athlete to offer his/her talent as an expression of worship. Just as the musician has the capacity to offer each note heavenward in worship, the athlete offers each maneuver and technical skill heavenward as their "note" of praise and thanksgiving. " - Houghton College Website



Have you ever thought of playing sports or any physical activity as worship? I (Deb) have to be honest with you, when I'm sweating like crazy and my muscles are shaking from being worked, or when I'm sore for 4 days after an intense workout, I don't tend to think of it as worship. And even more honestly, worshipping is probably the furthest thing from my mind when I'm grunting and straining and sweating.



So that leads me to ask, what is worship exactly? Is it the praise songs/hymns that we sing on Sunday morning as ruled tradition that Sunday mornings need to have music? Is it maneuvering on the court,field or track? Is it jamming to your favorite tunes on your Ipod while you're doing daily chores? It's all of the above if your heart is in the right place - focused on Christ.



I was talking with Jonathan about this very subject the other day and he said to me "that's why I love sports so much, because to me the game/competition/ match is like a dance, there is a visible role for the athlete." It's the same in a dance, there is a leader and follower. And it's the same in our relationship with Christ. Our role is to worship Christ.



It's funny when we run sign-ups for leagues at church for Momentum. We often hear the excuse "I'm not an athlete." You don't need to be, if you're willing to come out and try, and do it with the intent of honoring God, then you're an athlete and even better, you're worshipping. Afterall, our ability to play was give to us by our Creator! So the next time you work out, or play a sport, remember - offer your talents, and maneuvers, and technical skills as notes of praise and thanksgiving and also remember that worship is what you make it be also long as it has the intent of honoring God!

Happy Brithday Momentum - Glimpses of Heaven

Psalm 16:2 says "I said to the Lord."You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.""

It was a year ago on the 12th of January that the Multi purpose room was revamped into a gym. On Saturday the 12th of January we had a birthday party for the well loved and well used gym. It was such a great time and had many requests to have a multi-sport saturday at least once a month.

What's best of all is that we have people involved in the sports ministry that we never could have imagined. But we can't take the credit for it, it's solely Jesus and his work in their lives. It's been so great to see Jesus work in ways that He didn't last year. We are both excited and anxious to see what God is doing and where He will take us.

Each time we have a ministry event (Wednesday volleyball, or all day Saturday events) God blesses us more than we could have imagined and I can't help but think this is what Heaven is going to be like. Children and adults all in one place having fun and enjoying each other's company but most importantly all enjoying and worshipping the same God. It makes me (Deb) so eager to get to Heaven and I get goose bumps each time I think about our weekly gatherings. I love seeing glimpses of Heaven like that.

Just think, in heaven, there is going to be the BEST playing field, the BEST sand volleyball court the BEST of the best for anything. And to think that we have the BEST coach available to us now, what a joy and what a blessing. Except in Heaven, He won't be coaching us, He'll be playing with us. I can't wait for that day.

It is our prayer that lives and hearts are changed throughout the Momentum Minstry. Please pray that lives ARE changed and one more player is added to the roster for team Jesus. Pray that we would stay strong even when we're tired, but know that one life changed is like the winning point.

Here are some party pictures....

Momentum Minstry off to a good start

Last year we started a sports ministry at our home church in Naperville IL, we ran a few programs last year and were quickly encouraged by the response that we got.

Last night was the kick off for the 2008 volleyball season, we have another church joining us this year which is totally awesome! We had about 70 people last night for the opener. We did ice breaker games and then had some friendly competition.

Here are a few photos of the night. Its funny, all day long I (Deb) was praying for this ministry and that God would bless us two fold of what he did last year, I was praying for my husband who would be doing the devotional last night. And HE sure did! Last night gave us a reminder not to underestimate the power of our living Lord!

We also had a meeting with Jeff from the Eagles and he gave us lots of tips on how to connect with local deaf people in the area and surrounding area and we look forward to making those connections as well. Please continue to pray for us as we begin gearing up for the camp season with the Eagles - this year, we hope to if its the Lord's will run some smaller clinics for the deaf community (depending on the turn out) Please also continue to pray for us as we step out in faith and follow God's calling.

Why deaf sports ministry?

Growing up, sports was an integral part of our lives. Jonathan played baseball, football and wrestled. While Deb in Michigan was an avid runner, swimmer and played volleyball, amongst a variety of other sports. Not only was sports an outlet for us (we were pretty hyper kids!) but it was also a way for us to connect with others and build a sense of family with our repsected teams.

Jonathan, being the only deaf person in his family and in his schools used sports as a way to show others that just because he was deaf didn't mean that he was limited. Any chance he gets now, he's playing a sport of some kind. He went to Judson College (now University) and got a degree in Sport management and with that continued to develop his passion to work with deaf kids and show them their greatest potential.
Deb, growing up in Michigan had a neighbor who was deaf, but was friends with her brothers so she was very limited in her signing ability. Deb used sports as an avenue to connect with kids at camps, and at church where she was a youth leader for several years. She went to Judson College as well and obtained a degree in Psychology. She has a desire to help the kids that are quite often forgotton. She is in the process of getting her Master's Degree right now in Physical therapy.

Together we have decided after much prayer and careful consideration to step into ministry (part time for now with the intention of going full time) focusing on the deaf community and coming alongside through the avenue of sports. We are excited about the possbilities and nervous about the challenges that lie ahead, however we know that there is comfort in Christ as he has gone before us. It is our heart to show deaf kids throughout the area and country that there is so much that they can do and even more with Christ. We want to show them their greatest potential and love the unloveable. It is our prayer that we would be able to connect with deaf kids throughout the local area and into Wisconsin, and build relationships with them as we have fun and even a bit of friendly competition.

We covet your prayers as we embark on this new journey. Pray for hearts to be opened and relationships to be formed.

We do hope that you will continue to check back for updates as to what God is doing in our lives as well as the lives of the people we are interacting with.