Inside Game

About mid-morning of Day 2 our posse of gringas poured out of our house and loaded into two taxis. We went to a rock climbing gym for some team bonding time. Everyone was so encouraging and cheered one another on as forearms became sore and heights became scary.

Shelly (tour discipler) and Sara (tour director) racing to the top

In the afternoon, we went to UDLAP for lunch, team time, and basketball practice. Yesterday during team time as an ice breaker we went through the 4 H's (Heartbreak, Highlight, Heritage, Hobby). Today we discovered two H's that had been neglected, Hero and Honey. This lead to a good hour of stories and conversation. :) We only have two weeks to get to know one another, so we don't mess around!

Today Marnie talked to us about the second AIA principle - Inside Game. The question to go with this talk was "What motivates you?" We read through the story of the prodigal son in Luke. The prodigal son asked for his inheritance, signifying that he didn't need his father anymore. His father was dead to him. Sometimes when things are going well, we stop praying as much and don't get in the Word. We tell God that we don't need Him anymore and go our own way. The younger son's main motivation was worldly pleasures. The older son was motivated by recognition from all the work that he did. His father's love wasn't enough; he wanted a party as well and let pride interfere with celebrating his brother's homecoming. Sometimes we try to earn God's love and approval, when this is something that we already have in Christ.

The world tells us that our performance and other's opinions of us give us self-worth. God says that what He declares true about us is self-worth. This should be our motivation-God's love and grace. How much we serve or how well we can play basketball does not affect the measure of love that our Father has for us. Even when we are playing for an Audience of One, we are not playing for His approval. This we already have as His child and cannot be earned. As result of this, what is the difference between playing for man and playing for God? We talked about playing with a "thank you" response. This means playing basketball in appreciation of what we have already become-in gratitude of God's gifts of athletic ability, freedom from sin, life in Christ, etc.

After this talk, the girls went to the gym and began to apply the principle right away. During practice they check on one another and encourage each other to have the perspective change, to play for an Audience of One with a "thank you" response. It is neat to see how applicable these principles are, not only in sport, but in everyday life as well!