240 Hours

Well-my senior year is approaching fast. I had a meeting today with some of the girls and our coach from high school swimming…and the season is right around the corner! We begin August 20^th, so I have about 19 days to prepare. Our coach was talking to the seniors about stepping up and becoming leaders to the team, and I couldn’t agree more. We are the ones who will be doing all the “team-bonding” exercises (if you have any non-cheesy ones…please let me know!). We will also be the ones designing the T-shirts, deciding and ordering suits, spreading information around, recruiting gals to swim (here’s my recruiting: come try EHS swimming!:), dealing with drama on the team when it arises, leading cheers before the meets, and being leaders that bring the girls together as one team. My coach went on to explain his vision and it sounded a lot like this…”Make it clear we all have one purpose (to swim fast). Make it clear we are all one team. Encourage those struggling. Correct those rebelling. Accept everyone.” That was pretty much the gist of it, and I thought that sounded like a total gospel message…just not for Jesus (minor problem). So he got me thinking…what is my goal for this team? How am I going to lead these girls? What am I going to be leading them to? Before I go any further, here are some facts for you. This swim season (which is 80 days), I will spend…

60 days at practice or a meet

120 hours at practice (swimming)

30 hours at practice (dry land)

56 hours at meets

16 hours in a bus

18 hours at team dinners (approx.)

…that’s a total of 240 hours I will spend with these girls, and swimming. That’s a lot of time. So what am I going to do with it? Use it to tell people about Jesus and demonstrate His goodness? Or just waste it?

It’s so easy to just “let the season fly by” and not really think about it. But when you break it down to the math…it starts to prove a point. I will begin now by being in prayer about the season. Praying that I will be sacrificially serving the girls and coaches. Praying that I could use the 120 hours of swimming to memorize scripture, or repeat something in my mind that’s worthwhile. Praying that I would build relationships to know the girls more. Praying I won’t be a total religious freak but a real person who really loves Jesus. Praying Jesus would give me the boldness to say His name, and proclaim His goodness and to demonstrate what it’s like to follow Him.

240 hours…now that’s a lot of time.