Athletes in Action News and Commentary

X Project: Walking Like Daniel

This summer on X-Project we are going through the book of Daniel in a weekly Bible study. Thus far we have covered the first two chapters about Daniel. A brief rundown of what has happened thus far is that Daniel and his friends have been taken prisoners and were ordered to eat food from the Kings table while they trained. But Daniel resolved to not defile himself and refused, and trusted in the Lord to provide for his needs through fresh vegetables. Turns out that Daniel and his friends were healthier than those who were eating from the kings table, which impressed King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar then had a vision and threatened to kill all the wise men if they didn’t tell him his dream and interpret. This mass killing would have included Daniel and his friends. So Daniel immediately sprung into action and asked the king for time to interpret his dream, and then immediately went home with his friends and prayed to God. More...

5K race in Columbus

Hey guys,

On June 9th we went over to Doug Pollack’s house, who is the author ofGod’s Space (really good book!), we were split into teams and competed at his large estate. He literally has his own camp ground! We played minute to win it games, relay races, disc golf and charades.  My team finished second in every event except one.  We spent one night and two days at Doug’s house and he gave three talks on how to engage people in conversations and to get them thinking about the Gospel. He taught us to approach people by not attacking them, but instead listening to the person.  It made me realize how often in conversations I try to push my viewpoint on someone and Doug was teaching us to do the opposite, to show love and compassion for the person.  Once we left Doug’s house on Friday afternoon, a good amount of us went to go see the Xenia Scouts play baseball (AIA’s Summer league team). At the the game I got to know Stacy a lot more, she went to Grand Canyon College in Arizona and played professional basketball in Germany this past year.  I got to know how she found out about the project and what it is like playing basketball in Germany and also about her family. Stacy is a very sweet down to earth kinda girl, that just loves basketball (you tell once you start talking to her). The scouts ended up winning 5-3 in the last inning (Zach bott, who goes to OWU is playing on the team). More...

My weekend

 

Okay, so this past weekend was crazy!

 

First on saturday, I worked from 8 am to 5 pm. We had a large group of under privilaged boys from the inner cities of Ohio. That was an interesting trip. But at the same time I had the chance to see how a Relationsip with God can really change lives. There was this one councellor at the camp who was also a basketball player for Central State University (in Ohio). And he was not like any of the other councellors in the group. He seemed genuenly interested in what the kids were doing. He seemed to be very interested in what we were trying to teach the kids. Then when Carly and I spoke with him he believed in Athletes in Action. He loved the organization and wanted desperately to get involved. His whole attitude was so much more positive than that of the other young adult men. And I was so shocked and suprised by his attitude. 

 

Then after that I went to Cincinnati and spent the weekend with my wonderful family. Even though we didn't do much, it was so relaxing. And it was very nice to be there and to talk and get to know them.

 

Also I had the chance to spend Fathers' Day with my Grampa, Uncle Marty, and his brother Randy. That was such as special day 1) because I think it was the first time I've had the chance to spend Fathers' Day with my Grampa. And 2) while I was there, I had the chance to have an in depth talk with Randy regarding my career plan/long term goal. He was able to give me the contact information of a good friend of his, Sue; who is an Athletic Trainer at a D. III school in Vermont.

 

Before I left back for Xenia, I had the chance to talk to Sue. And she was the answer to my prayers. I will not lie that this summer I was questioning my academic and career plans. Sue there and listening to what I had to say. She was so understanding of what I was saying. Then I told her of a general idea of a plan that I wanted to pursue after college and she thought it was a good idea/plan. But not only did she tell me to go for that plan but she told me how to go about trying to go ahead and get my foot in the door so that when I graduate in 1.5 to 2 years. I already know where I'm going and what I'm going to be doing.

 

Today, my boss, Bryan and I went to go trim some of the shrubs and trees in and around the low course. Then Bryan and I started talking about the same issue that I talked about with Randy and Sue. Not only was that talk with Bryan very encouraging but he pretty much said the exact same thing that Sue told me over the phone. He even was able to give me some possible alternative plans just in case my primary plans don't work out.

 

Anyway God bless! And Wreck 'Em TECH!

Kelsey A

 

 

From our first days in Xenia

I arrived safely in Xenia, OH and started my “X” perience at the X-project and sooo far…WOW!  The first day/night I got to meet my host family, who are really cool and chill (which is awesome), I finally got to put names with faces and actually meet fellow interns.  I also got to meet the guys I am living with for 2 months, who are Tim and Brian. Tim goes to the University of Connecticut and Brian goes to the University of Kentucky.  Both guys are really outgoing and very cool to hang around with.  We had a cookout and played a games of volleyball on AIA’s turf courts, which was weird but cool at the same time.  I really got to see the athleticism of some of the athletes that are partaking in the summer project.  We played volleyball until 10pm and we all were exhausted.

The next day we spent at the Challenge coarse trying to get to know each other on a different level. I have to say that the challenge coarse challenged me physically, mentally and spiritually.  We first did simple games that were intended to get us to see what it means to work as a team, then as a group we had to climb a 12 foot wall, one at a time.  The last person had to literally climb on a person hanging on the wall, which just showed me how important teamwork is.  After the wall, we had lunch and got to know each other some more and spend quality time talking about what horrible jobs we have had in the past and just plained old questions like, “what sport do you play” or “how did you hear about this project?”  After lunch came the biggest challenge of the day, the High ropes coarse.  The coarse had two main levels, 25 ft and 40 ft off the ground.  I honestly was very scared and was debating whether or not to do it, but I felt God was pushing to do something beyond my comfort zone, something I get to use to way too much.  We went up in teams of two or three and my partner was Clark, who is from Northern Illinois.  Before we went up I asked Clark if he wanted to pray and we did, and after that moment I felt that God was by my side and that he was going to take care of me, and man, he sure did! Though I was not the only one scared and the moment that stood out to me was a girl name Kelly who seemed to be terrified of heights and I mean terrified. While I was bout to cross a string of ropes to get to the zip line, I hear out of the corner of my ear “you got it  Kelly”, “you can do it” and I see Kelly starting to climb up to the 25ft level. I immediately started screaming and cheering for her, once she made it I started to think, “wow, I just saw God at work!” “That is what faith can do!” The verse that they gave us before we went up was Hebrews 11:6 which says, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exist and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him“.  Kelly was truly walking by faith as were the rest of us, because we all stepped out of what we considered comfortable and we did not know the outcome, God rewarded us for our faith today. He rewarded me with Kelly and through her that no matter how unconfortable the situation, he will gives us comfort and most importantly….peace.

God Bless,

Travis R.

 

This might be a little late...

Hello from Xenia, OH

The X-project started on June 3rd, which is a little over two weeks ago, so you might consider this post a late start!  The X-project takes place in Xenia, OH home of Athletes in Action Headquarters, there are 16 of us on this project, we are a small close knite group.  While in Xenia we get to work at headquarters in different roles, from athletic training to event planning, we do it all! We usually work about 30-35 hours a week but during the rest of our time we have bible studies, project dinners, outreaches and discipleship training.  After two weeks this journey we have been on has been a blast and I hope that as we continue, we keep growing in our faith and in relationships with each other. Stay tuned for more entries from our awesome crew!

 

God Bless,

Travis R.