(i have revised my original post. it has been laid on my heart to censor all of the happenings of training camp so i dont ruin all the surprises for everyone. it truly is better if you just wait and see!)
The training camp I heard and read about so many times was nothing like one I experienced in the last 10 days. Truth be told, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect coming into training camp because it seemed like it was just a little bit different for everyone. Because I didn’t know what expectations to have I ended up having none at all. Which turned out to be the best possible scenario.
The first step was meeting my new family. Having only ever talked to them filtered behind a cell phone or a computer screen, it felt like the first day of college. Being excited to meet and see everyone, finding where we’d be staying, what the staff is like, what we’d be learning, etc. Slowly but surely we all started to gather, hugs and handshakes all around. I was fortunate enough to have met about half of my team about 2 hours before so i didnt have as many face and names to put together. Its crazy how different people look in real life then they do in some pictures. As soon as the ice was broken it was time to go to work.
Every day threw something new our way. We never got comfortable; we never found a clear-cut routine (at least not in a normal sense). We were constantly on our toes. Literally and figuratively. Learning how to cope and to depend on one another. It was an intense and exhausting experience but one that I feel (looking back) was necessary. We were physically broken. Pushed to our limits, made uncomfortable constantly, with nowhere to turn to but God and each other.
I can remember thinking before TC “how is this going to work? How can they expect us to unify in such a short amount of time? Especially for us introverts? (I guess I’m introverted with extraverted tendencies) usually it takes time and effort to build that kind of trust amongst people who only just met. How is this going to be any different?” I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
Lucky for me, it was happening and I didn’t even know it. We started to one by one be open and real with one another. Showing our true selves, (mistakes, burdens, and all) trusting that we wouldn’t be rejected or judged. It was so satisfying to be able to let all my junk that I have hidden away for so long be out in open. For my squad mates…my family, to take me as I am. The good and the bad.
If there is one thing I have learned about the Race, it’s that Community is essential. I heard many stories about teams that let issues go unresolved; they just sweep it under the rug. Then before they know it, it has grown and festered, so much so that it created a rift. Making the mending process extremely difficult. Grace and compassion turns into anger and resentment. A poison that eats away at the bonds of friendship and trust.
The body of Christ doesn’t work if it’s divided against itself. Pray that this poison is avoided. That whatever issues we may have with one another be resolved with love and grace, that we grow and learn in these experiences and resist letting them drag us down.
Thanks for reading
