…continued from “Plane Crash!”
Before the aforementioned trudging, we prayed. We knew we had something missing in our teamwork during the Plane Crash exercise. So we gave it over to the Lord, because we truly felt we couldn’t do things in our own strength. We had to turn our attitudes and our hearts and our teammates over the God and let Him work within our team.
As we walked across camp wondering what the next team challenge would hold, I asked God to help me Toss Things Aside and do my best to give it my all. Though I was feeling sick and weak, I knew that if I gave it my truly best efforts and asked the Lord to be in every move, something would change.
…
Our second task was very different from the Plane Crash. Instead of being assigned weaknesses, we were allowed to choose our tasks based on our own strengths. A bucket of various-sized balls and frisbees awaited us at the top of the hill, and a few yards away were two empty trashcans. The concept was simple: blindfold two Throwers. Have them throw the items at two Catchers, who were unable to move their feet but could catch the items in the trashcans. And, one Runner would fetch items thrown awry, because every item on the ground at the end of the time was a deduction from our score.
As a team, we established our communication goals, our time goal and our points goal. We quickly determined who would play what role and planted ourselves in our appropriate positions. …Ready, Set, THROW!
“Jessie, you ready?” I called out. “Yep,” she replied. Grasping what felt like a soccer ball, I lodged it Granny-style, praying I was judging the distance well. …”We missed that one–throw just a little bit farther next time,” Jessie said. OK, I can do that, I thought. After she was ready, I lobbed a second ball towards the sound of her voice. THUNK. “We got it!”
Success felt great! Immediately, I reached for another ball, eager for more. Focusing on the task at hand, the Plane Crash exercise was already fading into the background…
…I’ll spare you the rest of the boring details. In the end, we rocked the second challenge. We managed to Toss Things Aside–our previous failure, our discouragement, the heat of the day, my own focus on being sick. And in tossing those things aside, we were so much more prepared to toss the balls and frisbees for the challenge, and we surpassed our team-set goals.
…
We had passed from failure to great success in just a few short minutes. How? By Tossing Things Aside. By giving them to the Lord. By choosing to work better within the team with a more positive attitude.
At the end of the day, what mattered wasn’t that we all “died” in the Plane Crash, or that we surpassed our goals in the ball toss. What mattered was that we came together as a team only when we chose to actively focus on the Lord and not be distracted or discouraged by our surroundings.
During the World Race, I am sure there will be many moments when I and my team fail to meet our own goals, don’t meet the expectations ministry partners have of us, or sin in some other way that disappoints ourselves or others. But we also will have many amazing moments when we exceed our goals by our re-committing our teamwork and our tasks to God.
“We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” ~1 Thess. 2:4b
