Pursuing God's Will in Life Transitions

Partners in Ministry,

 

Earlier this week I led a discussion with a set of collegiate student-athletes regarding “Pursuing God’s Will in Life Transitions.” This is the latest in a series of discussions we’ve been doing related to pursuing God’s will, joy and fulfillment in our lives as sportspeople. After incubating thought on this matter for weeks, I finally arrived at a form for this discussion which was different than all the others. Below is the outline for our discussion. I hope it can be of value to you as you share with competitors or coaches in your circle.

 

1. What sorts of transitions have you experienced to date?

• Answers included:

 High School to college sport and academics

 Living at home with parents to living more independently in a dorm or an apartment

 Playing for fun to playing to perform

2. What are the transitions in life you anticipate to encounter in the next year or two?

• Answers included:

 Competitive sport to retired from sport

 Single to engaged

 Engaged to formerly engaged

 Engaged to married

 Married couple to parents

 College student to career person

 Collegiate sport to professional sport

3. We read several passages of scripture which demonstrated lives in transition. One set was from the gospel of Luke, another was from Song of Solomon and the last was from The Acts of the Apostles and II Timothy. After reading each set of scriptures, we simply asked them what they perceived to be of importance to the principle figures in each passage. Their answers were insightful and perceptive.

 Jesus’ life transitions:

 Luke 2:46-52

 Luke 3:21-23a

 Luke 4:1-2, 13-15

 Luke 22:14-23

 Luke 23:33-43

 Life transitions in the Song of Solomon:

 Song of Solomon 2:16

 Song of Solomon 6:3

 Song of Solomon 7:10

 Life transitions for the Apostle Paul:

 Acts 20:17-38

 II Timothy 4:6-22

4. Among the answers they shared with our group were these:

 These people did not panic.

 They were not focused on themselves.

 They were mindful to care for others.

 

Summary: After leading these sorts of studies for decades I continue to be amazed at the transformative power of the Scripture to search the hearts and to inform the minds of people when we simply read it aloud and then ask probing questions of it and of each other. Please join me in my commitment to help the men and women of sport to engage the Scripture, its Author and each other.