Written by: Maddox Bandy

This past summer, I attended a training camp at the University of Georgia called Sprint, a three-day event held at various college campuses across the U.S. Each camp follows the same schedule, which involves high intensity interval training with designated breaks for rest to catch your breath and time to pray. One of the mottos of the camp was to look to God when you were struggling to finish a workout. My personal interpretation of their goal at the time was to seek God on my own when I no longer believed in myself to keep going. 
 
Reflecting on my experience, I realized that we were not simply praying to prevent crumbling at the finish line on a round of sit-ups. The practice was not in completing each exercise. Instead, it instilled the practice of looking to God in a small setting when we were in control because if that can become second nature, it can later become instinct when all control is lost. At the risk of sounding like one of our Nashville country music stars, as Christians, are we not meant to turn the wheel over to God in all aspects of our lives whether we know the outcome or not? This camp was helpful in getting me back in some much-needed shape, but so much greater than that, it opened my eyes to the realization of what having faith, even in sport truly meant. 
 
I hit the tennis courts at three years old and took on the competitive scene at eight. Since then, tennis has impacted the person I am today in more ways than I could possibly count. It wasn't until I committed to Lipscomb that I began to notice the ways in which God used tennis as a tool to lay down the foundation for my future. More importantly, my time at Lipscomb taught me to choose to look for the ways God was working in my life. Through all the hours spent chasing a small yellow ball around painted lines on the top of a parking garage, I realized that it was my responsibility to make the choice to see God's work. Furthermore, it is my responsibility to recognize that God is not only an active participant in my life when it is unfolding in my favor. It is easy to see him in the victory and reward of championships and nearly impossible to see his meticulous handiwork within the losses. 
 
Playing tennis throughout the course of my life showed me how to appreciate struggle. The moments in sports when our backs are against the wall, and we do not come out on top are the times when God is providing us with the most valuable life lessons. I believe there is much more growth in loss than in success. So just as we practiced at the training camp, tennis has taught me to look to God in the face of struggle and recognize that His plan is not ours to make, just ours to carry out.