I started swim team on Friday. And let me just tell you before hand that this story could be either very embarrassing or very funny and im really hoping itll be the second one. Cause the actual experience was plenty embarrassing thank you very much. Here's what i discovered on my way to start swim team: a) I dont know how to dive. Shocking i know. Im freaking 17 years old and i cant dive. b) i am very much out of shape. enough said there. c) i havent swum like strokes in probably at least five years. hah. i know.
So at this point yall are probably thinking and WHY did you sign up for swim team again?? that is a good question that i was very much asking myself. Well there are two good answers to that question. Or i guess i should say two answers to that question that at least make sense. The first is to fix fact b). I want to get in shape. The second answer is, in my opinion, much more frustrating and superficial. I need Action hours. For those of you who have not been sucked into the ridiculous world that is IB (I pray you stay ignorant in that department), all students are required to have 150 CAS hours. CAS stands for Creativity, Action and Service. its supposed to make us look like one of those dreaded "well rounded" students on our college applications. I mean seriously. So ill come back to ranting over well-rounded students in a minute. Dont worry, its a subject very close to my heart. For now i want to finish my swim team story.
So i get to swim team thinking that i am only doing this for the exercise and that ill just take it slow cause were not gonna be competing anyways(no other highschool in Ghana has a pool or a swim team). and then they hit me with this, "we are going to be having tryouts for varsity and jv". FOR SWIM TEAM??? Are they serious??? Ok see one of the main reasons i signed up for swim team was because there were no tryouts involved. Im just not a competitive, organised sports- type person. yall know me, im just not. So we start the warm up. and the warm up is a 400. Which means, you do two laps in each stroke. There are 4 strokes. hah. yeah. Now go back up and look over reason b) again and you can guess the outcome of this story. basically i ended up in the nurses office cause i couldnt see very well. I thought i was gonna drown a couple of times. it was bad guys. really bad.
So that explains the drowning part of the title. Now for the grasshopper part. it kinda ties into the well rounded student bit. Although im not very good at organising my thoughts especially when they make sense in my head. Thats always a bad sign. So this saturday at youth group we talked about the Israelites coming into the Promised Land and the story of Joshua and Caleb. Basically when the 12 spies were sent to see what the Promised Land was like, ten came back and said "we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" Numbers 13:33. Ok first of all, these are the same people who had just crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. And followed a freaking pillar of fire to where they were. And watched their God turn the River Nile to blood. grasshoppers? i think not. But they did. And i think too often i look at myself like that. Its like Lord, i cant do swim team or go to Lincoln or be a well rounded student cause i mean, face it, im a grasshopper. And then i read stuff about the Israelites and im like man were they ever clueless. And the Lord goes, SMACK. HELLO?? lol. Do you not see what im doing for you?? what ive already done! The Lord told the Israelites that He had already givent them the Promised Land. The battle was already over and they still didnt want to go fight. And i think thats what He's trying to tell me too. maybe swim team is kinda a lame example but when the two happened within a day of each other i was like yeaah. Theres something there.
So forget being a well-rounded student. I cant do that. He knows what He has called me to do and He's gonna do it whether i can dive or not. All i have to do is jump in and start swimming. And when i feel like im drowning, i hold on tighter to the hope He has promised me. Phil Wickham put it beautifully (thank you Annie!!) he said, "I need a hope thats louder than mine". Yep. nice. My hope whispers sometimes and when it does im gonna have to be like ok Lord start yelling. So im gonna go get my milk and honey, even if i get a little wet along the way. Thanks for listening you guys. It means a lot.
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9 comments:
that IS long. i didnt even read it. :) but i will. later. go to bed.
I read it. I'm a real friend.
yes you very much are
I read too. MC, be nice. Tatum just doesn't know HOW to read. This whole "long" bit is merely a coping mechanism.
Phil Wickham rules. If I was him, I'd sing to you too. :)
The next Tatum Reading Lesson includes adding verbs into sentences and weeding out superfluous periods. Ann you write so colloquially that I feel like this is an audio blog, or however you would combine those two words together in web lingo (blingo if you will). I love it. Write long and often, you're too good not to.
i agree with ryan. rich and good. lots of analogies, and i loved a every single one.
Okay, I'm her dad and yeah it was long but you guys are all trash talking each other and you need to stick to the facts. It was a good blog, very reflective and analagous. My only problem is that all you guys like using the word freakin and that connotes a whole different word from my generation. find a different word to express yourselves...Can I do this to my daughter on a blog...we're all friends aren't we?
no you cant. not allowed. and who says connotes?:) love you!
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