Godspeak

‘God is bigger than you think... ‘

Have you ever wished to be someone or something else... as tall as... short as... funny as... clever as... pretty as...?

Let me ask you this? Name three things that you are good at? Name three things that you are not so good at? Do you know the answer? Are you too shy to say the answer? Do you not like what you are good at? Are you embarrassed by what you are bad at?

Well, guess what? God has a plan believe it or not, and he made you just the way he wanted you to be. Just think about it for a moment. He made YOU just the way YOU are ... yes on purpose! He blessed you with certain gifts, talents, personality traits, mannerism that make you, YOU!

How do I know this? Because the Bible tells me.

1 Cor 6:20 - ‘God paid a great price for you, so use your body to honour God.’

Here is my story...

When I was 13 I moved to Fish Hoek from East London. I had never done any real sport in my life because I was too scared to. I was too scared to leave my mum to play away hockey matches, I was to scared to learn to swim (so I couldn’t swim properly) and I was too scared to sleep over at my friends’ houses or to do anything remotely fun or daring.

I arrived in Fish Hoek and I miraculously made a friend (which wasn’t easy because I was pretty scared of people). She eventually persuaded me to go to the beach and try Nippers. After a few months of practice I had finally mastered knee boarding. I thought that was a real achievement... A few years later I made the Provincial Lifesaving Team, I thought that was THE best thing I could ever achieve. It was a dream come true!

Two years later I made my first national canoeing team. I was so scared I couldn’t even hold onto my paddle at the start of the race - but I was sure that going overseas just once was all I ever wanted to achieve. I was now certain I could die (ha ha ha)!

I was so scared of trying again, so scared of failure, so scared of what people would think, so scared of not making it ... but somehow I just kept on going.

Ten years later I have been in ten Provincial Lifesaving Teams, four National Lifesaving Teams, four Sprint Canoeing National Teams and six Marathon Canoeing Teams. And I have been a world champion twice

If I had stopped trying when I thought my talent was used to its full potential I would have believed that balancing a knee board was all I was made for. I would have been surprisingly satisfied because it was an achievement, at that time of my life.

Matthew 25:14-30 tells the story of the coins or ‘talents’. A man went away and put three servants in charge of everything he owned. He knew the servants well. So he gave 5000 coins to one servant, 2000 coins to another and 1000 coins to the third one. He only gave the servants what he knew they could handle. The first servant with 5000 coins used them and made 5000 more. So did the second servant and made 2000 more coins. The third servant was very scared so he dug a hole and buried the money. He wanted to play it safe. When the man came back and found that he had not used the money wisely he was very cross.

I was just like the third servant, too scared to push myself or believe in myself or to take a chance. Then one day I realised that God made me a plan and a purpose and I need to push it to the max and try to be the best ME for God. If I have done that then I have been successful with my short time here on earth. It is really that simple, trust God and use your talents.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:6, ‘So I ask you to make full use of the gift God gave you.’ Don’t waste God’s time, or your time, doing things that you are not supposed to be doing. Glorify God the way he made you to ... by using YOUR gifts and talents.

Now I am trying to qualify for the Olympics. I am not worried or scared anymore. All I focus on is God - his purpose, his plan - and try to do my best for God. I do sport for no other reason than to glorify God in obedience because that is the talent that he has given me and he wants me to use it wisely. He doesn’t want me to dig a hole and hide it there!

Don’t put God in a box and decide what you would like to achieve in life. He has such an amazing plan for you, one that goes way beyond your imagination. But you don’t decide when you have ‘done it all’. Push it to the limits and trust God to take you there.

Through sport God has taught me so many valuable life lessons and taken me to places I would never have dreamed of. Don’t be scared to use the talents God has given. Use them wisely and boldly.

Colossians 3:23 ‘ Do your work willingly as though you were serving the Lord himself and not just your earthly master.’

Find out today what you are good at. Ask God to be clear on it. Don’t wish to be like someone else. Be you and be proud of it! That is all that God expects of us, so be the best that you can be for God.

• Bradley
• Ben
• Lauren
• Nui
• Matt Hall
• Shannon Ainslie
• Nikki Mocke