competetive

Tonight after Rev, was the start to the Dutch Blitz tournament. It goes on for the month of october. Anyways, I would say I am not really competitive at all, BUT Dutch Blitz is pretty much the only game that I am good at, so i guess there is a little bit of competitiveness in me. (That I didn’t know about until tonight.) So there were a bunch of tables to sit at, and you were allowed to pick. I knew that my friend Tyson was playing and he is pretty good too, so I didn’t want to sit at the same table as him. I wanted to sit where I was going to win! That’s just common sense and good strategy. Tyson called over to me and told me to go sit at a table with him, but of course i said NO! and that I DO NOT want to play at the same table as him. So i sat down with two other girls, and there was one spot left at our table and Tyson came and took it……grrrr. I was so angry! So we started playing and our score keeper wouldn’t even let us see the scores, and also, my friend dumped tea all over my back as we were playing. Anyways, the two players with the highest scores at the end move on to next week. I was very upset because all the people at  my table were good competition. I had to try really hard to win. In the end, I came in third….so i do not get to play again next week.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so much anger about a game before. I was actually mad at Tyson for sitting at that table when I told him i didn’t want to play with him, and I was clearly trying to get away from him. WHICH IS SO RIDICULOUS OF ME! Why did i feel like that!? I instantly felt convicted of this anger from my competitiveness because I know that it is just a game and it doesn’t matter, but I told myself that I was going to hold a grudge against Tyson for a full day! (That will make me feel better for sure.) WRONG! That’s not going to make me feel better. In the end, I’ve still lost and holding a grudge isn’t going to change anything. So I decided to forgive Tyson. (If you’re reading this….I sincerely forgive you for sitting at the same table as me) Then afterwords my friend told me that I can either be mad at Tyson, or pray for a wildcard! (Meaning that they’re thinking of drafting all the people who came in third!) YAY! There is hope for another chance!

I know this may seem like a really lame thing that I dealt with today, but I know that similar situations like this happen in everyone’s lives. It is so easy to get caught up in the moment, and let our emotions escalade when usually, the thing that we are all worked up about, isn’t the end of the world at all.

The new series that we are in at church for this month is called What is the Thing? If the thing you are living for is anything shy of a relationship with Jesus, then it’s not big enough. I guess it was an extremely fitting subject to talk about tonight, considering my situation. I’m not saying that I am living for Dutch Blitz, or for the feeling of winning, but in the moment, I made it into such a big deal, that it felt like that was the only thing that mattered. When, in reality, I should have just started praising Jesus, because he IS the ONLY THING that matters to me!

I can’t believe I reacted the way I did, but God has used this situation to remind me of how big and great He is, and how small and insignificant the things of this world are. Jesus is the only reason why I am living, He is the only reason TO live and He is the only one to live for! We need to come to a place to realize that our PURPOSE is to live, serve, trust, hope, obey, and glorify the Lord no matter what our circumstances may be! God help me to never loose my cool like that again, and learn from tonight’s situation so that I don’t accidentally take a step off the path you have set for me again.

You are Great and Mighty Lord!