Saturday, July 05, 2008

Team Mulan


I am leading worship at Crossroads Camp in Boiling Springs, NC and I played in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament with the camp staff today. Rain soaked, I walked back from the fields of battle a defeated man. My team went 0-3 to end my day early. As a truly competitive sportsman, I hate to loose at anything, but I ain’t mad. I even wish good will and many more victories to the ones who beat us and I hope they make it all the way to the finals. Team Mulan, (every team was named for a Disney princess) my team, was full of some world-class people and I was so encouraged to hear them talk to teammates and opponents. The spirit of competition was great and bested only by the spirit of community. These were great people to be around, balcony people as Heather calls them. These are the people that lift your spirits and encourage endurance. I asked several of them who they were or what they were into and I found it so refreshing to hear them turn to matters of faith and the Kingdom within two or three minutes of talking. It was not forced, but as casual and logically arrived at as Seinfeld talking about sarcasm. It’s as much a part of their DNA as it is something they’re into. My faith in Christ’s mission and call on my life has been inspired by my 0-3 teammates. DNA makes me express things that are at the core of who I am…I have blondy brown hair because it’s an expression of my core…same goes for my light eyes and the nose I have. All are expressions that I rarely give thought to, but they manifest themselves to the world around me and express details of who I really am inside. When what you are on the inside matches what you are on the outside, the space around you gets filled with the sweetest peace. Even in deepest adversity and stress the substance of character is revealed in how closely a person looks like their true self. I was tossing pies with some “true selfs” today and I loved who they were.

Thanks team Mulan for letting me watch you as you naturally loved, encouraged and equipped today. Nice DNA

3 comments:

Lauren said...

Carl,

Mulan has always been my favorite Disney Princess...She saved China!


love it.

Lauren

Anonymous said...

carl,
i just wanted to let you know that i was at crossroads this past week and your music is amazing:)
the song "honestly" helped me in realizing that i couldnt keep sections of my life from God i had to give him my all.
thank you very much.you have a beautiful family:)
got your cd...GREAT!
-alena carter
CCAhazeleyedQT@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Carl,

I worked staff this summer (I was on Team Jasmine, sorry) but yeah I can honestly say i know what you're talking about. The community we all had this summer was amazing and the level of dedication everyone had to encourage eachother was....well encouraging. You were a part of that, watching you worship for 4 straight weeks, how you interacted with the kids, with us, with Matt and Jeremy and Jeff. You were a great guy to spend a month with and learn from. You are a servant, it's easy to tell that about you. Thanks for everything you did for us this month. Hope to see you next summer.