Fun and Games...
Six thousand university students, seven days, one city and copious amounts of alcohol: Welcome to Uni Games. This is how I spent my ‘recess week’. In Melbourne, avoiding all forms of Uni work, playing some soccer and having fun. I’m told that this annual event is usually remembered as a highlight for students, some refer to it as “the best week of my life”. But for me, Uni Games presented some unique challenges.
It was the age-old struggle we face as Christians in seeking to be in the world but not of the world. Naturally you join a team and you want to fit in and you want to be accepted by your teammates. The question is, how do you do that without compromising your Christian values? To be honest it would have required a colossal amount of stamina to drink, stay up late and play sport the next day…and do it for a whole week! But, perhaps harder than the drinking, staying up late and playing sport was not drinking, staying up late and playing sport.
It can be hard to say no to drinking when you are in a culture where drinking is not only the norm but also the acceptable way to enjoy yourself and have a good time. As someone who was part of the world before becoming a Christian I know that culture well. However, since becoming a Christian I have learnt that you don’t have to be drinking to have fun. So this was my goal for uni games: to go along, be part of the team, play some soccer, see Melbourne and have fun without overdoing the drinking.
I was certainly challenged and had to continue trusting God throughout the week, as it seemed I was continually required to exercise self-control when faced with the many drinking opportunities. I was often praying for the courage and strength to be brave enough to stand out by not conforming. Standing out was often the most difficult part, as I desperately wanted to feel accepted by the team and be liked by my teammates. I knew the easy option would be to drink with them, but during these times it was worth remembering Paul’s words of encouragement in Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
As it turned out, I did stand out. One of the girls in the team said to me at one point, “You’re really nice”, which doesn’t sound like much, but it was in the context of her talking about two of her friends who went to church who she also thought were really nice. In those words I found an abundance of encouragement.
Throughout the week I was able to meet and get to know a bunch of new people. At times I even had some chats to some of my teammates about God-stuff. By the end of the week most of the team knew that the reason I wasn’t drinking was because of my Christian values. Whilst I did enjoy aspects of my Uni Games experience I will probably remember it more for its challenges rather than it being the best week of my life. I know and pray that God will use the experience to grow me in a multitude of ways and I also pray that in God’s grace and mercy some seeds may have been planted throughout the week.
By Deni-Marie McKenzie
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