“I’ll go if you go.”

Going into UTC Colorado in 2024, I was in a stable spot with my faith and had a deep knowledge of the Word because of my Christian upbringing. I had never even heard of UTC until an AIA large group, when one of my teammates said, “I’ll go if you go,” and another said the same. None of us was really ready to commit. But then, on a whim, one of my teammates signed up, so we all ended up in Colorado, taking on the Special together once I got over my altitude sickness.

From the volleyball labs, rooming with strangers, eating meals in a dining hall far better than Butler’s campus food, and diving into deep Bible study discussions, I had the blessing of meeting so many incredible Christian student-athletes I still call friends.

The lessons gave me perspective during a season when I was struggling with my performance on the track and showed me the purpose of impacting my team with a Kingdom mindset.

And then the Special allowed me actually to live out everything I had learned. I didn’t do it perfectly, but competing out of gratitude for what the Lord has gifted me, rather than trying to prove something to Him or the world, showed me His goodness and faithfulness. Doing it alongside people walking through the same trials while pursuing the same deeply relational faith made those friendships lifelong. Since then, my life hasn’t been perfect, and I still experience plenty of hardships, but knowing the faithfulness of the Lord and His plan for me is enough to sustain me, and having a Christ-centered community to remind me of that has been incredibly important.

Grace Stedge | UTC Colorado 2024