“I remember my parents took me out to get pizza one day at our favorite pizza place. They sat me down and said that we were going to move to Texas that summer”.
“Are you kidding me?! You told me that we’re not moving!”
Sydney Brynn, a self-proclaimed military brat was in the seventh grade. She had lived in New Hampshire for five years, which was the longest she had ever lived anywhere. She was born in Oklahoma, moved to Japan, went back to Oklahoma, spent time living on air force bases in Alabama and Arkansas for a little bit, and had finally found a stableness in life up in New Hampshire—now that stableness was going to be thrown away with one final move to Texas.
“I was really sad that I was moving. When we moved to Texas I didn’t really know anyone obviously because I’d never lived there, but it ended up being the best move of my life! I went through all of high school at Liberty Christian School, and it kind of shaped me—And so I didn’t want to move, but it made me who I am today”.
Here is an audio clip from my interview with Sydney: Here she elaborates on why Liberty was a good move for her.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/121090365″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Before Sydney came to Liberty, she was an avid soccer player—She has gone on the record to say that she believed that she was going to play soccer on the college level after high school. However, she broke her collarbone in practice one night during her freshman season and was never able to become the same player that she was before.
So after she quit soccer, she was quickly recruited to run track. “They drug me out to the track and I did not want to go. I was in the back with all really un-athletic girls, because I did not like running at all.” But the coach just told her to run as fast as she could. In her first race (the two mile in District) Sydney came in second! After getting her medal, she thought to herself, “Ok, there could be something here!” So she began running. At first it was because she thought that she would be good at it, but the more she ran, the more she fell in love with the sport and began to have fun as she did it!
The shaping of Sydney’s character began when she met one of her mentors who eventually became one of her best friends. Kate Davis was Sydney’s youth pastor at Liberty, and she took extra attention to Sydney upon her arrival. “She just started pouring into my life because she knew that I was new and that I didn’t know anyone, so she started pouring into me. And she has just taught me so many things. She’s really helped me shape my faith, and really helped me have the desire to learn more about Jesus. And so, I would say she’s a big reason for why I am the Christian that I am today”.
Sydney was blessed to grow up in a Christian household. She says that she accepted God when she was five, but her relationship with God really started her junior year of high school.
At Sydney’s high school, there were these events called Cross Exams that happened twice a year for about a week at a time. During this time the students would get about a two-hour break from their school day to go into the gym and worship and then listen to a sermon. Sydney says that she really connects with the Lord during worship, so this was a very meaningful experience for her. “On the last day the band played worship for an hour and a half and I was sitting there and they had just talked about how there’s a difference between accepting God and having a relationship, and so I was just sitting there just listening to the music and I felt like, Yes I was saved, but I wasn’t pursuing God, which is what a Christian should want to do”.
So Sydney turned to her mentor and newfound friend Kate Davis. While sitting in her office, Sydney expressed her fears that she believed were holding her back. They talked for so long, Sydney ended up missing a few classes! And like a good mentor/friend, Kate did what she had been doing all along and listened to Sydney and then poured in all that she could. “I didn’t ask God into my heart that day (because I was already a Christian), but I asked him to help me form a relationship with him and to yearn for him”. After this, Sydney recalls having a fire for the Lord.
Sydney started on varsity for the school’s cross country team as a freshman and was her team’s number one runner both her junior and senior years. She even graduated with a state title under her belt for the two-mile race! During her junior and senior year, she was also voted “Team Captain”, and that experience helped her to grow even more.
With her newfound fire for the Lord, Sydney found out how to use her gifts in ways to help the team in other ways than just scoring points. She learned how to use her love language (Words of affirmation) to affect her teammates in ways that extended beyond the territory of sports! She began writing her teammates letters, each one filled with love and encouragement. She also began leading a team bible study! Sydney was in a way, for the first time, pouring into other girls in the same way that Kate had done for her.
“It was cool to see the Lord was using my gifts for his glory!” And as someone who knows Sydney, I can confirm that He still is!
Sydney is now following in her mentor Kate’s footsteps and is attending Wheaton College. She refers to both of her two teams as a big family and is always pouring love into the people who are lucky enough to be her friend! Perhaps it’s an easy thing to do when you are happy!
If you check out her blog (posted below), in her bio, she will tell you that she has a “lust for life”, a passion for being with the people she loves, and living life to the fullest! Her last Facebook status was, “Words cannot express how much I love Wheaton College!” And the picture that is posted below was posted on her profile just a few days ago with the simple caption that reads, “Do what you love, love what you do.”
Here we see Sydney smiling as she gets to do the thing she loves most!
This is Sydney Brynn. Obviously there is more to her than what is above, but hopefully this gives you an idea for the amazing person she is shaping up to be!
Check out her blog here!
http://runforlifeblog.wordpress.com/about/