A rivalry bigger than Kentucky v. Louisville or Georgia v. Georgia Tech, and one game to determine who goes onto the playoffs on Sunday. A sea of blue and green covers the 20,000 seat stadium with a distinct line dividing the two. We are blue. The son of one of our contacts, Jeff Long (Kids International Ministries), is a freshman player for Ateneo’s basketball team. In the Philippines basketball is huge and that is probably an understatement. Kirk, wearing the number 12 jersey, is fairly easy to spot considering he is the only American on the team. He could have gone back to the States on a basketball scholarship, but chose to stay in the Philippines where he grew up and now where God is calling his heart.
The drum lines have been going full force since we stepped into the stadium, each one trying to out-do the other in rhythm and style. The teams take center court and the entire crowd is on their feet cheering. The game is intense, never more than 6 points apart, but usually closer to 2 or 3 points. The only acceptable time to sit is when the ball isn’t in play, so we stood and cheered the entire game with everyone else. Of course we cheered louder when Long was playing with his good defense and quick moves. The last 3 minutes Ateneo came from a 6 point deficit to tie the game. After a couple more shots their opponents gained the lead by one point and 28 seconds left on the clock. A quick pass and Ateneo answers back with a 2 pointer and 7.3 seconds left for their opponents to give it their best shot. Their best shot bounces off the rim as the timer buzzes and the blue crowd goes wild!
We file out in a slow crawl with the masses, excited about the win of a team we’ve never heard of till that night and wondering how it could be so complicated to exit a stadium. Taco Bell is the dinner of choice (my first since leaving the States) and it actually tasted like real Taco Bell. Amazing. We passed the downstairs Taco Bell and decided to head to the food court to avoid some of the post game crowd. I’m not so sure we accomplished that, but God had other plans for the rest of our night. We ran into Bill and Debbie Shaw, who we originally met by “chance” while down in Puerto Galera and have crossed paths a couple time in the community we’re staying in now.
We talk and find out that they were on their way to the weekly feeding outreach they help with for the street kids and families. They asked if we wanted to join them for the evening, guaranteeing we wouldn’t regret it. I’ve learned by now that God orchestrates these “chance” meetings and I believed He had us run into them for a reason. So we scarfed down our tacos and briskly walked down the street to the feeding location. (We also discovered that 3 of their regular helpers couldn’t make it at the last minute – isn’t God cool like that 🙂 ).
As soon as we turned down the road we were bombarded by kids and people wanting to shake our hands and ask our names. Scott and Joshua became immediate jungle gyms, with kids flying in the air and climbing all over them. They opened the doors and 100+ people filled the room for juice and coffee while laughing, playing games and waiting for the meal. I sat with Sally, Happy and Leah (cool name 😉 ) and we chatted and laughed. Sally asked me where I was from, in response she added she was from the cardboard box down on the street. She said this with a smile and a laugh that rarely left her face. Sally has been on the street for 10 years, has 4 kids all under nine and the people filling the room, she tells me, are who she considers her family. This is a community unlike any other, but here they have a chance to make a better life. Through the weekly feeding and Bible study they are able to get connected with people who want to assist them in; learning skills that can make them money, education for their kids and connecting them with different ministries throughout the city whose goal is to give the homeless, abandoned and poor a fighting chance.
God has truly blessed our time here in the Philippines and multiplied our contacts beyond our means to even meet with all of them. But, apparently He is taking care of that scheduling as well, as we learned when we ran into the Shaw’s the other night.
Today’s lesson: God can use basketball games and Taco Bell to get you where He wants you to go. 🙂
