(First off, don’t worry, the worlds not coming to an end. I didn’t say that ^, nor do I like the language but it emphasizes the point, but we will get to who did and why later.)
“Man you’re crazy, I would never dive on blacktop.”
In my life I’ve played,
7 years of ultimate
8 years of soccer
7 years of baseball (2 more of church softball)
3 years of Tennis
1 year of Volleyball
A lot of youth group dodgeball
Some Spikeball
And 1 year of basketball back in 5th grade.
That year in basketball I didn’t make a single basket. I still have vivid flashbacks of “playing” basketball as my little 10 year old self. I was so bad. Really it was the only sport I have ever hated playing and yet this month it has been such a great outreach tool for us. God could have chosen any of the above sports to use for ministry but He chose my worst one, and I now know why. While I’m a competitive guy I’ve learned to find love in playing a sport I know I’m going to fail at the vast majority of the time. But, just because I’m know I’m going to fail at it 90% of the time doesn’t mean I’m going to give any less effort. In fact I’m motivated to give more. 4 days into playing, along with a sizable blister on both feet, I currently have 6 scrapes (some with scabs and some freshly opened, or reopened, from tonight). I know I can’t dribble, I know I can’t shoot, and my 5 foot 10 self doesn’t have much of chance trying to get rebounds over these 6+ foot Botswanan athletes. One of which, who we met tonight, played briefly in the NBA D League and “wel me to Africa” by dunking on me tonight. But anyway, that all being said, what I can do is hustle, dive for balls going out of bounds, and just give 100% of the skills, abilities, and the, for now, healthy body that I do have.
At the end of the day, good clean effort is what gets you respect and recognition. Today I missed an easy shot, and one of the guys on the court said to everyone else,
“Yeah, He’s still my n***a though.”
Because He saw the amount of effort I was giving game after game, play after play.
My teammate Ethan, who is actually good at basketball and already puts in a lot of effort, has also told me when he see’s me hustle, go all out and dive on the blacktop, it inspires him to play even harder too.
These are just two examples of the feedback I’ve gotten from a lot of guys on the court and y’all, it is the same in every day life off the court.
Just as I give 100% on the court even when I know I’m probably going to fail, God wants 100% as well even if we don’t feel qualified, “good enough” or it might hurt. All God asks of us in our lives is to do our best, and He will take care of the rest. He doesn’t want 50%, 75%, or even 99% of you, He wants all of you. Christ dying for us so we can be reconciled and be close to God was God picking us to be on His team. Just as my team wants 100% of my effort, God is asking you to give 100% for His team that you are a part of. You as an individual will fail at some point, we all will, but God…. he never fails. In fact, His power is made perfect in our weakness.
Now He picked you for His team because He loves you. Anything you do or fail to do for His team won’t change the love He has for you. The love He has for you is already so infinite and boundless nothing can compare. Giving 100% to God’s team, to see His kingdom come here on earth, is just a result of the desire for others to feel and experience this great love, joy, peace, grace and mercy that has been so unrightfully given to a sinful man like me.
God wants you to know He has picked you for His team. He has picked you as a whole, not just certain parts. He has picked you with all of your talents, skills, abilities, hurts, imperfections and insecurities. You are not inadequate , in fact you are made perfect in Him! He wants you to buy in 100%. Are you ready to play?
Sponsor day Blog Recaps!
February 1st: Wirth Family
We were at debrief at Victoria falls and it was easily my favorite adventure day of my trip. It was on this day when Mack, Ethan and I went white water rafting on the Zambezi. It was simply amazing. Combine that with it was also the day that I saw Victoria falls for the first time. God’s beauty is revealed to us even more through His creation. Thank you for sponsoring this day of exploration!
February 3rd: Grandmom
First off Happy Birthday Grandmom! Thank you for giving me this gift of sponsoring a day on my trip on your own birthday! Unfortunately their is not much to report as we left at 7:30am on the 3rd and didn’t arrive at our host location in Botswana until 6am on the 4th. On the trip though God really showed up when our bus driver didn’t have the right paperwork to get through the border. Instead of having to find a way to camp out over night between the Zimbabwe and Botswana border God provided us with a new transport within the hour that could take us from the border to our host location.
February 8th: Q (Quintin Blank)
To start, shout out to Q for being such an awesome guy in being an encouragement in the early fundraising process. February 8th was close to a standard day here working with Botswana cru. We did outreach in the morning in the form of a prayer walk, and in the afternoon we did some more outreach through playing basketball. We had some great conversations and interactions with the guys we played with and it ended in a time of prayer with the guys we were playing with led by my teammate Mack. I think it’s cool how Q, a guy I played ultimate with at West Chester University, sponsored a day of college ministry playing a sport with the locals here. Thanks Q for being an awesome friend/supporter and even a better man of God.
