I can't believe my first "full year" of soccer is through - still going through my "Year of Firsts" as I prepare for Camp NorthStar (which starts in less than a month!!). This first season of soccer was quite an adventure...in short (that's a relative term), I will recap a few key words that help to sum up my experience.
Soccer: Good word to start with in a "recap soccer blog post." While it is a simple word for a recap and obviously the essence of what I do at NorthStar, this word has a completely new meaning to me. Once a passion of mine back in the days of rec and club playing experience, I now recognize it as a passion of the Lord. My experience of not getting playing time at Samford turned out to be God's way of breaking soccer from me and releasing it back to Him. Instead of stripping me of the passion altogether, He has strengthened it in me and has shown me that my dreams of one day playing "professional" pale in comparison to how He is using it in my life down the path of community transformation - both in Birmingham and around the world. I am blessed to be an ambassador of the King through the sport in the inner city Bham, and over the past couple months I have had the opportunity to meet and connect with people from all over the country and world using the sport to impact lives in spiritual, physical and emotional ways. Amazing to think that this is a time of harvest, as well as preparation, in regards to my past and future soccer experience, passion and exposure. Im excited to see where God leads me in this drive...soccer is no longer a "convenient tool" to use in the context of ministry; it is now a piece of "gold" carrying potential for worth far greater than what can be measured on this earth.
Perspective: When I first started at NorthStar, I was enthralled with the "culture change" and "inner city" aspect of where I am. While the difference between Mountainbrook and Legion Field area is like night and day, it seems to phase me less and less with the more time I spend in the area with my kids. I see the looks on "over the mountain" parents' faces when their kids came to play against our kids on our home turf at Legion Field, and it takes many of them a good bit of time to ease tension and realize that we are just another club in the area looking to have a quality recreational soccer program. There has been much emphasis on "neighboring" and doing life with the community, and even through those emphasized discussions and concepts, perspective is not changed until you spend time and build relationships with those around you. Im sure my perspective will continually change with time that I am here, but its less of a "big deal" and more of a reality to me that I am here in the "inner city" getting to work for this ministry. This is life. And my perspective is coming from within.
Sovereignty: I love how this word and concept of the Lord is the over-arching cover and thread over and through our lives. Yet it seems more personal to me in light of my first year with NorthStar Soccer. From relationships/conversations Ive had with the kids and parents in the program to networking connections that have been made through "random" people/scenarios, God's sovereignty has been over it all. I get almost anxious thinking about how amazing everything worked out and how I had nothing to do with the initiation and outcome of His outpouring of goodness over the past 10 months. Yet anxiety should be the opposite reaction as I consider these things - TRUST and FAITH knowing that He has taken care of the big and small things and will continue to do so is where my heart and mind should lie in relation to this experience. Praise God for His sovereignty.
That was very broad, but overall it seems to be the bird's eye view of what I am walking forward with in my next experience at NorthStar. Camp this summer will definitely be a journey and one that will provide me with new challenges and adventures...no Camp All-American!!! First summer in four years that I have not returned to Duluth for a CAA adventure...this is a year of "Firsts" so this summer is fitting and will be one to remember.
Praying that "CAMP, PERSPECTIVE, and SOVEREIGNTY" will take on new meanings at the end of it all - something familiar yet different in Camp, perspective toward/with/through a whole new pool of kids and a witness of God's hand in and through every life involved in the six week Camp will be yet another picture and opportunity to platform the sovereignty of God.
so proud of you, val! praying for a GREAT camp season!!
ReplyDelete