Hot and Busy

March 6, 2009
My weekdays have been very busy. I haven’t had time to journal regularly and I have probably forgotten some of my thoughts and experiences from this week. Monday was our day off, but I spent a few hours in the morning in the office and then had practice in the evening. But, in the afternoon I went to a place called Boulder Beach where there is a natural penguin colony. It is protected, so I had to pay to get on the beach, but you could actually walk around and sit on the beach with the penguins. There were hundreds of them all over the place, it was really pretty fun.
Tuesday, we were in the office and we talked more about evangelism and discipleship. Wednesday, we went to help mentally and physically disabled kids at a track and field event. The kids were from about 7 to 16 and it was fun to be with them and see how enthusiastic and excited they were to get to compete. Thursday, we were in the office again, wrapping up our time on evangelism and discipleship and just came up with creative ways to share the gospel, like songs, dramas, art, spoken word, and written word. It was an incredibly hot day and we are scheduled on Thursdays to have one-on-one meetings with a mentor, but the office gets unbearable, so we went to her house for lunch and then to a swimming pool downtown. It was definitely a good way to beat the heat.
Today, however, was just as hot (it has been about 100 degrees the last two days) but we were too busy to get out of the heat. It was a good day though. We had our workout this morning and then went to our supervisor’s apartment for breakfast. We watched a video from Louie Giglio, called Indescribable, where he talks about how enormous the universe is and yet how God loves us. So, we are basically insignificant and significant. It made me wonder why the universe is so huge and so magnificent. The only reason I can give is that it is to declare the glory of God and sing His praise. Later, we went to a park for about an hour and a half to have lunch together and relax, before going to do outreach through a local church. A few guys from the church basically go in to a community and play soccer and share a testimony and talk with the young people who turn up. It is a Muslim community and most of the young people are very heavily in to drinking and addicted to drugs. Many of the people often come drunk or high and often are rude and unresponsive to the gospel. Today however, one of the interns from Cape Town shared his testimony and one the key teenagers, who has often caused problems in the past, actually paid attention and said that he saw how Christ was impacting this kid and said he thought it was good what this church is doing in their community. It is a small step, but was very encouraging to the guys who have been doing this ministry for the last several months.
I went to church on Wednesday night and joined one of the young adult Bible studies, they were very young adults. Most of the people there were in college or just finished. I’m 99% sure I was older than my group leader. At this point I’m going to pray about whether I should keep going. I enjoyed the study; they are going through the book of Mark, but it was pretty basic. I’m not sure how much I’ll get out of it and I know I can give input in to it, but don’t want to step on the leader’s toes. I’m also not sure how well I’ll relate to the students. At the same time, it could open up opportunities for ministry and discipleship. I think if I am being fed and challenged at church, it will be fine; I just want to make sure that I am not being drained without being refilled, so I’ll have to keep watch and see how it goes.
I’m almost forgot may be the most important part of my week. On Wednesday afternoon I met with this girl at the College of Cape Town where some of the interns were staying. It was sort of a “random” thing; a God thing. She has been talking with one of the male interns and has been telling him about her life and her desire to do a degree in social work. She comes from an abusive home, but seems to be very hopeful and motivated to do something with her life. She wants to help other people to see that they can succeed and wants them to be hopeful as well. She was basically looking for a mentor and the other intern asked me if I would meet with her. I asked her what her goals were and how I could help her meet her goals, and she asked me to mentor her and also help her find ways to get involved in the community. I also asked her if she was a Christian and she said yes, but that she has not been able to go to church since she has been at the college, which has been since January, because the taxi route is so long. So, I asked her if I could pick her up for church, so she could come with me, and she said that would be great. We talked for a while about her family and her home and some of her experiences. I don’t know why God put me in her life, but I think it is potentially a great opportunity to disciple someone I would never have met on my own. I hope we are able to continue to meet together. I am praying about what I can do to disciple her. I would like to ask her if we can study through a book of the Bible together. I’m not sure what or how it will work, but I think that is where I am leaning and pray for God’s direction. I think I will start by asking her how much she has studied the Bible so far, and then go from there. I just pray for opportunities and guidance from God. He is a good God.

March 10, 2009
Saturday I ran some errands and then sat at the beach while I worked on a “homework” assignment we were given. We are working through some material called “Born to Play” and had a booklet to read through that talked about what it means to be a Christian and an athlete. There isn’t much that I haven’t studied before, but it has renewed and challenged my thinking in areas in which Scripture applies to sports.
Sunday the ladies soccer team played their first league game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play because I don’t have my clearance yet between the US and South Africa. I sent my papers in a couple of months ago, but after getting lost in the mail and then a slow processing here, I’m still waiting. Hopefully, it will be done this week. We only had 10 eligible players for the game, including one girl who was sick, so our team ended up losing and will have to fight its way back now. It is a 22 game season, so there is time.
Monday we went and did an assembly for the school we helped last Wednesday with the track and field event. We were able to present the gospel to them through a couple of skits, and the teachers thanked us, because they said presenting the gospel through sports was a great way to reach the kids in a way they have not been able to. Then, because it was supposed to be our day off, most of the interns went to the beach together. We went to a place called Fish Hoek, which is on the eastern side of Cape Town, so in a bay where the water is a little warmer than on the Atlantic side. Because there were guys there, I had people to play in the water with me (I can’t get any of the girls to go swimming). The water is still too cold to stay in for long, but the weather has continued to be really hot, so it was very nice to go in for a while and dive through the waves. It is a fishing community, which the name entails, and there was a fishing crew on the water while we were there. It was a pretty neat process to watch. About the time we arrived, there was a man on a cliff about ¼ mile above the sea, spotting for fish. He started waving a white flag and all of the fishermen ran to the shore to shove their boat out in to the water. It took about 12-15 guys to push the boat off and then four guys jumped in a rowed out in to the bay. They began casting nets in to the water and did so for about 2 hours. When they started they had towed ropes about a hundred yards or more long with them that they attached to the nets. When they returned to the shore about 20 guys started pulling the ropes and dragging the nets to shore. It took a good half hour for them to get the nets, which were full of fish (although not as full as I expected). I think they had 3 or 4 of these nets to tow in, with a fish called Yellow Tail or Snook, which are about 2-3 feet long. They loaded up all of the fish and immediately took them to sell.
Today we discussed Romans 12:1-2 most of the morning and how it applies to sport, or anything else in life. I decided that I would type up some of my notes to record a little about what we have been studying. It is very long and no one is expected to read it. We basically broke down the verse and thought about what it said and meant and then how it applied. These are my personal thoughts. “Therefore,” Paul is looking back at the previous verses (and chapters) that say who God is and what He has done. ‘To him be the glory forever,’ is the conclusion of chapter 11, and now what Paul continues with is to be our response, the only proper response in light of God’s glory. What has God done in my life, what has He shown me, and how does that incite me to respond? He has given me gifts, talents, abilities, strength, health, love for sport, and love for Him.
“I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy,” in light of God’s love and grace enacted in our lives, this gives us more reason to respond in the manner Paul sets forth. It is God’s love and His desire to have a relationship with me that has given me my abilities and desires and He has blessed me because of who He is. I have nothing to earn and therefore nothing to lose, so I should play to the best of my ability for God, with no hindrance or fear.
“To offer our bodies as living sacrifices,” is a willing giving up of ourselves for God. It is total and full commitment (a cow sacrificed to God in the OT couldn’t later graze in the field or be used for milk, it was completely given up for its purpose) of who we are and what we do for God’s glory and service. Sport is a way to show our total and full commitment; to be completely dedicated to God by serving Him through sport.
“Holy and pleasing to God,” being set apart from the world in our obedience to God. This is by God’s grace and by dependence on Him as He transforms us in to His image (just as we were saved by grace, so we live by grace). We have an opportunity through sport to show we are different, to be set apart from the world and corruption of sport, to represent Christ.
“Our spiritual act of worship,” all things at all times should be in worship of God. Our heat and our mind should be set on glorifying and praising God. We can worship God in our play and our attitudes; with our teammates, opponents, and officials we can follow Scripture and bring God glory.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,” when we are redeemed we are called to put off the old self and put on the new self, created new in true righteousness and holiness. We are no longer to follow the ways of the world, our deceitful desires, or selfish interests. We can’t follow both God and the world, but need to be completely made new in the attitude of our minds. Our sport should be under our relationship and obedience to God; not following the ‘social norms’ and letting the pace or emotions of the game get the best of us, but being a new creation in follow God and playing with righteousness and holiness.
“Be transformed” is being mad new and being made more and more like Christ, which requires both obedience and dependence on God’s grace to work in us through the Holy Spirit. It is a change of heart, mind, and body. It is not an instant change from the patterns of the world, but we can pray for our attitude and actions, our team, our opponents, etc. We can work on issues that conform to the world, become more Christ0like in our play and attitude, and apply Scripture more and more to sport to determine God’s desires and pursue them by His grace.
“Renewing of your mind,” destroying thoughts, temptations, and arguments that are against God’s ways, and taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ. Continually focusing our thoughts on Christ and God’s word and brining light in to the darkness. This entails knowing God’s word and seeking to apply it to sport, pursuing how we can follow God through it.
“Test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will,” only as we are transformed and our minds are renewed can we know and discern God’s will. As we are made new and more like Christ and our thoughts are turned to Him, we can know God’s desires, which is to reflect His image, to be in a relationship with Him and others, and to have dominion and care over creation.
I have to turn my laptop off; it is 94 degrees with no breeze and way too hot to keep it on.