2 more days!

Only two more days until I take off for Chicago! The past couple weeks have flown by and I can't believe it's already here! It has been two years since I was in Brazil last and I am so ready to get there are spend time with the kids and friends I met on my past trips. God has blessed me so much with these opportunities to travel to Brazil and I'm excited to see what's to come in the couple weeks we are there. We head out on May 30th and return June 13th. As we travel may you lift us up in prayer for safety and open hearts to serve in what the Lord brings our way each day.

God's timing never ceases to amaze and in the last couple of weeks it has been so perfect. Particularly the last couple of days have been incredible. I have been training with the Charlotte Lady Eagles before I leave for Chicago and along with that I have joined some of the SMT (Sports Ministry Training) sessions a couple times a week. The past three days Bob Shindler and sports minister and former professional golfer, discussed with us what it means to glorify God while playing soccer and what that looks like. As I am getting ready to leave for two months to not only learn more about sports ministry but to also minister to kids, it has been an incredible experience learning how to apply that to my life now as a Christian soccer player.
 We see a lot of times in the sports world, crazy situations of an athlete's reaction to an aggressive play in the game and how quickly that can turn into something bad. Shindler spoke about how we need to change the way we view competition from seeing our opponents as enemies, our teammates as who we use to win, and winning being only about glorifying ourselves and establishing what we have accomplished...to seeing our opponents as people who we appreciate challenging us, our teammates as who are supporting us and ourselves who are made to glorify God in all we do. We need to change the way we compete, to bringing out the potential in others and ourselves to bring God the Glory and not about bringing glory to ourselves.
 The points Bob hit on were seriously convicting for me and how I have viewed competition. Competition was not brought about after the Fall...competition was in the garden when God tells Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28, to "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." It was made good for us to strive together. Worldly competition tells us to strive against one another and if competition was brought about from the corruption of the Fall, then as Christians we would not be encouraging competition or be apart of it. As Christians we are to restore the corruption of what the Fall brought to competition in sports, to what it was originally made to be in the garden.

As I have learned and reflected on this truth of competition, I can feel so much love and grace from the Lord being poured out on me as I am packing up to leave. I think having all of this fresh on my mind and heart going into this summer is going to be amazing and will only bring me closer to Him. With all that said, I'm getting more and more anxious to leave!! 

My support raising is going great! Just over $200 to raise and I am soo thankful for all you that have been so generous. God is good!
Love you all!!

Romans 12:2 " Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will."