Tomorrow afternoon some of my best friends in the world make their first visit to Grand Rapids after traveling from all over the country and the world...there will be six of us spending a long weekend together catching up, listening to a lecture on faith and sports, watching NBA Finals and World Cup matches at the local Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, cooking out on my deck, playing a round of golf, hitting the west MI beaches, and doing a lot of laughing, eating, playing, praying, and writing another chapter in a friendship story that began over 20 years ago as soccer teammates at Bethel College (MN) in the late 80's...
We've been looking forward to this reunion for several months and the emails we've shared have been filled with comments about each other's sports teams, questions about what we should do, memories from college road trips, and genuine enthusiasm to simply be together again...and the time will definitely go way too fast over the next three days before they all head back home...
As I've reflected on our history as friends in looking forward to seeing these guys again I am filled with gratitude, memories, and to be honest, a bit of a strange wonder...for the relationship we share together seems from my perspective to be rather unique...over the last 20 years of ministry since I graduated from college and physically left this crew of friends I've had easily hundreds of young guys express their frustration with their lack of true friends and inability to find guys who love Jesus and love the things they are interested in when it comes to life...many of these guys have been athletes that I've had the chance to coach and mentor over the last 2 decades...they've actually sometimes thought about quitting sports or giving up hope of finding the elusive relationships they long for and were created to enjoy...
I've had lots of people including family members comment about how lucky I am to have been blessed with a crew of friends that has had such impact and positive influence in my life...I do feel exceptionally blessed and know that we have a community that others would enjoy having in their lives...but I've also often felt the need to share our experience so that other guys can have hope and be encouraged to pursue similar types of relationships...
This group of soccer guys made me believe that following Christ was something you could do as a quality college athlete...it made me believe that young men can talk about their struggles, their questions, their loves in authentic and open ways because of a share trust and commitment to loving one another because He first loved us...it made me believe that there are guys out there who I can have a crazy and fun time without compromising any of my core convictions or hurting other people around us...and it made me beleive that in order to follow Christ well for a lifetime I desperately need the partnership of friends to walk the journey of faith alongside me...
As has been the case often in my life, the sport called the beautiful game by most of the world brought us randomly together...as we practiced and traveled and played together, we fell in love with the game and with each other...athletics was the conduit for bigger and better things beyond just a pretty goal or a last second win...I don't think it is coincidence that a highlight of our weekend will be watching what is perhaps the most anticipated soccer game in US soccer history against mighty England Saturday afternoon...
This weekend I'll show my college friends the university world I work in every day at Cornerstone...we'll kick the ball around on our soccer field and look at the pictures of college students hanging in my office...and as they enter the world God has called me in the past year to enter here in Grand Rapids they represent what I long for the students and athletes in my current sphere of influence to experience at CU...I get to share my story with them as I can tell them that there is a way to become friends as guys that will meet their desires and longings for love and fun and connection...that they can create lifetime memories without generating regrets...and that there is great joy in following Jesus together with brothers who love the games, the passions, AND the Savior in similar ways...
Gotta go get some sleep now...there won't be time for much sleep the next three nights in west MI for a group of former Bethel soccer players...
PROVERBS 18:24...There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.
No comments:
Post a Comment