I admit it...I love the fall...in many ways for the last 15 or so years of my life it has been the busiest time of my year...and I guess to be honest, I'm pretty much a guy who thrives on activity and being engaged in the high school and college communities I've been part of...but it's also more than that...I love the often perfect weather that seems to show up in the MIDWEST in the months of September and October...I love more mundane things like college football Saturdays...and I love all the new things that fill our family life as we re-enter the school year season and get connected to new friends and new experiences...
And I love one other thing that I've even reconnected with again this fall...the beautiful game we call soccer in the USA and the joy of being part of a team that plays a season...these two months are forever etched in my own yearly calendar as the times when I'm supposed to be on a sideline watching diagonal through balls get played, head balls won, and half-volleys cracked into the corner of goals...and it's something I've fallen in love with beyond my expectations...
This fall of 2010 has been one of the busiest in recent memory in terms of activities, new programs, lots of relationships, management responsibilities, and time required at our various CU campus initiatives...often times, the schedule threatened to exhaust me and leave me worn out to the point where I've found myself losing a bit of the fire and passion for what God has called me to do...
And in the midst of those moments and seasons of life, I've discovered that the antidote I need to inject into my life is to spend time with something I truly love...something that strangely restores my energy and enthusiasm instead of wiping me out...these moments are often to be with the people that I love the most...long time friends and Ingrid, Olivia, and Trey...creating memories with them makes my heart full and fills back up those wells of passion and joy...
And then perhaps most strangely for so many of my peers and even my fellow Americans, I find that my heart needs for me to walk out to the soccer pitch...a few years ago, I ended up having to walk away from the fields where a major chunk of my heart was poured out and built strong for many, many falls in a row...I missed coaching and its emotional roller coaster ride for sure...but more than that I missed being part of the sport...being part of the game the world loves in a hands-on way...being part of a bunch of guys that care so deeply that they commit almost silly amounts of time and emotion to its pursuit...
The soccer coach here at CU has become one of my best friends quickly on the campus and graciously has invited me to step back inside the soccer world in a small but significant way for me...the days when I walk from my office to the practice field are ones that cause me to walk with a smile on my face...and I still even find myself going back to old habits as I'll wear some CU soccer gear to the office on game days...
And when I stand on the sidelines during our matches, I am reminded of how good it is that God created these things in our world that give us great joy, great pleasure, great heartbreak...things that we do very much love...and I often offer these strange prayers of thanks for this game that I've fallen in love with...a game that has brought into my life many of the people whom I love most deeply...a game that has enabled me to fall in love with the cultures and peoples all over the world...a game that I love coaching my son in as he cracks a left footed volley to my great surprise...a game that has helped allow me to connect in new places every time I've made a major transition in my life to a new place...a game that I grew up playing but is something that I seemingly enjoy and treasure even more as I age...
The soccer schedule is winding down for Trey and the CU guys this very week...and I'm already feeling that tinge of sadness as winter will soon be here and soccer on grass will disappear around here...but in my heart, a love will still burn and flicker...and I reflect on the truth of Proverbs 4 where Solomon writes about how our heart is indeed the very "wellspring of life" for us...and I am reminded that I Corinthians 5 rings true as the love Christ pours out upon us does in fact compel us to pursue with passion that which God invites us to be part of in His world...
The other day I went out to practice on a gorgeous October afternoon and offered a quick reading of I Corinthians 13 and reminded myself and a bunch of college soccer players how blessed we are all to love what God has gifted us to do...how beautiful the love is that teammates have for one another as they share these truly unique corporate experiences...and how remarkable it is for us to be able to create memories and moments that will forever shape and stay with us as a Christian soccer community built upon a love for a beautiful game, for each other, for the Kingdom work it allows us to do as we live and bask in a love that runs so deep...
Three things will last forever...faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love...I CORINTHIANS 13:13
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