I am enjoying the first days away from work at CU in several months this week up in the great white north of MN...it's a week filled with meals and coffee with long-time friends, time with family, a few sporting events, lots of WII, and some time to read and reflect...so here's a smattering of things that I'm most thankful for as I look back at 2010 and start peering toward 2011...
*Family...near AND far...including parents whose concern for my life never stopped when I left the house and the state...
*Ingrid...turned 40 this year...she's my rock and my greatest source of love and wisdom for all life brings...
*Olivia...so bright and a heart for her friends that's growing...love talking about faith and justice issues with here already...
*Trey...my sports buddy who always is ready for a game of catch or passing the soccer ball around...and who wants to be part of every piece of my life...
*CU in so many ways...a job I get excited about and that is growing...students who love God and are desperate to grow in knowledge and action...the soccer program--players, coaches, trips overseas, and doing something I love...leadership I trust and believe in and who I learn from...and a community to be part of--something so few have in their workplaces...
*Dental care for me when it's not even on the radar of the people I've met in all parts of the world...despite the pain and cost!
*The ability to change thousands of lives thru a soccer match and a basketball game...because we get to share God's blessings to meet the prayers of others...
*The joy of reading and writing and creating...and being allowed to do so almost every single day of my life...
*Friends in places like Charlotte and Chicago and LA and Minneapolis and Atlanta and Houghton and Detroit and Annapolis who I feel safe telling the whole story to about my life, and who sharpen me in ways I can't do on my own...
*The World Cup in Africa this summer...pure fun and joy and bliss...feeling so much a part of something thousands and thousands of miles away...
*ESPN...so shallow, but so true for a sports junkie like me...
*The church...both where I go weekly and so many places across the world...where God's people are at work doing Kingdom stuff in remarkable ways...
*And the blessing of following Jesus for another year...and believing that God's whisper, His voice is indeed worth hearing and obeying in my life...and living and experiencing His presence and power and care in the midst of the struggle and fears and dreams and questions this side of eternity...
The joy of the Lord is indeed my strength...and I am most grateful on a cold early winter night for that joy and peace that trumps all else as I look back at 2010...
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
HOOPS for H2O: A CU Men's Basketball Event for Clean Water in Kenya
Here's the latest collaborative event between and athletes and our ACTS social justice group on the CU campus:
The Cornerstone University men's basketball program and ACT:S student organization is hosting a unique global fundraising event at CU seeking to raise awareness and resources in the basketball and college campus communities to help provide clean water for a school community serving orphans in Kenya.
When: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Men's Basketball Game against Aquinas College
Where: The Hansen Center on the CU campus in Grand Rapids
Giving to the cause: All CU students will be invited to make a $5 donation to the project as the typical cost to attend a basketball game. (CU students do not pay to get into home games.) There will also be special water bottles on sale that night at the game, and anyone who attends the game will also be able to make a donation to the well project. All the proceeds from this event will go directly toward the building of a clean water well for a school in Kenya.
The goal: If we are able to raise $5,000 we would be able to fully fund the drilling, building, and community training for a well that will directly and immediately help save and improve the lives and futures of hundreds of school children and their families in Kenya!
Info about the Global Water Crisis: Over 1 billion of the world's most vulnerable people in our world lack daily access to safe and clean water, and water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year. Clean water is the foundation for other forms of development. Without easy access to water that is safe, countless hours are spent in water collection and household income is spent to purchase water and medical treatment for water-related diseases. Safe, clean water removes the single heaviest burden from the lives of the poorest people in our world. Not having to deal with this daily crisis means time for school and work, life and health, and allows individuals and communities to plan for tomorrow.
Our Partner: Living Water International served over 2 million people in 25 countries in 2009. LWI built 639 new wells and rehabbed 1126 wells globally in the last calendar year. Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by helping communities acquire desperately needed clean water, and to experience "living water"—the gospel of Jesus Christ—which alone satisfies the deepest thirst. To learn more check out: www.water.cc
WEBSITE LINKS:
Information Website: http://hoopsforh2o.com/
Online Donation Website: http://www.firstgiving.com/hoopsforh2o
A Special Christmas Invitation: Advent Conspiracy
All CU students are also invited to consider doing something different for the Christmas season this year. Students are invited to ask their family or friends to choose to make a donation to the CU HOOPS for H2O Project in lieu of receiving a Christmas gift this year. You can invite people to help give the life-changing gift of clean water instead of giving you a present.
You can see more about this idea at the website: www.adventconspiracy.org/water
The Cornerstone University men's basketball program and ACT:S student organization is hosting a unique global fundraising event at CU seeking to raise awareness and resources in the basketball and college campus communities to help provide clean water for a school community serving orphans in Kenya.
When: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Men's Basketball Game against Aquinas College
Where: The Hansen Center on the CU campus in Grand Rapids
Giving to the cause: All CU students will be invited to make a $5 donation to the project as the typical cost to attend a basketball game. (CU students do not pay to get into home games.) There will also be special water bottles on sale that night at the game, and anyone who attends the game will also be able to make a donation to the well project. All the proceeds from this event will go directly toward the building of a clean water well for a school in Kenya.
The goal: If we are able to raise $5,000 we would be able to fully fund the drilling, building, and community training for a well that will directly and immediately help save and improve the lives and futures of hundreds of school children and their families in Kenya!
Info about the Global Water Crisis: Over 1 billion of the world's most vulnerable people in our world lack daily access to safe and clean water, and water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year. Clean water is the foundation for other forms of development. Without easy access to water that is safe, countless hours are spent in water collection and household income is spent to purchase water and medical treatment for water-related diseases. Safe, clean water removes the single heaviest burden from the lives of the poorest people in our world. Not having to deal with this daily crisis means time for school and work, life and health, and allows individuals and communities to plan for tomorrow.
Our Partner: Living Water International served over 2 million people in 25 countries in 2009. LWI built 639 new wells and rehabbed 1126 wells globally in the last calendar year. Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by helping communities acquire desperately needed clean water, and to experience "living water"—the gospel of Jesus Christ—which alone satisfies the deepest thirst. To learn more check out: www.water.cc
WEBSITE LINKS:
Information Website: http://hoopsforh2o.com/
Online Donation Website: http://www.firstgiving.com/hoopsforh2o
A Special Christmas Invitation: Advent Conspiracy
All CU students are also invited to consider doing something different for the Christmas season this year. Students are invited to ask their family or friends to choose to make a donation to the CU HOOPS for H2O Project in lieu of receiving a Christmas gift this year. You can invite people to help give the life-changing gift of clean water instead of giving you a present.
You can see more about this idea at the website: www.adventconspiracy.org/water
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The End Comes So Quickly
So tonight a final whistle from the center referee blows, and at the end the shrill noise, the soccer season of 2010 for a group of young men at CU and their coaches is done...it still feels unexpected and sudden although you know that only one team in the country will end their season with a win and you've come to the point in the schedule where you won't be favored to win in any game you play from now on...and even though I've had many, many years of this particular moment, it still affected me tonight as I stood on the sidelines after our match against Davenport...
And here are some pictures of the feelings and emotions and experiences of a group of guys that have spent almost every single day together for the last three months...
*You see a senior guy with tears streaming down his face proudly telling the rest of the guys that he loves them and loves being part of this CU team...and that love is returned back to him...
*A freshman sits on the bench quietly amazed that his first semester of college is moving so quickly...and wondering how the next three years of soccer will be different than this year a of huge transitions and adjustments...
*A few players refuse to talk to anyone because they really thought they were primed to win and are left wondering if they could have done more…
*A sophomore guy wipes away tears because he just isn't ready for this season to end...and for the unique experiences the soccer season offers for his life and make it the best time of the year...
*A captain who tore his ACL weeks before the season was to begin embraces his brother with frustration over what he imagines he could have done to help the season go longer and looks forward to next August more than anyone can imagine..
*Several guys slowly unwrap tape from their legs with their bodies bumped and bruised and beat up from 3 months of intense physical work and contact...
*Players who have played few if any minutes on the field this year still mourn the end of this season where they have practiced and competed and made memories and friendships even if they haven't scored any goals or made spectacular saves...
*The coaching staff picks up litter and packs up the ball bag one last time feeling unfulfilled and yet incredibly proud of the growth of the players and men they've invested their lives deeply into at the expense of family time, other career opportunities, and daily contentment...
*A group of fans mourns the loss of one of their centerpiece social activities...including the girlfriends and roommates and family members who cried and cheered with all the good and the bad moments...
*And I walked away with one of our senior captains and leading scorer this year talking about what in the world you do when soccer stops after more than a decade of being focused on it as your job, your passion, your calling...
The end comes so very quickly...and with the ending comes a bit of sadness, shock, and strangely a bit of relief from the stress of games and performance expectations...but in the midst of the end comes a new season of life and soccer we now look ahead to...and that forward glance is filled with optimism at all the players returning, the gratefulness for having people to live all of life with from the this community, and the challenge of making oneself more equipped as a person and player to excel in the next season to come...
It is now past midnight and I know my son Trey went to bed sad tonight that he and I won't be standing on the sidelines of the WHAC Championship Game Saturday afternoon...and I'll feel a little lost tomorrow as I drive on to campus not being able to look forward to games on the weekends and being able to swing by practice and share my heart with these guys on my way home...but more than anything, I am filled and blessed to be part of a group and season that gives life to me and all who are part of the soccer program at CU...and I'll smile thinking how in 2 months many of us will be playing soccer with kids and teams in the Dominican Republic doing something we love in order to serve the poor in our world and experience Jesus and His love in a fresh way as a team...the end has come far too quickly...but for this team of followers of Jesus who come together to try and play the beautiful game in a most beautiful way the best seasons are still to come...morning will come after this night where the season ended...and the God who invited us and brought us together to play on His behalf has even more to come in the future than we can ask or imagine because His power and love resides in us...
With Thanks for this Season and Hope for the Seasons to Come...
And here are some pictures of the feelings and emotions and experiences of a group of guys that have spent almost every single day together for the last three months...
*You see a senior guy with tears streaming down his face proudly telling the rest of the guys that he loves them and loves being part of this CU team...and that love is returned back to him...
*A freshman sits on the bench quietly amazed that his first semester of college is moving so quickly...and wondering how the next three years of soccer will be different than this year a of huge transitions and adjustments...
*A few players refuse to talk to anyone because they really thought they were primed to win and are left wondering if they could have done more…
*A sophomore guy wipes away tears because he just isn't ready for this season to end...and for the unique experiences the soccer season offers for his life and make it the best time of the year...
*A captain who tore his ACL weeks before the season was to begin embraces his brother with frustration over what he imagines he could have done to help the season go longer and looks forward to next August more than anyone can imagine..
*Several guys slowly unwrap tape from their legs with their bodies bumped and bruised and beat up from 3 months of intense physical work and contact...
*Players who have played few if any minutes on the field this year still mourn the end of this season where they have practiced and competed and made memories and friendships even if they haven't scored any goals or made spectacular saves...
*The coaching staff picks up litter and packs up the ball bag one last time feeling unfulfilled and yet incredibly proud of the growth of the players and men they've invested their lives deeply into at the expense of family time, other career opportunities, and daily contentment...
*A group of fans mourns the loss of one of their centerpiece social activities...including the girlfriends and roommates and family members who cried and cheered with all the good and the bad moments...
*And I walked away with one of our senior captains and leading scorer this year talking about what in the world you do when soccer stops after more than a decade of being focused on it as your job, your passion, your calling...
The end comes so very quickly...and with the ending comes a bit of sadness, shock, and strangely a bit of relief from the stress of games and performance expectations...but in the midst of the end comes a new season of life and soccer we now look ahead to...and that forward glance is filled with optimism at all the players returning, the gratefulness for having people to live all of life with from the this community, and the challenge of making oneself more equipped as a person and player to excel in the next season to come...
It is now past midnight and I know my son Trey went to bed sad tonight that he and I won't be standing on the sidelines of the WHAC Championship Game Saturday afternoon...and I'll feel a little lost tomorrow as I drive on to campus not being able to look forward to games on the weekends and being able to swing by practice and share my heart with these guys on my way home...but more than anything, I am filled and blessed to be part of a group and season that gives life to me and all who are part of the soccer program at CU...and I'll smile thinking how in 2 months many of us will be playing soccer with kids and teams in the Dominican Republic doing something we love in order to serve the poor in our world and experience Jesus and His love in a fresh way as a team...the end has come far too quickly...but for this team of followers of Jesus who come together to try and play the beautiful game in a most beautiful way the best seasons are still to come...morning will come after this night where the season ended...and the God who invited us and brought us together to play on His behalf has even more to come in the future than we can ask or imagine because His power and love resides in us...
With Thanks for this Season and Hope for the Seasons to Come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)