Play For Hope

I prayed that God would reveal His will for me through the desires of my heart.  I love Africa, I love sports, I love helping people and I love kids.  It was not difficult for me to obey the Lord when this opportunity presented itself.  To me it was obvious what needed to be done and I was excited.  During the preparations I was completely at peace about the decision to travel with Olivia to Rwanda for 7 weeks to help develop a sports ministry program throughout Kigali.  Many thought I was taking a big risk, even putting my daughter in danger.  There are thousands of kids living in Rwanda, does that mean they are all in danger too?

Anyways, the long travels to get there were a bit lonely but we were so happy to finally arrive.  Rwanda is a beautiful country.  The city seems a little polluted but the country side boasts incredibly green terraced hillsides and enormous volcanoes toward the DRC (Congo).   The neat shape of banana plants are scattered everywhere.

Olivia and I jumped in to help with a soccer clinic the afternoon we arrived.  We learned the sites we would be hiking to for the next 6 weeks and we met the kids, many of whom would soon become our friends.  We adjusted quickly to being out all day in the African sun and the red dust.  Olivia learned how the other kids avoided becoming walking balls of dust by the end of the day.  The most difficult part was fitting in naps, but we managed in the car or during short lunch breaks.  We needed to be able to keep up with the 5 other young, recently graduated college students on our team.  We were in good shape going in to this, but I think most of us learned how much our bodies and minds could really handle.  Every time we thought we were exhausted, God gave us more strength.  If we reached a hill we thought we could not climb, the Lord helped us run up it.  Now I know that if there is something I think I can’t do, I’m not trusting in my God.   Myself, I can’t do much, but through me He has done so much.  (And in this case, it feels so good to be used.)

Yesterday (back in Oregon) I went for a run with Olivia in the jogging stroller despite the recent heat wave here.  Along the way we came upon a walker.  She was a little over weight and she carried a little cup (of coffee or water?).  I gave her the thumbs up to encourage her as we passed each other.  She stared hard at me and said, “I don’t know how you do that!”  I thought, really? I bet that lady could jog with a jogging stroller if she just believed that she could.  I have thought about this concept over and over, and finally I am writing about it…I wish I could write it how I was thinking it when I was running yesterday.  But the point is I don’t think people realize their potential and it makes me sad and a little disappointed.  I encourage everyone to do something that seems challenging…you will learn so much, about yourself and about faith.  God doesn’t ask his disciples to sit back and sip lattes in front of the tv and think about how they can’t run more than 10 steps.  He tells Peter to walk on water (Matt 14:29), what is He asking of you?  What ever it is, He will give you the strength and wisdom to do it.  Even when Peter’s faith wavered and he began to sink, Jesus immediately stretched out his hand to help him…he won’t let you drown either.  In Nike’s words, “Just Do It!”