Spring Ideas

Since we're having such lovely warm weather this week - I'm thinking SPRING! 

About a month ago, while I was helping my dad deliver for FedEx, we had a package for someone who lives at the TOP of our mountain! Their driveway is actually the old road that used to come into the Cove...in like the 1800s or something. Dad and I actually walked up to the top of the mountain to deliever the package and I got the idea for a new goal in 2012!

Random Life Goal #321568 - Hike the old road into the Cove!

Now is as good a time as ever to start getting ready! I live in a mountain and I've never even explored off my own property! There's so much up there. Yesterday was such a lovely February day for a hike and that's exactly what I did. With Josiah as my guide, we walked from my house to "The Meadow" at Cove Valley Camp. We live like 1/2 mile from there, but seriously - it was  less painful to walk through the woods than to walk down the lane and along the road. Maybe because the woods aren't as boring, or maybe I'm just crazy..haha...but I enjoyed it so much more!

Maybe this is why.... I found a tree to play in!

I am going to gain better sense of direction because of this! I do get quite distracted in the woods and want to take pictures of so many things, but it was quite a relaxing hike. So before the snakes come out and you start sweating in 5 minutes of walking.......I'm going to go hiking more often.
    I often dream of standing in high places - like the tops of mountains, skydiving out of planes....those types of things. If I could be any animal - I would be an Eagle and soar all over creation..speaking of which we saw/heard one yesterday! Since I cannot yet fly all over creation...I might as well walk to the top of the mountains! There's something so beautiful about standing at the top of a mountain looking over everything below! You feel so free, so peaceful - unless of couse you're scared of heights - I don't want to keep dreaming about it, I want it to be a reality!

Thus my renewd interest in hiking.



Josiah, me and Rochelle at the top of the meadow

  

My challenge to you: What's a random life goal and when are you going to do it? 

Now is just as good a time as any! Go for it, and watch what God does in your life and how he uses you!



God Bless
♥

2012- a new year for many new adventures.

It’s hard to belive 2011 is over and 2012 is upon us! It’s also hard to believe that it’s been a year since I was in the Dominican Republic! Wow! Life does get faster the older you get. 

2011 was the only year that there were four teenagers in my family. Dad stated last week that he will have teenagers in his house for more than 10 years. I told him he should consider being a youth pastor, since he’ll have lots of experience. Haha.
 

The world is APPARENTLY ending this year!!! Lots of people may have jumped on this bandwagon while many others are rolling their eyes. The truth is- the world could very well end this year, but it may also go on 100 more years. We don’t know. I can choose to believe the world to end this year and base all my decisions on the fact I want to do so many things before I ‘die’. I could also choose to place my trust in the One who created the world and believe that he does know the time of the world’s end. I choose to live everyday as though Jesus is coming back the next. What would happen if every person lived that way? What would we accomplish? How many lives would we change?
 

When the new year begins we start to think of things to change. new years resolutions we call them. I was thinking about it in December and trying to decide what I’d like to change in 2012. I decided NOT to make a ‘new years resolution”, because I never keep them longer than January anyway. Instead I wanted to make it something that I would actually DO the entire year. My goal for 2012 is to read through the Bible in 365 days. It’s been a rewarding experience to re-read passages that I’ve read before and to see the new things I learn. So far, I think my favorite passage is Genesis 22:1-19. It’s the story where God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. I find this passage so amazing. Abraham trusted God so much that he was WILLING to give his own son as a sacrifice. He knew beyond his own understanding that God would provide the sacrifice, and IF he didn’t, then he would give Abraham another heir...

. ¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 ² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

 ³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

 ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

   “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

   “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

 ⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

 ⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 ¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

 ¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

 ¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[c] because you have obeyed me.”

 ¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

This passage is so challenging to me. I have noticed that I have a hard time being willing to do certain things for God. I will do them, but out of obedience,...not because I actually WANT to. God's been showing me that a willing heart will bring even more reward than just being obedient. 

So my question to you is: Are you WILLING, or just being obedient? 

God Bless.

♥

This may be the only time I ever see snow in October in Pennsylvania

    It was supposed to be a cold and cloudy day. I was praying for the past week that it would NOT rain on October 29th, because I was planning on taking pictures of the Nauman family. All was going well, until suddenly the weather channels went crazy with news of this huge winter like storm that was going to hit of all days...October 29th! 


Well that is a predicament isn't it? But I wouldn't believe it till I saw it. Saturday morning, Rochelle came into the room and informed me that I needed to wake up and look out the window and see the snow. That got me out of bed, as I was excited to see snow! 


The first snow of the year is always the best, and I was ready to get pictures as soon as I got dressed. And here are a few of them...

I went sledding and had a snowball fight and built a snowman. My words of wisdom---you are NEVER too old to play in the snow! But wearing jeans isn't the best idea. I was cold when we went inside! :) 

you can't sled without screaming...

Enjoy the weekend and God Bless! 
♥

Raiy Day Thoughts

Here I sit on another rainy day. I know why the level of depression is so high in Seattle! I quite enjoyed the week of sunshine we had. The trees are changing color, and the weather is basically perfect, except that it's raining. 






  
 But I'm not here to talk about the weather.....



I've been reading Francis Chans' book "Crazy Love"  if you haven't read it yet-read it. It's been a super challenge to me. I'd like to share a excerpt from chapter 7(which I am currently reading). The chapter title is "Your best life....later". Basically it's about living our lives on earth focused eternally. The author shared a story about his friend...

"A friend was faithfully giving 20% of his income to God, and suddenly his income dropped drastically. He knew he had to decide whether he should continue to give in a way that proved he trusted God. It wouldn't have been wrong to lower his giving to 10%. But my friend chose instead to increase his giving to 30%, despite the income reduction.

  You can probably guess how the story ends. God blessed his faith and gave him more than enough, more than he needed. My friend got to experience God's provision firsthand." Crazy Love; Francis Chan pg. 122

My jaw dropped when I read this. The idea seemed so outrageous! I thought about what it could imply in my life if I started giving more to God. The part- time job I have now, isn't even part time. It's more like 1 or 2 days a week. I haven't worked in two weeks. I get overwhelmed when I start to think about all the bills I have to pay and everything in life that costs money. Such as gas. Not to mention putting in applications and that horrid waiting period for an interview then not getting the job. I don't even have enough money to my name to pay what I owe on my car. When i get paid, I automatically think though all of the things I want/need to spend my money on. The thought hasn't even crossed my mind to give 20% percent of what I make to God. Am I content to give only 10%? How much do I really trust God to supply my needs? Does my trust in God outweigh my fear of the unknown future? 

As I continued to read, a statement stood out to me. The passage of scripture was Luke 9, in specific verse 3... "He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt."

"This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. But when Christ says to count the cost of following him, it means we must surrender everything. It means being willing to go without an extra tunic or place to sleep at night, and sometimes without knowing where we are going. God wants us to trust Him with abandon. He wants to show us how He works and cares for us. He wants to be our refuge." Crazy Love; Francis Chan pg 123

 Trust isn't exactly easy. It goes beyond what our minds can fathom. We are looked at as crazy in some cases, laughed at and who knows what else. But as we continue to trust beyond all doubts, God will come through. This kind of trust sounds and awful lot like faith does it not? Maybe the two are more connected than we give them credit for. 

Where does that leave me? Sitting here, wondering how I'm gonna make it in life, but knowing that my God WILL supply all my needs. :) 

I leave you with this verse and a challenge to take your trust to another level. 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.                                                         Psalm  28:7

God Bless
♥

Remembering the Warmth of Summer

   October is upon us and my nose is cold. I've spent the morning going through pictures for our family's Christmas card. So many summer memories I've had! And  being the slacker I am, I did not share even one quarter of my adventures with the internet world. Thus I will share with you some of my favorite pictures from my favorite times during the summer of 2011....


Summer Camp at Cove Valley camp started off with a scream and a squeak! There was a mouse in the girls cabin during Staff Orientation week. Some of us spent the first night holding out in the bathroom, where the nest was, in order to catch this mouse. Stephanie Burt named him Walter, but alas we could not catch him. Yes, we are using an Apples to Apples box cover. It brought for tons of laughs though and Walter made it almost the whole summer, until one of the male staff members killed him. RIP. Walter.

Baseball. Baseball.....more Baseball. Yes, baseball is a major part of my summer. This year, I tried to make as many games as I could to support....but  more so...to take pictures of the games. Here are JUST A FEW of my favorite Baseball pictures.....

Mercersburg Colt Team

Britt(18) pitching for St. Thomas Legion

the up and coming baseball star

One of Josiah's teammates at bat

In between when we HAD to do things....there developed a 'club' so to speak. We called it the "no life'' club. This resulted in thrift store shopping one random day in Waynesboro....and purchasing water guns from the Dollar General which ended up in a huge water pistol battle through the streets of the town......

In July, Josiah had a baseball tournament by the beach!!!!! Once I knew about this tournament, I made sure I had the whole weekend blocked out, because I love the beach and it's been 5 years since I've played in the waves. We brought our friend AJ too, since he and I needed to be at Cove Valley Camp Sunday at 2pm. For the record it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Rehoboth Beach to my house driving 85mph average with two 10 minute stops. But it was totally worth it. 

 My aunt and uncle have a house by the beach that we got to stay in. It was great playing in the water! Rochelle wouldn't get in for a long time and I asked her why. She said "The last time I was at the beach, I was too little to get in the water." Once she got in, she loved it! I forgot how much sand gets in your swim suit at the beach! Sheesh, I probably had enough to fill a sand box!!

Well, I need to get back to business. I'm designing our family's christmas card and I gotta get this finished so I'm not last minute. 

God Bless! ♥

Greetings Cyber world! Victoria is back! I've been neglecting sharing stories from my life with you guys, and for that I apologize! 


 My story for today comes from my morning adventure. CLEANING MY ROOM. You all know how that goes...painful. I was picking random papers off of a shelf and came across one that said "Technology for them country folk". It was one of those email type things... I have NEVER SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE IN MY LIFE(and have no idea where it came from, unless an angel delivered it for my reading pleasure...or my parents thought I would like it), and after reading it I thought it would bring a good laugh to anyone who knows even the basics of computers. So if you're reading this-THAT MEANS YOU!


Enjoy!
And Remember to SMILE!
God Bless♥  

Technology for Them Country Folk

1. LOG ON: Makin a wood stove hotter

2. LOG OFF: Don't add no more wood.

3. MONITOR: Keeping an eye on the wood stove

4. DOWNLOAD: Gettin the farwood off the truk.

5. MEGA HERTZ: When yer not kerful gettin the farwood.

6. FLOPPY DISC: Whatcha git from tryin to carry too much farwood.

7. RAM: That thar thing whut spits out the farwood.

8. HARD DRIVE: Gettin home in the winter time.

9. PROMPT: Whut the mail ain't wen it's cold outside.

10. WINDOWS: Whut to shut when it's cold outside.

11. SCREEN: Whut to shut wen it's black fly season

12. BYTE: When them dang flies do.

13. CHIP: Munchies for the TV

14. MICRO CHIP: Whut's at the bottom of the munchie bag

15. MODEM: Whut cha did to the hay fields.

16. DOT MATRIX: Old Dan Matrix's wife.

17. LAP TOP: Whar the kitty sleeps.

18. KEYBOARD: Whar you hang your dang keys

19. MOUSE: Whut eats the grain in the barn

20. MAINFRAME: Holds up the barn roof.

21. SOFTWARE: Them plastic forks and knifes.

22. PORT: Facny Flatlander wine

23. ENTER: Northerner talk fer "C'mon in y'all"

24. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY: When ya cain't 'member whut ya paid fer the rifle when yore wife asks.

25. MOUSE PAD: Hippie talk fer the rat hole. 

Oatmeal and more oatmeal

  Last night was a special night. I got to go to the projects in Hagerstown. Scary place right? Not so much actually. 

The evening went like this:

3:30pm -Text from Hannah "hey wanna go hand out oatmeal in the projects around 7?"
Me: - sure why not. I just have a few places I need to go in Hagerstown. 


  We met at Lowe's  and to our astonishment the oatmeal we were handing out was in a MASSIVE skid. The size was what watermelons are in in the store. You know, those big cardboard things? Yeah, one of those...filled to the top with packets of instant oatmeal. We put handfulls of packets into plastic bags and filled up the trunks of vehicles.  Then we drove to the projects. 

A trunk full of oatmeal bags

That's me..cheesing while bagging oatmeal(*photos credited to Molly Lake)

My first thought when I heard projects was rundown houses and trash everywhere.... That's not what we saw. 

Actually the houses were in a little better shape then my grandma's neighborhood in California.  Basically it's a development of townhouses/apartments set up into courts. We arrived at the first one and went around to the houses and handed out oatmeal, potatoes and spinach. It was actually a lot of fun! I was apprehensive at first, being all the stories and movies you see about the projects, but it ended up being pretty amazing. When I got out at the first court, I felt like I was in Africa or the Dominican. There were children running around outside, dressed kinda shabby. They were so cute! I just wanted to hug them! I loved seeing the expressions and reactions when we told the people that the food was free. :) It was WAY more rewarding than going shopping! 

My favorite story was of this little colored girl, maybe 5 of 6.  She came up to the trailer and got a 5lb bag of potatoes. She took off, hugging the bag and yelling "Momma! We got potatoes!!!!!!" while skipping back to her house. It was so precious! And the thought crossed my mind of whether she actually had food to eat...? Seeing the smile on her face made the whole night worth it. :)


  Half way through our trip, we needed to bag more oatmeal. I hopped in the back of the pickup and bagged and bagged oatmeal. When we started it seemed like God just kept multiplying as we went....meaning we weren't making a dent in the box. I did find the bottom and we DID run out of oatmeal at the last court! Praise God! 

I got to ride around in the back of the pickup too. That was fun! :P


By the end of the night I was covered in oats(from the packets that were ripped) and smelled like rotting potatoes(since the food was from a food bank the potatoes were getting a little old). Natalie said we smelled like the towns in Africa.




We all agreed that it was so awesome to be able to go on mini missions trips in our own back yards. They're cheap too, just costs the gas to get there. While I would love love love to have tons of money so I could go all over the world, I am learning to look for the mission fields in this area, until I have the funds and opportunity to go international.  In Mark16:15   says "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.."  Hagerstown...and even where you live is part of "all the world"....and they need the Love of Jesus just like starving people in Africa. 


My challenge to you as I look back on last night and look ahead til the next time is to look for the "mini mission trips" around you. You never know when God is going to use you to bless someone. :)





God's Blessings to all of you!
♥

My hat goes off to anyone who farms by hand!

Peppers & Tomatoes in 2010

Wow. I fail at updating this thing! 

Right now, my arms feel pretty numb and like they are going to fall off at any second! Oi oi! The reason.......today...I became a 'tomato farmer'. Well maybe not a farmer farmer....but I planted a garden 3/4 full of tomatoes and 1/4 of peppers. 

Salsa garden we like to call it.

We usually try to plant one every year, but it didn't look like it was happening this year. I did not like this idea, because I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE tomatoes. And not being able to eat them all the time when they're in season did NOT appeal to my mind one bit. I mentioned it to dad yesterday and he thought it was a good idea to get the garden ready and the tomato plants in ASAP. There are VERY few things that will get me up early, especially on a Monday! Tomatoes must be important enough that I was up and back from H&M Greenhouse with tomatoes and peppers ready to be planted before lunch time. .....but first....the garden had to be turned over and weeded.



by hand.




As I swung the pick ax(because I didn't want dad to hurt his back) my mind went to my trip to the Dominican when we walked by people working entire fields by hand. And I'm complaining about a 10 ft little garden! HOW IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE FARM BY HAND???!!!! We are so spoiled in America!! 

ouch

It took about an hour or two to get the ground ready then the job of planting. By then I just sat down in the garden and planted everything. Phew! 

My weee little tomato farm

I don't even know HOW long we were out there, but finally it is finished and all we have to do now is wait. Believe me-I had the best cold shower of my life! And I feel extremely accomplished right now. Accomplished and tired. I'm going to bed early that's for sure!




But I still can't get over the fact the people do that every day, all day, wow....


So, if you're ever wondering why Victoria hasn't posted words of wisdom or the hilarious adventures of my life in a long time......between baseball season, trying to get ready for the summer, editing photos/video, and just not feeling lead to write....I haven't been on here! :)

Have a Blessed week!


Dios te bendiga ♥

NOTE: When sleeping on a plane, be aware of your surroundings- you might wake up with your head on some black guy's shoulder

Finally, some time to blog.

Currently, I"m sitting on the couch at my Aunt house, watching Psych on Netflix and hearing screams coming from the cousins playing Wii upstairs. It's 10am and breakfast is finished.
I still haven't adjusted to Cali time...it's so weird being 3 hours behind the majority of my friends. I always have to think about what time it is in PA if I want to text someone.

The weather...chilly! It hasn't even hit 80 degrees! The day we arrived - it was warmer in PA than it was here! WHAT?! Usually it's in the 90s by Easter!

Wednesday...our day of travel started out early. 2am early. We boarded our plane at 6:30 for the bumpiest ride of my life. I have never felt so sick! I almost barfed...yeah...it was bad. When we arrived in Chicago, we were informed that our connecting flight was delayed for an hour. What better way to pass the time then to sleep on the airport floor. I've wanted to do that, and now I HAVE.
9:30am central time we got on the plane for a 4 hour flight to Sacramento, CA.  A much smoother flight than the previous one. BUT this flight was completely packed! The downside to flying Southwest is that you don't have assigned seats and every open seat happened to be the middle seat by the time we were allowed to board(for future-they board business class first). I chose the middle seat between a middle aged lady with an amazing smelling salad for lunch, and a man about 30 bald and dark skinned. I never got to ask him what nationality he was, but he had somewhat of a Spanish accent. Quite the character. I didn't have much space to move around, or even write in my journal. I did however somehow find someway to sleep the majority of the flight. The only problem...although...it is the highlight of my flight.....is that there isn't much space for sleeping and SOMEPEOPLE.....just might wake up with their head on a tall, dark man's shoulder.  :) Yeah..that'd be me..and it was pretty embarrassing, awkward..and hilarious!

We arrived in California around 12pm pacific time, were picked up be grandpa and headed to his house. Finally a bed, my legs and body was so sore...and grandpa's bed was just perfect...with built in massage. :) :)

We've spent the majority of our time here hanging out with our family. LOTS of walks to the park and school and anywhere really. I do enjoy walking everywhere! I've played Tennis for the first time in real life! Pretty fun, except I hit the ball too hard and it flies out of the court completely! Haha!
Yesterday, we got to visit mom's old neighborhood and a friend of hers from high school. I quite enjoyed the trip and hanging out people I've only heard my mom talk about. The houses in North Highlands reminded me alot of houses in the Dominican....and alot of the landscape around here does as well. No banana trees, but lots and lots of palm trees. I even found a BRIGHT yellow plastered house! I was so excited! I even cooked a Dominican style meal for my family last night and need to get some more plantains so my cousins can try them. :)
The most exciting thing around here.....OH MY GOODNESS...they have ICE CREAM TRUCKS!!! I was beyond words excited about this, that I stalked outside GG's(mom's friend from H.S.) house until they came down the street the second time so i could get a picture. The one-a dark grey/black, old van...no way would i buy ice cream from that....it looked way to sketchy! The other one is a big white van that doesn't look as scary, BUT the guy driving looked like Osama Bin Laden!  I don't know if I'll get ice cream before I leave or not.

Well, now that I have actually updated ya'll, I'm gonna go. Photoshoot time for my cousins! :) And more walking!

Till later....
God Bless!
♥

What starts as a passion, can become a ministry.

Britt pitching at a JBHS Varsity game vs. Northern 3/30/2011

With the grass beginning to turn green...


Actually yesterday as I was driving, I smelled that all to lovely smell of fresh cut grass! I was so excited! 
But grass is not the topic of this blog entry. Baseball is - sort of.

As any of you who are my friends on Facebook have by now realized by the abundance of pictures of my brothers caught in random sports like poses....Baseball season has begun! Baseball has been part of the family for about 7 years now. From Little League to High School  ball, we've done it all! I find it fascinating that the boys can still vividly remember a game from 5 years ago. Right down to the pitches and where they came across the plate, how they swung at it, and what went right...or wrong...in the seconds after it was thrown. Sheesh! I can remember a couple games, but nothing like that. I just remember being there and that they won. The score or how they won I do not recall. 

When I say Baseball is a FAMILY sport - I mean it. I remember last summer, coming home from working a tiring week at camp and finding out that I had to bring Daniel to Smithsburg, MD at 9am Saturday morning. And on a day that I just wanted to sleep and prepare for the next week at camp. Everyone in the family does their part. Making sure the boys have enough water and carbs. CLEAN uniforms. And of course...support on the field and personal photographer(even if it's 30º outside with blizzard like conditions).

Josiah batting in at JBHS Varsity game vs. Northern 3/30/2011

Until a few weeks ago, I saw baseball as a passion, but my view has since changed.


 Sometime in the past month I had a crazy dream where my family met a MLB player and started a baseball clinic/ministry type thing in a 3rd world country as well as here in the states. We got to travel ALL OVER the world doing what the boys love most...playing and coaching baseball. Naturally, I told my family about this and we all got a good laugh.


   But it's not too far off actually. Last night I went to practice for the team dad is coaching, which also happens to be Daniel's ball team. I was getting video footage of the boys batting so they could pick out what needed improvement. As I sat there listening to the boys chatter both behind me and on the field, I was struck with an overwhelming sense of the ministry opportunity my family has in this sport. 
    When you have a group of 13 boys ages12-14, you can imagine the conversations that go on. I was so proud of Daniel, who always seems to be the quiet one at home that nobody pays attention to, unless it's to yell at him for coming in the house covered in mud(which I for one am trying harder to always be encouraging to him). Quietly, but sternly, he kept telling the boys that what they were talking about was inappropriate. I sat there smiling, and so proud of him for standing up for what's right! :)
  
   I also got to watch dad as coach. What patience it takes with boys that age! Boys of any age for that matter. Mom kept rolling her eyes at how embarrassing he was, making corny jokes and doing the dumbest things to keep the kids focused on practice. The kids love it! But at the end of the day- he is just as real with them as a coach should be. Most of these boys, we've watched come up through Little League. Daniel's played with them and against them. We know most of their families at least by sight. You can tell which kids come from families that are closer knit, whether christian or not. It was interesting as I watched each boy come up to the plate. Body language tells so much and to see all the insecurity they have made me think twice about just blowing baseball off as only a 'sport'.  It is a ministry. Dad has the opportunity to encourage and strengthen lives of all those boys. Who knows, they might always remember him as the one person that showed them Jesus, whether it was by a smile, or taking time to listen to them. 


Britt, Josiah and Daniel have a different, but similar ministry. The teammate ministry. They play, practice, breathe the same thing as the other players. They see the game from the players perspective, they are looked at, not as a coach, but a brother. A Teammate. They have the opportunity to minister right where they are on the bench, in the field, stealing second base...who knows how God is using them this year as they use their passion as a platform for their ministry.




So what's your passion? What do you love? Because that can very well be the platform to your ministry.


Dios te bendiga
♥