Futbol & Faith

“Hey Stu!” Lucio shouted as we were all peacefully eating breakfast at 6:30AM in the morning.  “Are you ready to play some soccer today?!”

I replied, “More than ready to play with you all, my friends who I will miss dearly!”  I felt like an older brother to all of these shoe shine boys.  After many months of spending so much time with them, this day was a special gift from God.  An invitation for all of us to play on the same soccer team in a tournament containing eight teams (6v6 per game), with plenty of skilled Guatemalans to go up against.  Our team consisted of four of the shoe shine boys, Marvin, Henry, Ryan, and myself.

Eating breakfast with Lucio, Pedro, Victor, and Olvidio.

We all decided to wear USA jerseys, and the Lord graciously provided jerseys for the shoe shine boys to keep.

As we traveled by “Chicken Bus” together with our lovely short term team from Michigan, we soon arrived at a school that hosted the tournament, with two nice fields, this was rare for us to see, but more rare for the shoe shine boys to play on such a spectacle.

When everyone arrived, we all huddled in for a prayer of thanksgiving to play our best before the Lord, using this opportunity and our abilities that He’s given us to satisfy our desires in playing a sport that we love, for His glory and the good of our teammates and opponents. Soon thereafter, the first two games commenced with everyone giving it their all!

“I really want to win this tournament, for the shoe shine boys.” Henry and Ryan told me. And I said, “Me too, and I pray that the Lord opens up a way to win so that their hearts will be opened more to the glorious wonders of our Father, who offers forgiveness of sin, loves them dearly as His children that He created, and that they are not forgotten, but known deeply. Either way, no matter what happens, let our prayer be that the Lord will let Himself be known in and through us for Jesus’sake.” We were all ready to play as a living sacrifice, and this time reminded me of my college lacrosse days and high school soccer days where I remember two profound parts of the competitor’s creed:

“I do not trust in myself.

I do not boast in my abilities or believe in my own strength.

I rely solely on the power of God.

I compete for the pleasure of my Heavenly Father, the honor of Christ and the reputation of the Holy Spirit……

(Me playing lacrosse in college; Messiah 2007 – Alumnus #11)

……I give my all – all of the time.

I do not give up. I do not give in.

I do not give out. I am the Lord’s warrior – a competitor by conviction and a disciple of determination.

I am confident beyond reason because my confidence lies in Christ.

The results of my efforts must result in His glory.

LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN.

LET THE GLORY BE GOD’S.”

The tournament was a process of elimination, so you had to win in order to play another game. Through prayer and giving it our all, through God’s strength, we won the tournament!!!

This really meant a lot to the shoe shine boys, to win a tournament with friends, and to experience something that they have never experienced before, giving all the glory to God.

Ryan, Henry, and I after winning the tournament.

Tournament Champions! Me, Olvidio, Pedro, Marvin, Ryan, Henry, Lucio, and Victor (from left to right).

“For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.” –Colossians 1:29

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More pictures of my time in Guatemala:

My Special Treasure girl’s orphanage.

Margori, Me, and Joselin (my sponsored child).

Cornerstone Church June team, the Shoe Shine Boys, and I.

Ryan, Henry, and I.

Joselin and I listening to music on a Chicken Bus with My Special Treasure and the Cornerstone Church June team.

Thank you for all of the support you have provided me in this time in Guatemala, for believing that God would work in and through me to make Himself known through Jesus Christ – from emotionally, logistically, financially, and most importantly all of the prayers, I have felt the presence of God more than ever before.  Through the good and bad, I am blessed nonetheless, my soul has come to a deeper conviction of the promise from Jesus in Matthew 28:20, “…Behold, I am with you always…”

Thank you again, and I love you.

Love Him!

-Stu