big boy and fries

As mentioned in my previous post I had dinner with my parents and aunt and uncle tonight at good ol' Frisch's. It was good to see my aunt and uncle again, since I haven't seen them since my high school graduation about 2 1/2 years ago. I was especially looking forward to talking to my uncle again because he runs his own tire business in New York, and since I've been thinking more and more about what it takes to run a business I thought it would be good to talk to him, and he didn't disappoint me.

So as I was dining over a Big Boy and fries my Uncle Clay proceeded to ask me about Moody and how my time there has been. I told him I have loved it, and am glad that I went there. We then started talking about ministry, and what my plans were after graduation, and what I wanted to do with sports ministry. Questions all of which I have been thinking much about recently.

This is what I told him. I have believed for the past 4 years that God has called me to the foreign mission field to do sports ministry. What that looks like, I'm not quite sure yet, but probably along the lines of sports camps or a recreational center. The reason for this is because I have seen how effective sports can be in connecting with people that I have never even talked to before, or even more, people that don't even speak the same language as me. It doesn't matter, sports is a universal language, and I would like to use that to reach people for Christ. I have had a burden for people in Europe specifically because the church is almost non-existent in some parts, and the continent as a whole is very dark, spiritually speaking. Also, all of my sports ministry experience has been in Europe so I just feel like sports can be used effectively in that place.

I also told him of my inner-struggle that I have been having between media, video, tech on one hand, and sports ministry on the other. For those of you who know me know that I am passionate about both. I am a big geek, and I also absolutely love sports and physical activity, so much so that I have thought that I could do it for the rest of my life on the mission field. And now I just don't know if I'm supposed to choose one or the other, or I'm supposed to fuse them together in some type of way in ministry, which I could definitely do.

My uncle comes from the standpoint that people are needed in the American business life as well. He actually attended Moody for a semester and realized that he wasn't supposed to be in full-time ministry. But what he said was, "I realized that there were people at Moody that wanted to be Pastors but they didn't know how to make a living off of it. They didn't even know how to balance a checkbook. And I realized that I wanted to make a living." So he started his own tire business, and that is his field of ministry.

On my way back home I started thinking about what he had said about making a living. As I have been called to the mission field I had to come to the realization that I don't necessarily need to make a living. I could live life without having to worry about money and trusting in God to provide. I'm not saying that my uncle doesn't trust in God to provide, I'm just saying that in the thought process of being a missionary I have come to the realization that I don't need to make a living. Then again there are some days when I just wish that I had money so I could pay for school, or buy video equipment so I could pursue more of my video dreams. And maybe that day will come, when God provides me with a video camera, and a new computer so that I am able to do what I would like to do with video, but I just have to wait on that.

I write all of this to say, honestly I'm not quite sure what God would have me to do for the rest of my life, and heck, I don't need to know at this point in my life. LOL. I mean I'm 20 years old for cryin out loud. I still have a year and a half of Moody left, and then after that who knows what. But whatever I do I just need to seek God in everything that I do and He will direct my paths. I could live here in the U.S. run my own business, do video, do sports camps, and still do ministry in some way. Or I could go overseas as a missionary and do ministry. The verdict is still out, and probably will be for a while. But my internship this summer will probably help, I'm doing it with a Christian soccer camp organization called On Goal, well not officially, I haven't been accepted yet, but there is a good chance I will be, Lord willing. So we shall see.

I still have more to talk about so stay tuned for more insightful posts, well at least I hope you think they are insightful.

Also, blog recommendation of the week, ChurchCrunch. This blog has alot of great ideas for ministry and for the church. Check it out.

peace