A soccer mom at 76??
Yes, and I am loving it. God opened doors to provide a soccer ball to a group of young men, 14-20. Week one: 11 “bad boys”, who had never set foot in a church before, caught sight of the boys at church kicking a ball around and came to see what was up. They stayed for church and 7 got saved and immediately there were 14 young men in the “club”. Week two: we officially launched the Victory Evangelical soccer team with 20 plus players. Week three; The players filled out the allotted 30 members and of course some uniforms had to follow the ball and the first game was won. We are in week 6 and so far the team has won all but one match of the 6 games played.
We were able to attend the last game and I was amazed to see some who didn’t even have shoes that matched let alone the right shoes for the game. But they played with such heart and didn’t give up. I am praying God will let us be a blessing to them and to let us continue to be blessed by their enthusiasm and joy for both the game and Jesus.
Let me share just a few testimonies they shared with me.
“The Victory team has enabled me to utilize my leisure wisely. Before I had joined the team I was not a believer but now I am born again” (age 17)
“The Victory Evangelical team has changed my life and enabled me to grow spiritually and is changing the lives of many youth of my age. (age 18)
“Victory soccer team has helped me to abstain from drugs and changed me to a spiritual life.” (age 16)
“The Victory soccer team has enabled me to abstain from bad companions. Before I joined the team I was not saved but now I know Jesus”. (age 16)
All 30 of them gave me a brief testimony and each alone would have been well worth the “price” of a ball. How wonderful is our God to allow us to have a small part in the lives of these precious youth. They even asked me to come often and talk to them about spiritual things to help them grow and become strong for God and be able to witness to other youth as they play different clubs around the area.
Those who before had turned to drugs because they had no HOPE now have hope, eternal life and a new exciting life to grow and live for Jesus. They are anxious to play the “game for fun” and use it to witness to others of the joy they have found in Jesus.
I Timothy 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work…” NLT