Knee pads and shorts

Hopefully I can get through this blog without bawling like a baby...haha but luckily for you, you cannot see me if/when I do! :)

Okay so many of you know I was offered the amazing responsibility/privilege to coach freshmen volleyball! We are in our 2nd or 3rd week, cannot remember...and things are going great! What I love about the freshmen level is that they are still forming their habits and finding out what works for them...as well as learning learning learning! It truly brings me such joy to see the look on their face when they actually get it! :) So fun!

I have 11 girls on my team and one of them is a foreign exchange student from China-who always comes to practice in her school clothes. Before I go into my main point, I need to preface this by telling you more about her background. The exchange students must complete a summer course before school starts. The school has 30+ exchange students this year and every single one of them accepted Christ during that summer program-let the waterworks begin! It touches my heart so much because all of these kids had NEVER even heard the word JESUS before coming to CCS! How incredibly sad is that?! Can you imagine not hearing the word JESUS until you were 15?? I still cannot get over that...

During our coaches meeting, we were all challenged to "be bold for Christ". Growing up in a Christian home and going to a Christian school and constantly being around Christians-don't get me wrong I am in NO WAY complaining or making light of this fact...I just realized that I somewhat took for granted what "being bold for Christ" really meant! I really started pondering what I could do for my girls to show them "boldness". I had been opening and closing practice in prayer, but added devotions to the beginning of practice. Devotions on Tuesday talked about having a "Christ-like attitude" on and off the court. This to me was PERFECT. I told my girls that we are the ONLY christian school in our league! What a responsibility we have to show those schools Christ. Whether it be the way we respond to a call, good or bad, or even the way we respond when we win/lose! We should always keep in mind our attitude is more important than winning! The Christ-like attitude also meant how we treat each other! (my exchange student wasn't there during this particular devotion) I told my girls how she had recently accepted Christ and that as her teammates and sisters in Christ they needed to step it up and include her and show her what being a Christian really means. I left that practice, as I do every practice, praying that what I said in those 10-15 min devotions would have an impact on my girls.

I showed up to practice today and as I'm sitting there getting my devotional out and chatting with the girls, my exchange student walked up to me with the biggest smile on her face! This was pretty shocking to me because she is VERY quiet and very reserved. I looked at her and instantly smiled...I said "hey you're wearing knee pads and spanx"!!! Still with that big beautiful smile on her face she said "yeah my teammates took me to the store and bought these for me" (ok, I can finally see the keys).I wish you all could have seen her during practice-she was smiling and high-fiving left and right!  I cannot even tell you how PROUD I am of my girls!!! If that is not showing Christ then I don't know what is!!!

I am so excited to see what else God has in store for my girls this season. :)