Homelessness and Lacrosse

Sometimes, I think that God has given me my passions just so that he can have a good laugh. This week, I took some time to step back and think about where God has really placed his heart in me. As I was thinking, three words flashed through my head: Inner City and Lacrosse.

This blog is a clear testament to the fact that I love working in the inner city. Sometimes, the people I work with are a little rough on the outside. Sometimes, they're rough on the inside too. I'm not always placed in the safest situations, but I'm o.k. with that. Psalm 91 reminds me I'm being watched over. I'm not always around people that look like me. And it's not uncommon to talk to someone who suffers from addiction, or broken relationships and to see that as much as I love them, they may never change.

BUT, I also meet people every day who are changing my life. I experience unconditional love in a way that I've never seen it before. I meet the victors who have lived through everything life has thrown at them, and I've heard their stories of triumph. I see the staff I'm working with push through exhaustion to continue to patiently love the teens we work with. And I see people who have nothing to offer share everything they have.

I can not deny that I am passionate for my job. I love it.

For anyone who does not know, this past semester I started a prayer ministry for the Men's Lacrosse team at Gordon, with help from their coach and one of my mentors. At times, the team was frustrating. I was irritated with some of their daily choices. Their attitudes got to me. I see so much potential in them.

BUT, just like with the homeless ministries, the good far outweighed the bad. I heard stories that only God could orchestrate from players of the team. As I prayed for them daily, I knew that there were 30 other girls on campus praying for at least one player every day. I saw the teams attitudes on the field begin to mirror the attitude of Christ. And I watched some of the team start to understand that they are leaders with influence on campus. Their coach played a large part in this, with the example that he set forth for his team. And as prayer was poured into the team, they began to follow their coaches example.

What am I getting at? Just like I can not deny that God has shared a little bit of his heart with me for the homeless, the poor, and the broken in the inner city, I can not deny that God has shared a little bit of his heart with me for the Lacrosse team at school. When I take the time to actually think through this, it BLOWS me away. These two groups of people could NOT be more different. But, I love them both the same. Both have hurt me, and both have taken me in and loved me. In turn, I have promised both of them that I will love them unconditionally, and I will never cease to pray for them.

This unconditional love is something that I know I can only have received from God. And it floors me that if he let me love both of them, he can only love them so much more than I can fathom. If he can love these two extremes through me, he must be able to love everyone inbetween with this same unconditional love. I don't know how he does it, and I don't want to know. I like that right now, I have the luxury of stepping back and being amazed by the extremes of his love. It puts a smile on my face, and it gives me the encouragement I need to keep walking in the middle of his love :)