After a VERY long day behind the wheel yesterday I made it home in the late evening last night. (Side note: for future van rentals, rent from Midway if at all possible!:)) It was a great trip. The guys did extremely well. We had some very interactive devotional times together focused on the concept of faith – Hebrews 11. All of the guys made it to the top of Mt. Sacajawea – overcoming fears and thoughts of “this is crazy!” They had great attitudes about camping in Yellowstone and even better attitudes about doing a 6 mile hike to Fairy Falls and Victory Geyser – both very beautiful sights. One of the most stretching aspects for some of the guys was the relational one – meeting so many new people. Justin and Jason both testified how this was stretching but how they really enjoyed it. All of our guys (and me) loved our host (Scot Smith - of Bridge Builder fame), and were all sure to get his phone number and address. He was very moved by the week as well as he shared with tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat on Sunday morning. I will blog more about this trip, as it was very impactful to me as well.
Quick Warrior update: After we “shocked the world” with our first victory 37-35 on Tuesday July 22nd, we entered the tournament on Saturday (July 26th) as a “dark horse favorite.” In other words, nobody wanted to play the “buzzsaw” also known as the Sunshine Warriors. Due to some family travel and other circumstances we entered Saturday mornings tournament with only 6 players – 5 sophomores and 1 senior – all under 5’11”. However, we overcame our limited numbers and limited size with tenacious, ball-swarming defense and fast-paced, “basket attacking” offense. We outplayed Judson Baptist the entire game. Unfortunately, we ended up tied at the end of regulation. In overtime, we seemed to run out of gas and Judson pulled away. Next up…Uptown Baptist – a team we should have defeated during the regular season. I wanted this one bad, and so did the guys. We again outplayed them and out hustled them the entire game. We ended up pulling out a 6 point victory. Next up…South Shore United Methodist. After playing two Baptist teams earlier in the day it was nice to go head to head with “the Methodists from South Shore.” It was evident in the early minutes in this our third game of the morning, that the Warriors were running on fumes. We played sloppily and just couldn’t get anything going. We kept the game close, but they pulled away in the closing minutes. The guys felt good about their effort in the tournament and so did their coach. After the game we had our annual trip to Bacci’s Pizza for Chicago’s biggest pizza slice. We talked about competing in Breakthrough’s spring league. The Warriors will be back. Please keep praying with me that the guys on the team that don’t know Christ would come to know Him.
Quick Warrior update: After we “shocked the world” with our first victory 37-35 on Tuesday July 22nd, we entered the tournament on Saturday (July 26th) as a “dark horse favorite.” In other words, nobody wanted to play the “buzzsaw” also known as the Sunshine Warriors. Due to some family travel and other circumstances we entered Saturday mornings tournament with only 6 players – 5 sophomores and 1 senior – all under 5’11”. However, we overcame our limited numbers and limited size with tenacious, ball-swarming defense and fast-paced, “basket attacking” offense. We outplayed Judson Baptist the entire game. Unfortunately, we ended up tied at the end of regulation. In overtime, we seemed to run out of gas and Judson pulled away. Next up…Uptown Baptist – a team we should have defeated during the regular season. I wanted this one bad, and so did the guys. We again outplayed them and out hustled them the entire game. We ended up pulling out a 6 point victory. Next up…South Shore United Methodist. After playing two Baptist teams earlier in the day it was nice to go head to head with “the Methodists from South Shore.” It was evident in the early minutes in this our third game of the morning, that the Warriors were running on fumes. We played sloppily and just couldn’t get anything going. We kept the game close, but they pulled away in the closing minutes. The guys felt good about their effort in the tournament and so did their coach. After the game we had our annual trip to Bacci’s Pizza for Chicago’s biggest pizza slice. We talked about competing in Breakthrough’s spring league. The Warriors will be back. Please keep praying with me that the guys on the team that don’t know Christ would come to know Him.
3 comments:
man I really loved spending time with you and the guys! I love you bro and look forward to more visits (either here in Cali, Montana, or Chicago). Tell all the fella's I said hello and that i had a great time with them.
Grace and Peace,
Go WARRIORS!
I love you too man. It was so good to see you guys. I only wish we would have had more time. I hope to make it out to Richmond again soon. Tell all the fam I said hi and that they are all PHE...NOMINAL!!
You were all very special and children of God. "the Lump" is still there, I was truley blessed with your visit.
My encouragement is for your return (and my visit to Chi town...).
God bless
Scot
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