Relationships. I just ended a wonderful conversation with a lady that I was introduced to yesterday. If you were to listen to our conversation you would have thought that we have known each other for years, or at least have met on a few occassions in the past and were catching up. That is one of the wonderful blessings from God that I am so thankful for.
I mention that not only because of the great feeling I have at this moment from this conversation I just had, but because it was the foundation on my day. From the topic at Bible Study this morning to just about every encounter I had throughout the day, it was all about relationships.
This morning started off as the last few days. Breakfast consisting of mostly Nutella and then off to the field. I really wanted to ride the bikes again, but come the end of the day I am thankful we didn't because I don't know if I could have physically made it back. Practice in the morning was mostly hitting. We did 6 station hitting which took more than an hour. I pitched live batting practice to all 22 campers. I was already tired, and a bit sore, to begin with but I made it through. It wasn't pretty, and I can't move now. It might an Advil PM kinda night.
Bricks/Panini's for lunch on the field again. I was able to sit and talk with many of the women and men attending this camp. I am learning, and understanding a little more German. What really amazes me is the difference in culture. I can't get over how different we all are, but amazingly how simplistically similar we are also. It has challenged me to think about my belief system, not as I question whether or not it is right, but how I as an American have come to believe the things I do. The Germans, as well as most Europeans, are very analytical and VERY intelligent. It is almost foolish for them to believe in something they do not see, and I have often heard the words spoken here that "Jesus was a great man with good teachings and the rest of the Bible is just fluff". They have no desire to want to know God, nor do they care about what comes after Heaven. It reminds me of how thankful I am that I can have a real relationship with a living God that has created both Heaven and everything on this Earth. As I have these theological conversations with these wonderful people, I am lead just to pray for them. My heart breaks for them because not only do they not know Jesus, but they have no desire to get to know him at this point either.
We finished the afternoon off with an intersquad scrimmage again. They played for over 2 hours and I played with them some. At 2:30 I was completely exhausted!(I believe some of them were too.) I hit them extra ground balls because they desperately wanted to go until 4:00. I will be honest when I say I struggled to hit these balls. I had no energy, not muscle strength at all left to hit. We made it until 3:00 when we decided as a group that we are going to end our practice time with the understanding that I would take them to the beach to work on sliding, diving, and laying out for balls. Of course I needed gelato before that, but they were ok with that.
As I got back to the hotel and waited on the girls, I had a great talk with Tom Roy and even Simon joined in also. We sat for a while until I remembered I needed to walk across the street to the beach. We worked on diving, catching, and sliding and I tried to explain as much as I could to them. Of course, I had to get in the water. I can now say that I have stepped foot/knees into the Adriatic Sea!
We all sat around on the beach and talked for a while afterwards. It was a gorgeaous day and I was learning so much about life in Germany and how they have come to play softball. They were fascinated that people actually get burnt out from playing and wished that they could have played so young and for so long. It made me very thankful. I had a great one-on-one conversation with a girl I would consider a great friend now. She opened up and shared some of her beliefs on heaven and God and she let me share some of mine with hers. Please pray for her and for many of the others here.
Tonight's dinner was actually just average. Pork chops and french fries were the main course again. I was discouraged because I can get that in America and because it wasn't very good. We are going sight-seeing and shopping tomorrow afternoon and I am having Brian and Tony take me to a good Italian restaurant. I will be happy if I get lasagna and a canoli. That is my goal.
After dinner we had a bible study where we talked, actually discussed Jesus even more. Relationships again. We are here building relationships and I feel very close to many of the people here. Even Sarai. The wife of a German baseball player. He is a Christian and helps coach this camp. She speaks some English, but German is definitely her native language. I feel as if I have met her, or know her more than just meeting her a day ago. Thank you God, for these relationships and the friendships I am forming. I pray that the Holy Spirit contiues to move on the hearts of the people here, and I pray that you please use me as you desire. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment