Josiah attends a fairly small school; there are 400 kids total in 7-12 grade. This year the school started a football team with 30 boys and (to my amazement) 7 coaches. Now, I love football. Everyone knows I love football, but seriously…7 coaches?

The school hired a retired local legend who almost 20 years ago led his public school team to three state championships. He brought with him a staff of men who he had either coached, coached with, or coached against. It was remarkable. I was fired up within just a few minutes of listening to him and thought again of the scene on the top of the sand dune in Michigan. Thankfully, this time there was no throwing up.

The coach thanked the parents for adjusting to the boys riding the bus home from games. “We go together; we come home together: Win, Lose, or Draw,” he assured us. He then told stories about what it was like to build a team from the ground up. “There were kids who didn’t know what a hash mark was. Can you believe it? Not knowing a hash mark?” he declared. Next he talked of how much the team would improve next year when they started filming games and exchanging film with the other coaches from our conference. “Did he really just say exchanging film?” I asked myself.

Although the football coach was the highlight, I had a chuckle about plenty of other things. Upon looking at her players, the field hockey coach commented, “Don’t they look like a group of nice young women? …No mud on them…Give them a stick and then see what happens!” The team stood up there awkwardly with a look on their faces that said, “Why do we have to wear a dumb skirt to this ceremony?” I was ready to grab a stick and join my sisterly kin. Alas, I cannot. Instead, I will force Abby to go out for field hockey. It’ll toughen the girl up when she joins the Chicks with Sticks.

A bit later, the cheerleader coach gave an impassioned speech justifying cheerleader as an athletic sport. “We sweat…there’s blood…and sometimes we get punched in the eye!” she proclaimed. The audience did not seem convinced, especially the seven football coaches. I must now regretfully confess that I was once a cheerleader. Although I played lacrosse in college, I was a cheerleader in high school. (I am only admitting this because I fear my sister will point this hypocrisy out in a comment to this blog.) Yet, when I looked upon the cheerleaders standing up there, dressed to the nines, I did not feel the same sisterly kinship. However, Josiah can certainly attest to the fact that I still love to yell loudly during sporting events and awards ceremonies.

The Cross Country coach was scribbling frantically up until his turn arrived. Another Cross Country mom and I were hypothesizing whether he was writing his speech or still trying to determine who lettered. The coaches give out awards, named after people in the Bible, to those athletes who exemplify spiritual leadership, excellence, perseverance, or sportsmanship.

The first award the coach gave was to the captain of the team. He had joined Cross Country three years ago to improve his health. He was extremely overweight. The first year, he ran the 5k in 36 minutes. The next year, he came to the team having lost 40 pounds. This year, he had a personal best time and ran the 5k in 24 minutes. It was a remarkable testimony and I am ever so grateful that the school awards those types of accomplishments.

To my surprise, Josiah won the Nehemiah Champion of Excellence award as the best runner on the boys team. He and another runner had battled back and forth throughout the season on who would finish first for the team. Towards the end of the season, Josiah started to win more often. At the conference championships, Josiah beat him by one second.

The cross country team competed well this year despite only having 4 boy runners and 5 girl runners. The girls team tied for best in Conference and 3 of the 4 boys finished within the top 25 at the conference meet. After the coach handed out the awards, the team moved into the hallway to receive their letters. The coach came back into the audience and sat down. The other Cross Country mom tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was going to give out letters. He replied, “Oh. We’re supposed to do that now?” The team was standing in the hallway trying to figure out what happened to the coach. Josiah came back in with a giant letter “F.” Being academically minded, I find the letter a bit scary.

In a fit of “Cross Country Dad,” Dale had emailed the athletic director requesting some effort be made to recruit additional runners to the team. (I know he should be stopped, but I can’t make him see sense.) In the reply, he was thanked for his concern and reminded that there are 7 fall sports competing for athletes. It remains to be seen if next year this “Cross Country Dad” will continue to pursue recruiting now that he knows he is outnumbered seven to one.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

I walked in the woods to hear God’s voice because all around me other voices intruded. I looked and listened for Him, but it was the enemy I heard first. “Don’t go walking in the woods alone,” he said. “You could be lost or injured. No one would search for you. Feel fear. See threat.” I began to mentally prepare for an attack and for getting lost. Then I heard God’s voice say, “Fear not.” So, I took those fearful thoughts into captivity, and walked on.

I walked in the woods to see God’s creation because all around me man’s creations intruded. God’s beauty shone in the small waterfalls of the creek; He made His power heard in the wind rushing through the trees; He revealed His restoration of life in the moss on the rocks. So many days I forget to look at His creation. The sky, the stars, the leaf, the flower, the rain, the mountain, the ocean, the rock, the bird all testify to the Creator.

A memory rose up. I was young and walked in different woods with my pastor. He stooped down and picked a flower. It was a Queen Anne’s Lace growing by the path. “I will show you why I believe in a Creator,” he said. Amidst all the tiny white flowers that made up the blossom, he showed me a small purple flower at the center. My pastor asked, “Who but the Creator would pay attention to such detail?”  I remembered to praise God for His creation and walked on.

I walked in the woods to find God’s purpose because all around me my purpose intruded. Praying, thinking, and pondering, I mulled over teachings and songs, successes and failures, sins and inadequacies. The dark brown of the trees, the dark green of the leaves, and the dark black of the earth all contributed to the darkening of the forest and the darkening of my thoughts.

Ahead, I saw something different, something unique. A white birch tree, reflecting the light of the sun, stood out amongst the darkness. It was not perfect. It had flaking bark, broken branches, and a crooked lean. I stopped.

“This is your purpose,” God said. “Shine forth My light in the dark place.” Again I am reminded that God does not need perfect vessels to shine His light to the world. He just needs willing ones. We may be flaky and broken, different and odd. “God couldn’t use me,” we think and we would be wrong. For when we are surrendered to Christ, it is He who shines through us.

Dear Lord, open my heart, so I will hear You. Reveal your creation to me, so I will praise You. Use me: flaky, broken and bright, so I will reflect You. I pray, through all this, unbelievers would see Your grace and come to know You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Take a walk in the woods or in a park and listen for God’s voice. Look for a unique part of God’s creation you have not previously noticed. Praise God for this creation. Believe that you are a unique part of God’s creation and praise God for making you. Shine forth His light.

Reflections:

Are you listening for God’s voice?

Are you praising God for His creation?

Are you fulfilling the purpose God has for you?

Power Verses:

Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Romans 1:20 (NIV) “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Galatians 2:20 (NIV) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

This morning Abby picked up her school sweater (jumper) that had been hanging on the back of a chair to dry. She touched the sleeves and realized they were still damp. She informed me, “The sweater’s not dry.” Being a mom, I replied, “It’s not that wet, just put it on.”

So, she put on the sweater and stood with her arms held disgustingly away from her body and gave me the look that all thirteen year old girls give their mothers when they obey their mothers full well knowing to the very core of their being that their mother is wrong.

I replied to this look with the standard Mom phrase, “It’ll dry.” I had already said this to myself earlier that morning as I was hurriedly stuffing a running shirt into Josiah’s gear bag.The shirt was damp, “It’ll dry,” I told myself.

Because I am a mom, I  was thinking of her spending an entire rainy, foggy day at school without a sweater to keep her warm. She had just recovered from two days of illness after getting soaking wet and cold at a party. In my mind, she needed her sweater…be it wet or dry.

There are always moments in a scene when you can step back from the edge of mom thinking madness, but it is so very hard. So instead of saying “Don’t wear the sweater,” I gave her a ridiculous mom solution. “Go upstairs, get the hair dryer, set it to high and dry the sleeves.”