Soccer

Well it is Tuesday evening and.... guess what? Andi and Dad aren't going to soccer! Yay!! I am very glad they had a good season and had so much fun, but it will be very nice to have them home Tuesday and Thursday evenings and not have to go to two games each weekend. I do love to watch her play though, she's getting really good and her games are so exciting! :D

Anyway, while I was thinking about soccer (Oh yes, I do spend hours thinking about soccer each day. Just kidding.), I realized that being on a soccer team is kind of like being a Christian on God's team.......
Andrea has two soccer practices each week. These are like our time at church. We have someone instructing and teaching us about the ultimate, long-established rules of the game of soccer, or the Bible.
The coaches try hard to get everyone on the team to run each day to become a better athlete. They are continually strengthening themselves and trying to be a better player and please their coach. The girls never want to be at a plateau, they are always striving to be a better player and member of the team.
This is similar to being a Christian. Each and every day we have spiritual disciplines such as reading the Bible, memorizing, praying... etc. Like athletes, we should strive to continually be a better Christian and know God more fully.
On the days my sister's team doesn't have practice and is not running, they have games against other teams. Instead of 'games', we as Christians are in a battle. We are fighting the enemy team. The thing is, we have two major advantages. #1 We have God, the Ultimate Coach, on our side. #2 We already know who is going to win. We are! Jesus will come out victorious!!!!
We need to be encouraged and keep fighting the battle for God's glory! We are the victors!!!

Press On

This Friday and Saturday we went to a homeschool conference called INCH (Information Network for Christian Homes). We went to a few workshops and also did some shopping for school curriculum, books.... etc.
I thought I would share a few things from a workshop by Sarah and Stephen Mally called Preparing Young People for Mighty Works. Most of these things do not only apply to young people but to all Christians!
~God is anxiously waiting to give us an assignment.
Whether this assignment is at home, church, in the neighborhood, or in Africa, God has has included each of us in His master plan.
~Seek God's kingdom first in your education.
This was originally for homeschoolers, but I think it kind of applies to everyone. The main reason we homeschool is because we want to learn more about the Lord and grow closer to Him.
Deuteronomy 6:7 ...And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou risest up. We need to make sure that we are still centered around our main goal. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do academics, I'm just saying that we need to make God our priority in our schooling. Whatever anyone does, they should never let time with God or learning about the Lord get pushed aside to be done 'later'.
~Always be showing the love of Christ and ministering to others.
Some good ways to do this are: Going to nursing homes, prisons and hospitals, hospitality, home Bible studies, handing out tracts..... and of course there are tons more ways!
~ Be steady on the battlefield!
The victory will be ours! We are in a raging battle against Satan. The awesome thing is, we already know that we will come out the victors!!! But we need to press on while we are here on earth and win as many to Christ as possible.

That was kind of long.... sorry. There were so many more things that we learned and even more that were just great reminders. Thanks for reading!
PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL!!!!

Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.