Sally = gem!

Our third week of camps was in Erin, a very familiar place. Heading into the week, I knew that I'd be seeing so many familiar faces, in kids, youth, parents, and the church. That excited me, because I knew it woul dbe an amazing week.

This week didn't disappoint. We had 61 campers, about 40 returning campers, and 21 new ones. It's always interesting to be in the situation of so many kids that know the ropes and routine. They give the answers before I'm done asking the questions. They know the key points of a certain skill before I even instrust the skill. They know the rules of a game before I explain it.

And oddly enough, they want to play battleship, even though they know how it works.

Somehow, I knew God would stir up something new this week, though. The whole rain starting at exactly 3 pm is old news, haha...but God still reminded us of His faithfulness this past Wednesday, when the first drops were felt at 2:55. Awesome.

Carla had more than a couple kids that she had been rpaying for and working on to get out to camp, and they finally came this year. Awesome.

But, (Dan, Sue, Renee, Julie, and Matt: this story is for you), I want to highlight one special champion, Sally.

Sally was here at camp for her fourth time. If I think of a gem, I think of Sally. She's one of the most energetic, hyper, happy, exciting girls I've ever coached. Her favourite part of the day is Coach's Corner, and she is very ready to tell anyone that.

On Thursday, at lunch, Sally came running up and was really excited. She said that on Wednesday night she had got on her knees and commited her life to Jesus. I pulled out my laptop, and wrote down what she was saying, because I told her I needed to share it. I wanted to encourage her, let her know how much prayer has been given up for her specifically, and how excited the other coaches would be.

These are her words, not mine, about her experience:

When I first came to soccer camp I thought it was just about soccer, but it wasn’t, it was more about God and Jesus and everything they stand for. It just touched me, the coaches' stories went straight to my heart, some of what the coaches felt wasn’t nice, but for some reason I wanted to feel it too and feel that God was there for me. When I decided to commit my life to Jesus, I really felt something, I didn’t do it just because my friends or the coaches did it. Not because they would think more highly of me. I did it for myself and God.
It just feels so good…every night I go to bed I feel so filled. It’s like there was an empty part in me but now it just feels filled in. I love that God and Jesus are there for me, it makes me so happy. I just feel so great. I really wanna thank all the coaches I’ve ever had. But mostly I want to thank God and Jesus, because they were the ones that really led me to this point.

Sally is a champion. Every week she was the girl who asked all the good questions, and was always so interested. She told me, though, that it has never felt like this before. She said she has a feeling inside her that she just knows is real. Real, and better than ever before.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving Sally.

Thank you, for an amazing week.

More on other aspects of camp later...