Sports

Today I had an awesome opportunity that I look forward to doing with greater frequency in the months to come; especially with a move to Douglasville pending in May.

I attended a youth sporting event.

It seems like such a trivial thing, right? I sit in the stands while the youth are out on the field playing whatever their sport of choice is.

But there is so much more to spectating a youth sporting event for me.

1) More often than not, where the youth is, the parents are. This gives me a great opportunity to sit down with parents and talk it up. I love those opportunities. It also shows the parents and the youth that I am interested in their lives outside of the church walls; that their lives are now part of mine. Its not just a job when you step outside of the "office space."

2) It provides me with more memories of the youth as well as conversation starters. I sent a personal text message to the students I saw play tonight (excepting one...I didnt have his number programmed into my phone; a problem I will remedy tonight) in which I cited a specific moment pertaining to them, individually. That meant the world to them all.

3) I get to meet some of the friends Ive never had the chance to meet during a youth event. This is especially true of high school sporting events - which is exactly what I attended tonight. Friends of the youth who are playing come to watch them just as I do.

4) Either before or after the games, in some cases, at least, the students are hanging out in the stands. This gives me the chance to just hang out with them. For me, that time is extremely valuable.

Anywho, tonight I watched Morgan Berry, Emily Lindall, Jessica Rudisill, and Ashton Phillips play soccer at Alexander High School. The girls let me know that they had a game tonight about a week or more ago. Ashton actually found me in the bleachers, and, when he told me he was playing in a game tonight, too, I made sure that I was there. This meant that I watched the girls play, ran to church for two meetings, then ran back to Alexander - just in time for the beginning of Ashton's game.

There wasnt a place in the world I would rather have been tonight than watching the youth play and spending some time with their parents.

PS: Ive announced this before, but if you let me know of games ahead of time, I will try my darndest to be there, my schedule permitting!