What 43% of a football looks like I have had sponsorships coming in quite regularly since February. Special and big thanks to everyone who has stepped up and helped make this event something I will be able to participate in. Tonight or tomorrow, I will be seeing coach and hope to get a solid figure. Unofficially, my sponsoships are over 43%. Hopefully they will account for a total of double that, we'll see...
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Top of the RHS gym I am a member of the graduating class of 2000 from Ramona High School. I qualified for Nationals as an Olympic Style Weightlifter 3 times during my high school career. Twice I did not go because of finances. The third time, as a senior, I did not go because Armando the mechanic could not fix the van within 8 hours when the a/c compressor busted one early morning at 2am in Tuscon, AZ. I would like to say, "Blast you Armando..." but I've learned to forgive the good hearted mechanic as he gave me a life long-lesson that I won't ever forget... Take advantage of opportunities when you can, if you can. I also played volleyball for 3 years at RHS, and contributed to making RHS Men's Volleyball a respectable force to face in California. My Senior year, we made it back to CIF for the first time in many years, after a winning season. (The year after my former teammates made it to the semi finals in Southern California... lost in 5 games by a spread of about 2-4 points in the final match against La Jolla) I played freshman football my freshman year, and participated in spring training the following spring. I quite football after that in order to be a student leader in my church's youth group. My senior year, I considered coming back to football, but after having to choose football or being a leader with the Jr High ministry, I finally decided to stick with student ministry. Sometimes I wish I would've put off helping out in ministry for a 2 months, but as i reflect back on the decision, I have to think i made the right decision, because at the time, it was my way of putting God first in my life. Something I need to think about much more frequently than I do. Anyways... I mention all this because I believe I was a decent athlete (although my brother was better... an incredible wrestler who won many meets and regional titles... definitely a name among So Cal high school wrestling back in the day.) ...I mention all of this because my greatest compliment of my high school career had nothing to do with athletics, I believe it had everything to do with my heart. I remember sitting in youth group, and my youth pastor chose one particular youth group at the end of the year to brag on us seniors. When he got to me... he said, "I hope you FLUNK." And it was emphatic too! At first I was a little confused, because if you ever make it to Ramona California, nestled in the hills of San Diego County, you may drive by good ole' RHS, but what you will see is something that looks like a low security prison with chain.link fence bordering the entire perimiter of the school. Those of us who graced the paths and grass know where to slip in and out, but to the untrained eye, finding a way in unoticed would be challenging. To say the least, repeating a second of high school was the last thing on my mind. Reverand Jim Roy said, "I hope you flunk..." but then he continued on with how much of a joy it had been to have me in his ministry, and I've never forgotten it. Hopes of me flunking has been one of the greatest, if not the greatest, compliment I have ever received. As I look back on our (Beth's and Mine) time here in Croatia... I'd have to give myself an F a couple times when it comes to dealing with culture stress, putting others before and above me...aka, not being selfish... I'm probably flunking the encouragement grade and building up Croatians rather than tearing them down, especially on the football team. For that I'm sorry, and I try to stuff down my pride at every practice to share God's love and joy with my teammates... these past 15 days have been tough with cancelled practice due to weather. Tomorrow I will focus a little more on trying to leave a legacy for flunking for the right reasons instead of the wrong ones. Pretty much the opposite... I enjoy life in Croatia. It is much different than sunny San Diego or Motor City (Detroit), and because of that, there is a lot here that interests me. Walking around downtown is like stepping back in time to the 1700's when buildings were all fancy looking, you know, that European style look which influenced the early American colonial buildings. The people are different, the mountains are different, shoot even the cars are different. To say things here are unique to my home culture would be an understatement, and I enjoy most things unique. However... there are some things that get on my nerves. Without going into to much detail, one thing that can drive me crazy is the sports mentality here. For starters, almost no girls play any sports. For P.E. they typically practice dance routines while the boys play basketball, soccer, handball, etc. American football is a growing interest among Croatians. And those who play American football like to talk tough and go to the gym, but come one drop of rain and these tough looking guys turn into little girls afraid they'll melt away like the wicked witch of the east, ruining there chance at keeping up with miss Honey Booboo in the next beauty contest. I get it, it's not usually super fun to practice when it's wet, but this past weekend, practice was cancelled as the ground was moist due to the rain from the night before. I have to admit, there was some moisture in the air, but not to the point of sprinkling. I've got 3 weeks till training camp, and I was hoping to use the practice time to get some good football reps in, but I guess I'll just have to depend on the personal training I've been working on alone. Today was our last day of Peewee Football Day Camps. I've never really been a fan of wearing football jerseys, or any jersey, that was not my own. It's starting to grow on me. My church back home in San Diego has/had a flag football team. We're really a bunch old dudes who think they're in high school shape... But hey it's fun. Anyways... I sported my church jersey during peewee football this week :) That and wearing a sweatshirt underneath my jersey makes my muscles look bigger than they really are. The Stupid Box Beth and I are getting ready to leave Croatia and go to the States. We should be home stateside for at least a year. Therefore we are beginning to pack up for the move. We have some good friends that have a place we can store stuff while we're gone, so Beth got a jump-start yesterday on packing while I was gone at football day camp. We went to Bauhaus not too long ago. (european style home depot) While there, we bought a bunch of small and medium size boxes... now we are regretting it. The boxes don't fold like normal boxes. Find out the real story on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151314822097187.1073741826.510782186& Day camp kids ready for the snap One of the cool things that I get to do here in Croatia is teach fun sports such as football and wakeboarding. After 3 years of practice, I've figured out a decent system of teaching football to kids that is both fun and educational. There are a lot of rules that we have to learn, which makes football boring. However, without rules, football is simply running around with an egg-shaped ball while clobbering whoever you want. That could get boring, especially if you have no clue which direction you're supposed to run, and excitement turns into utter confusion. Many times, the kids I work with know very little about football other than you get to hit people with your body, and you run around with said egg-shaped ball. Today, we started a day camp for kids, connected with a short faith based teaching program. Our kids today already had a bit of experience, so we advanced further than for a typical first day. Interceptions are usually a fun experience to watch. (the coaches referee game time). The play begins normally. QB calls, "Hut" the center snaps the ball, the defense attacks, QB drops back, unloads the ball, the defender is in good position, catch said egg-shaped ball, and... everyone stops. The wrong guy caught the ball and no one knows what to do. I love watching it take place. The referees immediately yell, "Run, Run, Run!" You can physically see the gears turning in their heads when all of a sudden, everyone gets it. The ball carrier bolts in whichever direction he's facing, the former offense swarms said ball carrier asap, and organized chaos continues. Fun times! Getting the football lines ready at camp Currently i am at the camp facility we are connected with here in Croatia. The camp is located in a village called Severin na Kupi. Severin is the village, and "Kupa" means "river" in Croatian, so the village is "on the River". The camp here has seen many years of ministry after it was acquired by DPB (the croatian initials for Scripture Union) Right now is the training weekend for volunteers who will donate their time and vacations during the summer to make a difference in the lives of Croatian and international youth. I won't be able to make it this summer as I head home with my wife to the states on May 16th. (at least that is the current plan) However, my mission and DPB are very much connected here in Croatia, and I heard there would be some good bible teaching from the book of Ephesians, so I accepted the invitation to come and join the group. The biggest take away from our bible time this morning: God is so full of love, that before he made creation, he and Jesus laid out the plan to redeem mankind from sin. How incredible! I'm not really much of a techy guy. Not really into facebook or other social media, so trying out this blog is a bit of a stretch. However, my wife loves social media and enjoys posting quotes between the two of us. Here's a couple of our greatest moments:
March 19 While watching Lost, season 5: Justin: Every time Ben gets hit... Me: ...an angel gets its wings? Jan. 26 While watching Les Mis: Me: which one is Russell Crowe? J: him (pointing to Javert) Me: what's the other guy's name? J: Wolverine This one's more of a conversation: Jan. 19 Current debate in our house since I'm reading through the LOTR again: J: why do you take it so personally when I say Legolas is a fairy? Me: because he's not a fairy. He's an elf, and he's cool. J: but he runs around writing poetry and singing and playing on a harp. Me: he doesn't play a harp, and only the greatest people can write poetry and remember the poetry of old. You haven't even read the books. J: I'm still saying he's a fairy. Me: he's an elf and a warrior. Are the dwarves fairies because they know poetry? J: the dwarves are just goofy. Everybody knows that. Me: *facepalm Today I preached at my church. Talked about how God set up a system of laws, so people could have a chance to fix the sin issues in theirs lives, the only problem is it never really solved the problem. But God had a bigger plan in mind, and that was the gift of life through His Son Jesus when he died on the cross for us. The reason we have Easter, which is comming up.
After church, I went to football practice, and we had a decent install of our defense (I'm playing corner with the Zagreb Thunder, which makes good practice for Team USA.) Then a 2 man film crew came to film a commercial with a few guys from the team...a 5 minute water break turned into a 1 I basically spent my warm time clearing the snow off of a 1/3 of my little practice field. It took about 45 minutes of running the shovel back and forth. The neighbors are pretty cool though, they either watch a little in confusion as to what I am training for, ignore me, or stand at the fence and watch for a couple minutes. |
AuthorI love God and people. And hope that my life will help others find a love for God as well. Archives
April 2020
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