This One's for You, SAU Cougars

Today, I have mixed emotions-- I'm 'sad' if you will. I wish I was in Orange Beach Alabama with my best friends. I wish I was on the field with them playing in the NAIA National tournament, for the National Title. But that brings me to my next two emotions, excitement and thankfulness. I am absolutely thrilled and proud of the Spring Arbor University Cougars! For the first time in school history, they are headed to the NAIA National Tournament final! (Which I called at the beginning of their season, just as a side note.) This team deserves it, and I am soo incredibly excited to watch them absolutely kill it!! (I also wish I was in the stands watching, but watching on the tv will have to suffice!) I am so happy for some of my best friends, who get to play the sport they love (some of them as seniors for their last time), for a God we all love. Before every game we read part of Philippians chapter 2, verses 1-11, which reads;

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,   then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

At Spring Arbor University, THAT is why we play soccer, to give God the glory using the gifts and talents He gave us; with each other, as a team. And THAT is what  I miss.

                                                      But, every good story has a happy ending, right? 

 That brings me to my final emotion, thankfulness. Although it is never what I would have imagined for myself, I am thankful for God's plan for my life. I thought I had my life figured out, and boy was I wrong. Once I let God take control of my life for real, my life began to change radically. I was no longer worried about myself, what others thought, or what I was going to do next. I just trusted God. 
I've learned that His plan is SO Much greater than anything I could have or do myself. While playing for a national soccer title would be an ideal 'plan' for me, it's not what God has for me, and that's okay. He has given me countless opportunities I wouldn't have had, if I was still at SAU. Opportunities like assistant coaching a high school team, being head coach of a JV basketball team, making history as a team for the DeSales women's soccer program, meeting incredible people, and having them pour into my life. With that being said, as much I wish I was in Alabama right now, I'd have to say I'm just as thankful and happy to be in Quakertown, PA, surrounded by so many amazing, supportive people that God has so graciously put in my life. 

 I've been reading Philippians 3 the past few nights, which reads; 

"12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
I'm thankful I can trust and believe in God, who is who He says He is. I'm thankful that His plan is good, and He is good, all the time. 
Good Luck today Cougs! I miss you all, but am so proud of each of you! Cheering from PA today! Beat Lindsey Wilson, and bring home a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. 


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