Quarterback Princess Reigns

I’m sore, sun-burnt and happy.  I slept in this morning after a great night’s sleep.  I’m sleeping better the past couple of days and am so thankful for that. Thankful beyond words.  And I think I will be sleeping well tonight.  I’m really worn out from the day but more than that my spirit is more at peace then it has been in over a month.

Today was our Common Ground football game. It was a hot one but lots of fun.  I must say that I am quite ecstatic over my slightly sunburned/suntanned arms. Not just because I’m been grieving the loss of my summer tan the past couple of weeks (can we say "shallow") but because a sun-burn means summer and summer makes me happy.  While others celebrate the ending of summer with Labor Day, I continue to press on in my dedication to stretching the summer experience to the fullest.  Autumn is beautiful and I love so many things about the fall but I still need to squeeze out a few more summer days before I will concede.  I do believe there is something to the fact that the official last day of summer according to official calendars is almost always the day after my birthday.  The Autumnal Equinox begins on September 22 (ever so often it is on the 23rd).  Come on – that can’t be coincidence.  Anyway – back to the football game.  It was fun.  I hadn’t played in years which is amazing considering it is my favorite sport.  My grandpa gave me a football when I was in upper grade school and I use to play with it all the time.  In elementary school, our football coach was a female teacher and she was my hero.  I’d play with the boys at recess but couldn’t be on the team.  My favorite movie for several years was Quarterback Princess starring Helen Hunt (1983). Against all odds, she became the quarterback for her high school football team and of course, turned their season into a winning season.  And the cherry on top was that she was voted the Homecoming Queen as well.  How could I not want to be the Quarterback Princess?  But I wasn’t . . .   Oh yeah – back to the game.  So, we played for a couple of hours in the hot sun and we ended up with a tie game.  We had three new folks come out to play and two were girls that represented well. I was incredibly happy about that.  Some more girls who enjoy sports and getting a little dirty.  YES!  It was a great afternoon of fellowship and fun.  Plus it is always a great stress reliever to get out and play and sweat some.

Tonight I had a Common Ground lead team meeting and I’m excited about some of the discussions and plans we made tonight.  CG is almost two years old and we have seen some exciting ministry develop.  Every once in a while on a Sunday I look around our church and see the young singles there that I believe have made FBC their home because of what they have discovered in CG and it fills me with joy.  We have a new person connect to CG almost every week.  Today when these three new individuals came out to play football and perhaps for the first time in a long time had some great fellowship with some like-minded individuals their age, I have to think that there was some hope given to them.  Some hope that maybe they have found a Christian community that will meet their needs.  Perhaps a community that they will one day call home because it has become a family to them.  Perhaps a place where they will feel accepted, cared for, and significant as ever person should feel.  CG is this place for some.  It can be this place for many.  My prayer, my motivation for the work I do with CG is in the belief I have that CG can be a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven for those whom we seek to reach.  It isn’t there.  We aren’t perfect.  We sometimes act like brothers and sisters with one another – teasing one another a little too much.  But overall, I happen to think it is bursting with hope and possibilities.  I fully expect God to continue to do wonderful things through CG and I’m so grateful for the blessings that I have received and the lessons I have learned from my friends at CG.

Spider confession:  I have to admit something.  I’ve been stomping on a few spiders lately.  I’m rather disappointed in myself but I have good reason.  Lately there are spiders everywhere in my house.  The kitchen sink; the bathroom; my office floor and then the last straw – TWO in my bed on the same day.  TWO.  I’ve tried to be nice.  I’ve let them be so many times and trusted that out of mutual respect they would abide by my house rules.  But they have not.  Its me or the spiders.  Not a difficult choice in my book.  So, in the meantime, I’m stomping and wiping. If this continues, I may get really nasty and check out extermination plans. I’m looking for a company that has house-sized ziploc baggies. I’ll move out for a few days, they bag my house, all spiders suffocate. If you know of any, let me know.

Time to wrap this up. Back to work tomorrow and I have much to do this week before I go on vacation next week.