Early this morning, 8:25 am to be exact (I was late), Kat Jo and I rushed from the house to Belmont UMC to meet a team of people who would receive the day with children from the Golden Triangle Fellowship of our church on a soccer field in south Nashville.  Ken had collected a number of rad soccer gear from his community and Justin, Heather and a couple of others were there to make sure the children got safely from their homes to the soccer field with Vicki’s help.


The process of gathering children, making sure they were safely on the vans and getting from point A to B was Holy chaos. If it were not for Vicki, the eagerness of the children and my commitment to do the task before me, I think I would have bailed. Oh my goodness,  I was a tad bit stressed and whelmed by it all.

Breathe.

One of my friends joined the caravan on our first run to the soccer field, where students from Belmont University’s soccer team greeted us. The weather was perfect and the field was so peaceful, ready for these little feet to run and kick. I quickly introduced Ryan to my friends from BUMC and the student leaders from Belmont University and left him to take photographs while I went on run number 2.

While waiting for Vicki to run back over to Turtle Creek apartments from Haywood Lane apartments to make sure all the children getting on the vans had permission forms, I got a call from Ryan. I was a bit nervous to answer because I thought he was going to say something went wrong or he had seen enough and was parting.

So I answered it and heard something similar to this Facebook status he posted probably before he called, “(I am) shooting pics at a soccer clinic for refugee kids from Burma. I feel the presence of God on this soccer field more than any church building I’ve ever been in.”

The invitation for him to simply come and see, without giving him too much detail, led to a worshipful moment for him in one of the most unlikely of places and new possibilities for ministry and relationships.

Craziness.


The day was nothing short of wonderful! Once I got planted in one place, I had my camera out some but spent most of the morning and afternoon running with kids, laughing, kicking a soccer ball and enjoying time with my friends who I was able to share one of my most favorite things about being a member of the Belmont UMC family. I could not have written a better day for myself.


After my last bus run, Kat Jo and I headed to Target to get some stuff for Arts in the Village. As I was walking in one of the children of the GTF who attended the soccer clinic was walking out with his older brother and mentor with a new soccer ball, his new jersey was still on. We just smiled and said “Hello!”

So cool.

I can only imagine the number of seeds that were planted today in this organized and love filled offering by some of the neatest college students I have met in Nashville.

May we all know the joy of encountering Love in some of the most unlikely of places. It is a heck of a good thing my friends, a heck of a good thing. Crazy beautiful to be exact.