Give and Go

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:8

This has been a busy and somewhat difficult week. The good news is that I've become a part of the fabric here at Bridges Academy, but with that comes the stark reality of the stories, struggles and literally life or death decisions the staff and subsequently the kids face here. I'll spare you details of these, as who needs another sad story out of Africa when there is plenty of hope and joy to be told of. So as I struggled a bit personally with all that I was taking in, I went about my responsibilities and set out to do them with excellence.

On Wednesday, in the midst of a driving rainstorm I had 12 girls sign up to be on the official girls basketball team (I teach all 35 girls basketball on Mondays). Since it was raining we could not make the 2 mile trek to the basketball court but there is a stand up hoop in the "shed" with what you might calculate as a half-court of space with pool tables and such on the outskirts. The girls all showed up anxious to go so we went for it, I made them run mini-suicides, ran through basic drills and then I taught them one play "give and go". Mind you, these girls have never played basketball before, so... much to my surprise when we played 3 on 3 competitions I saw the "give and go" executed perfectly several times without me even prompting them to do it. I yelled "That's what I'm talking about BABY!" and they fell on the ground laughing either at my excitement or my expression or both - I'm not sure?

For me, I realized that something is sinking in and if they get the "give and go", maybe they will take a few things away from our time in the Word together or the business & computer skills I am training them in. Even though I am just here to "give and go" I have to trust that God will use it to His glory and I will join these girls in their joy and laughter as well as pray for them in their struggles.

Today Pray for the basketball girls: Phola, Phumzile, Thobeka, Azile, Sive, Mimitha, Unathi, Zelda, Thandazwa, Yanga, Vuyiseka, Nolubablo for joy and perseverance.