We've been streaming the Olympics here, and my daughters' favorite sport changes every half hour. Today they were going to be gymnists, high jumpers, tennis stars, and sprinters. Since I spent so much time running and training in college, I can imagine the stress and the hard work that has gone into arriving at a competition where you represent your country, being the best of the best! Sometimes I break into a sweat as I watch the muscles straining at the start line, and my heart races as they sweep toward the finish line.
Although I'm in no shape to run the 100 meter now, I find the race I'm in still sets my heart beating, sweat beading on my brow. Tomorrow we start the summer program at the Orange Hat. Although the Orange Hat is a side ministry that happens year round three afternoons a week, for the month of August, the 150-200 children that are entrusted to me by their parents draw my energy, resources, and time, leaving me exhausted by 2pm when we all head home for the day.
After sending a video of what we're doing at the Orange Hat to my family, my sister wrote, "It feels like all your experiences previously have led to this, using all of your strengths." That's how I would feel at the end of the long jump runway. All the training had lead to this. And that IS how I feel about this work with the Orange Hat. From the curriculum writing, songwriting, skills training that we offer three days a week, arts two days a week, Nigerian history and geography that we teach, and most importantly, the worship and Biblical truths that hold it all together is a compilation of the loves God has given me over the years. He has also provided an absolutely fabulous and passionate team. When we were preparing for this early July, I asked them what the Orange Hat is, and they said things like, "A place where children are transformed, where children who can't pay for what we offer get it anyway, where they are loved, free to make mistakes, meet Jesus, get a boost, learn to read..." They have caught the vision! It thrills me that God has brought this team to me and all of us to each other.
Please pray that all of these beautiful words continue to be true. Pray for the children, the teachers, the professionals that will come alongside to teach skills, and all of our families as we make this sacrifice that Jesus might be made known, and that these children will gain skills that will make them more successful in the plans God has for them!
I think that in all this striving, I have a deep conviction that this is the gold worth running for; to grasp the hands of little ones that need to be uplifted, to love Jesus by loving them, to remind them they are beautifully and wonderfully made, treasured by their Creator. I see the joy tremor through the whole being of the Olympians when they overcome and years of grueling work meets victory... I know they have honored their country and families. I believe the joy that we all get from this sprint of the Holiday Orange Hat carries a similar overwhelming joy that expresses itself more quietly through a child finally learning the sound of a letter or understanding for the first time they have the ability to create something extraordinary, reflecting their Maker. We pray we do the same and make him smile too.
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