Today!

Jeff has been coaching basketball since the beginning of the school year, first for girls and then for boys. It has been a great outlet for him and it fills a part of the day when he can be really annoying if he doesn't have something to do. There are some really cool things about sports at RVA. The school has one covered court and 2 outside courts. You can get a really good tan coaching basketball in Kenya. Take that Coach K. The kids here are not defined by the sports they play. It is hard to find someone strutting around because they think they are the best at their sport. If you are lucky, the Superintendent will drive your team to the away games in the school van.

The first road game for the girls was early on a Saturday morning. The Super loaded us up at somewhere around way too early and the team headed into Nairobi. On the trip down the mountain, each of the girls shared their story and where their family was ministering. It was really fascinating. It is not a stretch to say the families represented on the bus are changing the face of the entire continent of Africa. As a pregame speech, it was horrible. That game was easily the worst of the season. Maybe they should have shared on the way home?

RVA in Red, Eastleigh in Black 

Last month the boys team hosted a friendly game with a team from a tough part of Nairobi. Most of the boys on the Eastleigh team were refugees and don't think or worship the way the kids at RVA do. It was a wonderful morning, a decent game, a shared meal, and a time to relate and get to know each other. You wonder how seeds that may have been planted that day will grow. 


The boys season ended last Saturday. They played great, won the tournament, and were crowned KAISSO champions. They played their best of the season. A good day! All season long when the team would break the huddle they would say the word, "today"! At the team dinner, the Thursday before the tournament, Jeff shared that when they said "today" he wanted them to think of Luke 9:23. This is where Jesus asks his disciples to deny themselves and pick up their cross daily and follow Him. Jeff shared that, as old as he was, he should be better at this than he is. Selfishness creeps in and diverts him from his highest priority.

It is amazing and dismaying that the struggles we have in living for Jesus are exactly the same in Africa as they were in Michigan. The redemptive part is that each day we have a chance to break the cycle and live a life honoring of our Savior. Today is what we have to invest. We are looking for long term dividends.