I gathered a group of girls to play in two Turkey Bowls up in LA in November.  That was actually a bit much – back to back tournaments.  I wanted it to be a pretty casual thing where I just grabbed a bunch of people who wanted to play football to go up and play.  It was something like 5-7 practices – sort of.  We had a group of girls where the majority didn’t ever play on defense.  We also had new girls which was great.  I must admit that when I initially heard about the Charity bowl and I was a bit arrogant in my thinking.  After seeing their videos and hearing about the tournament, I was really thinking that our team was pretty good and could do very very well in the tournament.  However, I think God quickly put me in my place.  It took us awhile to get adjusted since we play such a different type of game with different type of rules at Mission Bowl.  Also, we had two big injuries – which the girls are STILL healing from.  L After seeing that M. had to go to the hospital I was actually kind of distraught.  We ended up being 2-2.  We also raised over $1,000 for NightLight International!  I was getting a bit concerned with the fundraising because I didn’t originally know it was a fundraiser.  I just heard it was a turkey bowl which apparently turned into a charity bowl.  I set us at a goal of $1,000.  And even with my doubts, God provided.  We met our goal.  Speaking of – I still need to write our team letter and mail off all the money to them.  (Which is now done.)

The Black Friday tournament the weekend right after that and when I looked at my roster – we didn’t even have enough people to play!  So we met together to discuss what to do.  People wanted to play but people were scared and concerned.  It was going to be a much more physical tournament – we already had two big injuries from what was supposed to be a “non-physical” tournament.  Was it worth the risk?  I felt like the whole time we were having the conversation, it was just focusing on the negative – not necessarily if someone would get hurt, but when they would get hurt.  That was a really bad direction to go.  At this point when we were discussing, we had the exact number of people to play – but not everyone was 100%.  And as we discussed and as I thought about it – two things had come to mind.  One was that if I wasn’t in charge, and I was just a player, I would want to play even if we only had the exact number of people.  But hey, that’s me.  The second thing was that, I’m not just a player, I am “in charge” and while I’m willing to risk my own safety to play, I’m not willing to risk the other players getting hurt.  Because now…I am not only responsible for myself, but I am responsible for all of the others.  So, if it was going to be the exact number of players – then no, we weren’t going to play and we were going to pull out of the tournament.  The next part of the conversation then turned towards, well, how many people would we want on the team to feel comfortable playing?  Turns out that the magic number would be 13.  So we decided, as a group, that if we could find 13 people in 48 hours – we would play.  That night, as I was chatting with L., I was overcome with an unsettling feeling, like I had made a bad decision.  We had the numbers – 17!  We were going to play.  I talked more about it with M. the next morning and felt better.  We decided together – team decision.  Everyone that had wanted to play football signed up themselves.  People wanted to play.  What I had originally thought of as a casual game of football with just a few girls was obviously more than just that.  I had extended Team United beyond Mission Bowl.  Because Team United isn’t just about Mission Bowl – it was about relationship building, it was about providing exposure to Christianity through football, fellowshipping with other churches, etc.  The extra girls that played – perhaps they didn’t know about Jesus.  God provided the people.  He could have just as easily closed the door but He didn’t.  And maybe it took a moment for me to be reminded of what Team United was about.  The thoughts on ministry had been on my heart for quite some time, I just slipped for a moment with that Charity Bowl.  And perhaps, as I realigned my thoughts and heart – He opened up the doors.  This was an opportunity for the new girls to be exposed to Christians, this was an opportunity for us to be good witnesses, for them to experience a piece of God.  I still remember…2 days before the tourney, we had 17 girls – that was 4 more than the magic 13 – then we dropped to 15, then 1 day before to 14, and on the day of the tournament, exactly 13.  EXACTLY 13.  God really provided.  He made it happen.  Our major focus was to have no major injuries.  It would be a long day with 4 games.  13 girls still isn’t very many compared to the troops of 20-30 other teams have – similar to the number we bring at Mission Bowl.  Praise God – no major injuries!  We went 2-2.  We had fun.  People got to play football.  People got to be part of our team.  It was good.  God is good.

This now brings me to Team United now which has a whole story on its own – which will come at another time.