Small Ball

Don Copeland, one of our DR 2010 team members, concrete maker extraordinaire and a lousy boat driver, shared this devotional during one of our evening devotions. I thought you'd enjoy it.

Small Ball for God

I receive an email periodically from Jason Cruise of Outdoor Ministry
Network called the Man Minute. It focuses on things in everyday life that
point us towards the Lord. This past week I received the email and it was
about Jason and his son attending a minor league baseball game in Nashville.
Jason was excited to be there because one of his baseball heroes, Ryne
Sandberg was there coaching the opposing team. The devotional linked to
Sandberg’s Hall of Fame induction speech. I took the time to read his
speech and was inspired by his humility and love of the game.

What can baseball have to do with faith? I’ll tell you what it taught me.
Sandberg was a second baseman, noted for his hard work every day and his
love of the game. He played for the Cubs – a team that has only one two
world series in its 137 years of existence (1907 & 1908 for the record).
He played the game like it was meant to be played, selflessly.

In his speech he talked about the importance of playing for the team and not
for self, learning how to advance the runner, how to take a strike in order
to allow a base runner to steal a base, and how to condition himself to be
ready for anything the game might throw at him. He did what he did because
it was his responsibility, not for his own glory, but for the betterment of
the team.

I’m going to mention some phrases – see if you can find something that they
all relate to:

- Single
- Double
- Triple
- Home run
- Balk
- Passed ball
- Wild pitch
- Throwing error
- Catching error
- Stolen base (home)
- Fielder’s choice
- Sacrifice

Add bases loaded to the mix
- Hit by pitch
- Walk
- Catcher’s interference

What do all of these result in?

A runner scores from third base with less than two outs.

So - you might say. What does that have to do with faith, what does that
have to do with me, here in the DR on a mission trip? I say to you – it has
a lot to do with us here today. How did that player get on third? Triple?
Single and two stolen bases? Walk and two stolen bases? Single, stolen
base, sacrifice fly or ground ball to advance him to third? The list is so
much longer than the list for how he can score. The key is that he or his
team managed to get him to third base with less than two outs. If he was on
second or first the list of ways he can score is greatly diminished. What
if the second baseman on his team had made an error on an easy play the inning
before? Would they even be at bat yet? Perhaps that error made getting that
run home from third that much more important.

Is there more glory in stealing home or being the man who sacrificed to
advance him to third? Does he steal home if he’s still on second?

Where am I leading with this? We are all players on the Lord’s team. Every
day we are here we will be called on to make the routine play, cleanly
fielding a ground ball, hitting a ground ball to second with no outs and a man
on second, choosing the right opportunity to steal a base. While some of
these things may seem unimportant, they really aren’t. We are not always
going to hit home runs or base clearing doubles. Sometimes (in fact most of
the time) we are going to be called on to advance the runner.

As we go about our days here let’s try to keep in mind that God wants us to
play small ball. When we play small ball we sacrifice ourselves for the
betterment of the team. God’s team – His kingdom. Routine play on a
ground ball – painting a neglected wall of an orphanage in the DR, sacrifice
fly – providing words of encouragement for a fellow mission team member,
getting a clutch hit – reflecting God’s love through your service to others.

Make sense?

When we all play the game for the love of the game and think of the team
first (God’s team) – the Team Wins. When we don’t win, we dust off our
uniforms, pat each other on the back and hit the showers with anticipation
of tomorrow’s game.

Why?

Because we love the game.

The DR Project 2010 Team

A Great Team!

Some of the beautiful children of Casa de Luz

This is why we go.

Tammi teaching Lidia the Hokie Pokie

Notice the wheelchair on the new mural. A special touch for the children of Casa de Luz

Finishing the sidewalk & pad to the prayer garden. 110 ft of sidewalk & the pad.

New mural in the hallway. Painted by our team.
A tool for showing anyone who comes to Casa de Luz the plan of salvation

A Great Team!

We are home from the DR. It was a great trip. I look forward to hearing how the team members share their experiences and stories. Speaking of the team, I can honestly say they were great! I have done a lot of trips and this one ranks way up there. Each team member worked hard, got along and lived out what going on a trip like this is all about.

This week we learned more about ourselves and our world. We discovered how blessed we are and recommitted ourselves to using God's blessings to reach this world for Him. We lived out what it means to "go into all the world." We loved the children of Casa de Luz and the people of the DR and now it is time for each of us to lead you in discovering what we have learned. We want to lead you to find out where God wants you to "go" in this world.

I will be posting more to this blog in the coming days. Video, pics and more. Ck back here often to see more from our trip and how you can get involved with Casa de Luz,

Whatever It Takes - Day 5 in the DR

We woke up this morning with plans to complete the sidewalk. As soon as I walked outside I knew it was going to be difficult. You see, Casa de Luz is located right on the coast. You can see the Caribbean Sea from the orphanage property. As I walked out of the hotel, also located right on the water, I saw nothing but dark skies out over the water.

We have had rain everyday while here. We had expected wet weather, it is the rainy season, but we have had an unusually large amount. The rain has kept us from get things done. Pouring concrete in the rain isn't fun or easy. We had hoped that we would get a break today and be able to complete the sidewalk but when we saw the clouds on the horizon we feared it wouldn't happen.

We decided that we would get as much done as possible before the rain came. We had barely gotten out of the bus when the skies opened up. It was raining harder than it had rained all week. After waiting for about half an hour we got enough of a break to get started. We decided to use plastic and tarps to cover the cement mixer and sidewalk and work through the rain. I will post pics of the set up. It was really quite ingenious.

We had a long way to go but with determination we plowed forward. Everyone pitched in and by the end of a long and hard day we not only completed the sidewalk but also a pad inside the garden for wheelchairs. Hard work and determination were part of the equation but more importantly a since of purpose pushed us on.

You see, the purpose behind building the sidewalk in the first place was so that the children in the wheelchairs could go down and enjoy the prayer garden. None of them had ever been there. The path was too steep, rocky and most of the time muddy and overgrown. The sidewalk will allow them to see the garden, spend time outside and enjoy the peacefulness there. It is a great place under the mango trees and filled with butterflies. The pad at the bottom will allow them to be rolled down and parked comfortably and without fear of getting stuck. That is what motivated us. It was the reason we decided to do whatever it takes to complete the project.

I am so proud of each member of the team. Today they showed what mission work is all about. Flexibility, determination, hard work and cooperation are all apart of a successful trip but most important is a sense of purpose. Today the team set aside their own agendas and despite the conditions let their desire to provide this place for the children drive and give them energy.

There is a beautiful new sidewalk and wheelchair pad at Casa de Luz. Awesome!

Day 4 Haitian batay visit

We visited a Haitian batay east of Santo Domingo this afternoon and it was crazy! Usually we have a planned visit and it is fairly structured but this time we arrived unannounced and man was it a mad house.

Our bus driver pulled into the batay and asked where the church was. Immediately the children began yelling and running after the bus. A bus full of missionaries could only mean one thing, gifts.

We contacted the pastor and arranged to use the little church to meet the children and hand out the backpacks we had brought. As soon as the church opened it became a mad house. Kids and adults came from all over and the church was soon full. As you can see in the picture we had to close the doors. There were as many people outside as there was inside.

We heard them sing songs and then shared the gospel with them. Michael, Bailee and Callie sang. With the pastors help we shared the backpacks. They had school supplies, clothing and small gifts in them. We handed out 100 or so but could have handed out double that. It was sad to have to tell those waiting that we had run out but it was fun to watch those who had received one open them up and show each other what was inside. If only we could have brought more with us.

All in all it was a great experience. During our share time this evening we talked about how blessed we felt and challenged to never take those blessings for granted but use them to reach out to those less fortunate.

The sidewalk is moving along. We should complete the pouring of the concrete tomorrow. Bethany Sweeney is going to draw a mural on one of the walls and the team is going to paint it tomorrow afternoon. I think we settled on the bridge illustration that is often used to share the gospel. It will be a great tool for sharing with those who live at and visit Casa de Luz. I will post some pics tomorrow.

Keep praying for us as we wind down our time here. If you have not donated to our OCL #2 offering remember, 50% will help put the roof on the second floor. Find out more here. I will post pictures of that area tomorrow.