Footloose

Living in a foreign country and working with people from different cultures, I am (not surprisingly) feeling a bit out of my element. That’s part of being on a mission, and it’s a situation that makes one depend on God all the more (which is what He wants from each of us anyway).

But sometimes I have to laugh at certain situations, so opposite are they from what I would “normally” be doing back home. This week, for example, I have been coaching a kids soccer clinic. And I use the term “coaching” in the loosest sense, because I know (nor care, to be honest) very little about the game.

I think my aversion to soccer goes back to second grade, when during a P.E. class I inadvertently kicked a ball too high and hit a female classmate in the head. The teacher yanked me to the sideline and paddled me, despite my plea of innocence. I tell you, I was never the same after that. It also frustrates me to no end that players never really seem to have control of the ball. I prefer baseball and others sports where one can have a firm grip on things.

So it was against that background that I found myself directing soccer drills with teenage boys this week, bluffing my way through instruction on technique and strategy. We were working with a program called Upward Sport South Africa, which uses soccer and other sports to engage kids and share the Gospel of Christ. All the Living Hope Children’s Clubs are taking part, with plans to eventually begin a league among the four townships/settlements in which they are located (Red Hill, Ocean View, Masiphumelele and Capricorn).

Despite my lack of knowledge or experience, soccer camp has been a blast – for me certainly, and I think for the Red Hill boys, too. This is no doubt an example of how God works through weak and unskilled vessels. “My grace is sufficient for you,” Jesus said, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.”