As you can probably tell by the title of this post, I had the blessing of playing basketball today, semi-competitively. When I say semi-competitively, I mean I've just been shooting around by myself, dunking, and doing dribbling drills for the past three weeks, so playing against ANYBODY, including people who actually practice/play on a team/once played basketball is a welcome blessing. And the hoops were actually the correct height!
The morning started sweet, with yet another totally great passage from 1 Peter (2:13-17). This passage dealt with submitting to those in authority for the LORD's sake, not for our own benefit or promotion or glory. It also dealt with having freedom in Christ, but not using your freedom "as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." This says to me that while I'm forgive of my sin, past, present, and future, I cannot use that forgiveness to my benefit and say 'well, since I'm already forgiven, I can go and sin as I like and Jesus will still forgive me'. Jesus also addresses this in John 14:15- "If you love Me, you will obey what I command." So out of love for Jesus, we are to follow what He commands. Because our first commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27), then we are to follow His commands. Those two verses kind of run together, as we're called to obey His commands if we love Him, and His command is to love Him! I guess it's kinda like a GOOD catch-22, right?! (PS I just got done doing some wiki-research on the term "catch-22". It's quite interesting... from a book of the same title)
Anyway, I proceeded on to the Lopez's house, and after getting off the bus, was a tad bit lost (go figure), but then the Lord sent an angel in the form of the cousin I was to play ball with, Estuardo. He saw me walking aimlessly around Riobamba (within a few blocks of the house) and ran up to me and asked if I was Andrea's friend. Thanks for the help, God!
We (Ricardo the father, Alvaro the brother, Estuardo the cousin, Andrea, and I) set off in a taxi to the high school to play basketball. We began with teams of Estuardo and I vs. Alvaro and Ricardo. Ricardo used to play basketball in high school (he's around 6'4''), Estuardo presently plays for his high school team (or some club team, I didn't quite understand), and Alvaro is an aspiring 13 year-old player who was not too bad for his age. We played every game to fifty, ended up playing six games and switching teams, and Andrea even jumped in for the last four or five games. It was quite fun, as no one ever got too competitive, and everyone had great sportsmanship.
An interesting dynamic to my basketball shot that I discovered here is the difference in the 3 pt line. I knew coming here that the line was 9 inches further than American High Schools and Colleges (though colleges will change soon), but I didn't think it would affect my shot too much. I was wrong. Out of the 25 or so 3 pointers that I missed (I only made about 5), 23 of them hit the front of the rim (the other two missed to the side- no airballs, praise the Lord). It affected my shot in a crazy fashion, as my body is programmed to shoot a certain distance from the three point line, and while the distance has changed, my shot has yet to change. It was a lot of fun, though, and I was almost able to dunk the real 10' hoop. People here in Ecuador don't jump too high, so the fact that I could touch the rim impressed most of them. If you ever need a boost in your confidence concerning your vertical, buy a ticket to Ecuador.
We all walked across town back to their house and had a lovely lunch of chicken, rice, lentils (I think... whatever it was had a lot of vitamins and wasn't beans), pears, orange juice (with "azucar morena", brown sugar), and a lovely dessert of papaya. I was hoping to make it home before the Coupe's returned, but they beat me to their house, so I wasn't able to fully clear out before they arrived. I was also hoping to make a cookie plate for them to welcome them home, so instead, I just made it in front of them. I must say, Abby would be proud of her older brother's cookie decorating expertise. I still have a good ways to go to even approach her level, though...
After having a lovely conversation with them for a bit, I grabbed my things, dropped them off at the house, and went to band practice. Or at least I thought it was band practice, as although I arrived late (tsk tsk Luke), there was still nobody at the church. I called the worship leader, and THEN he let me know that we weren't playing that night. Gracias amigo... :-) I was graciously invited to the Maust house to have dinner, a wonderful chicken spaghetti and broccoli meal, and then we watched "The Pursuit of Happyness". I liked, but didn't love, it. Will Smith does a great job, and his kid's not too shabby as an actor, either.
And that brings me to the end of my day... please continue to pray that I love unconditionally, am patient, and have discernment in what I say and do. Also please pray that I am more disciplined with my time...
In His strength alone...
Luke
PS Enjoy the pictures, and the video below...
The morning started sweet, with yet another totally great passage from 1 Peter (2:13-17). This passage dealt with submitting to those in authority for the LORD's sake, not for our own benefit or promotion or glory. It also dealt with having freedom in Christ, but not using your freedom "as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." This says to me that while I'm forgive of my sin, past, present, and future, I cannot use that forgiveness to my benefit and say 'well, since I'm already forgiven, I can go and sin as I like and Jesus will still forgive me'. Jesus also addresses this in John 14:15- "If you love Me, you will obey what I command." So out of love for Jesus, we are to follow what He commands. Because our first commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27), then we are to follow His commands. Those two verses kind of run together, as we're called to obey His commands if we love Him, and His command is to love Him! I guess it's kinda like a GOOD catch-22, right?! (PS I just got done doing some wiki-research on the term "catch-22". It's quite interesting... from a book of the same title)
Anyway, I proceeded on to the Lopez's house, and after getting off the bus, was a tad bit lost (go figure), but then the Lord sent an angel in the form of the cousin I was to play ball with, Estuardo. He saw me walking aimlessly around Riobamba (within a few blocks of the house) and ran up to me and asked if I was Andrea's friend. Thanks for the help, God!
We (Ricardo the father, Alvaro the brother, Estuardo the cousin, Andrea, and I) set off in a taxi to the high school to play basketball. We began with teams of Estuardo and I vs. Alvaro and Ricardo. Ricardo used to play basketball in high school (he's around 6'4''), Estuardo presently plays for his high school team (or some club team, I didn't quite understand), and Alvaro is an aspiring 13 year-old player who was not too bad for his age. We played every game to fifty, ended up playing six games and switching teams, and Andrea even jumped in for the last four or five games. It was quite fun, as no one ever got too competitive, and everyone had great sportsmanship.
An interesting dynamic to my basketball shot that I discovered here is the difference in the 3 pt line. I knew coming here that the line was 9 inches further than American High Schools and Colleges (though colleges will change soon), but I didn't think it would affect my shot too much. I was wrong. Out of the 25 or so 3 pointers that I missed (I only made about 5), 23 of them hit the front of the rim (the other two missed to the side- no airballs, praise the Lord). It affected my shot in a crazy fashion, as my body is programmed to shoot a certain distance from the three point line, and while the distance has changed, my shot has yet to change. It was a lot of fun, though, and I was almost able to dunk the real 10' hoop. People here in Ecuador don't jump too high, so the fact that I could touch the rim impressed most of them. If you ever need a boost in your confidence concerning your vertical, buy a ticket to Ecuador.
We all walked across town back to their house and had a lovely lunch of chicken, rice, lentils (I think... whatever it was had a lot of vitamins and wasn't beans), pears, orange juice (with "azucar morena", brown sugar), and a lovely dessert of papaya. I was hoping to make it home before the Coupe's returned, but they beat me to their house, so I wasn't able to fully clear out before they arrived. I was also hoping to make a cookie plate for them to welcome them home, so instead, I just made it in front of them. I must say, Abby would be proud of her older brother's cookie decorating expertise. I still have a good ways to go to even approach her level, though...
After having a lovely conversation with them for a bit, I grabbed my things, dropped them off at the house, and went to band practice. Or at least I thought it was band practice, as although I arrived late (tsk tsk Luke), there was still nobody at the church. I called the worship leader, and THEN he let me know that we weren't playing that night. Gracias amigo... :-) I was graciously invited to the Maust house to have dinner, a wonderful chicken spaghetti and broccoli meal, and then we watched "The Pursuit of Happyness". I liked, but didn't love, it. Will Smith does a great job, and his kid's not too shabby as an actor, either.
And that brings me to the end of my day... please continue to pray that I love unconditionally, am patient, and have discernment in what I say and do. Also please pray that I am more disciplined with my time...
In His strength alone...
Luke
PS Enjoy the pictures, and the video below...
Andrea, the very spoiled family dog Angelino, and the wonderful cook and mother, Yolima.
Ricardo, Alvaro, Luke, Estuardo
From the way my shooting was during the game, this was probably a miss.
Rebound
Pre-game festivitiesSURPRISE!!! If you listen closely, you can hear the cameraman, who will remain nameless, join into the song. Also, the Frenchman's name is Olivier.
The judges opinions:
Randy: Yo, dog, I really felt you put your heart into this song. I wasn't quite feeling your vocals at certain parts of the pre-chorus and chorus, so I'm going to have to say no.
Paula: Luke, you are too cute. I really like this song choice, and feel that you came through very strong at certain parts of the verses. You need to learn to hold the mike closer to your mouth during the whole song. I like you, but I'm going to have to say no as well.
Simon: (in a British accent) Your vocals seem to convey that you enjoy singing. Just because you enjoy singing does not mean you're good at it, though. But I'm feeling generous today, and because Randy and Paula both already have said no, my vote doesn't even matter. I want at least one person to like me on this show, so I'm going to say yes. Remember that, Luke.
And so, in a weird twist of fate, Simon kinda liked me, but I didn't get to go to Hollywood. My apologies to those of you who have never heard of American Idol.
1 Peter 2:16
3 comments:
Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!! Thanks for house sitting for us and sorry about the "bad key experience". We loved the cookie plate by the way...
You are BRAVE, you made me laugh, and thanks for sharing your sweet karaoke with us all over the world...love you, son!
Broseph,
It was good seeing you on skype last night...we'll have to do that more often. Love those thoughts on 1 Peter. One of my favorite books in the new testiment. So true that our freedom granted to us by Christ is to be used only for one purpose: to glorify Him who gave us our freedom.
For the record, I would have said yes and you would have moved on. That was the best rendition of "A Whole New World" that I've ever heard.
love you bro!
brett
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