Basketball Tryouts & Struggles of the Heart

Eddy and I will both be coaching the Basketball teams here at the school and we held tryouts last week. Currently only the 4th-6th grade (under 11) are in season; Grades 7-8th will start after Ramadan because some of those students are fasting. We had about 15 girls and 30 boys show up for tryouts. We kept 11 of the girls- all based on behavior during the drills (were they listening, talking, not paying attention?). As to actual skills... most could not even hit the rim or dribble... it's going to be a great season! The boys' team is a bit more challenging, with so many kids and such a short season. All seemed to really make an effort, making the selection process difficult. Eddy and Jeff (the coaches) are really torn- to keep or to cut? The realization that keeping a kid on the team could potentially change his life- as it did for a lot of us at that impressionable age! They will make the decision this next week.
As days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, our adaptation and adjustment to this nation and these people go through different phases. Some days we love it here and are so grateful to be walking out a part of God's vision for our lives and for this country. Other days we struggle, searching our minds, hearts and God for insights and answers to troubling thoughts and questions. Why are we here? What effect are we really having? What does it mean to sacrifice? Is it wrong to long to be somewhere else at times? If problems increase here, and safety becomes an issue, is it wrong to want to leave/leave? Or should we, as Christ modeled for us, willingly lay down our lives in others' place, whether recognized or not? What is sacrifice?

Daily we contemplate and struggle with the reality of Life- it is, to the human mind, unfair. We are unable to choose where we were born, but where we are born, for the most part, dictates the style of life we will have; I don't want to say the "quality" of life, because that can be totally subjective. But style of life, in that some of us will live in freedom, with great wealth and privileges. Others will be born into extreme poverty, denied freedom and opportunities. How do we cope with this? How can we understand this? Is it wrong to live/want to live where you are from, in the way that you are accustomed to, all the while aware (or unaware!) that others are not as privileged, persecuted or suffering? How does that impact us and, more importantly, what do we do in the light of it?

We continually ask God for understanding, revelation and His heart for these dilemmas, for this country and, really, for the world. We must constantly remind ourselves that God's love and salvation are not based on what we do/have done, our works, but is a gift of grace and mercy through Jesus. While what we "do" for him, our "work", is valuable, it is not an end in itself-- in that His ultimate desire is not for our works, labors or sacrifices. His desire is for our us; for our obedience and devotion to Him. (1 Sam 15:22, Psalm 40:6-8)

So, that pretty much sums up our thought life at this point!

***We've watched a few good movies that stir up these sort of questions or perhaps make them more acute- Shooting Dogs, a depiction of the Rwandan genocide and The Kingdom, a look into militant Islam.

***Jess' Visa/Passport Update: Eddy went to the dreaded office again and actually SAW my passport, but it was promptly placed back in the box from whence it came, along with A LOT of other American passports... Bokra, Insha Allah (Tomorrow, if God wills it)!

Photos: Eddy and Jeff leading the boys through tryouts... A donkey at a market (suuq) outside of the city...