The Lord was gracious with an exit row seat...and an empty seat next to me for the Brisbane to Darwin leg. Dosed a couple of times but managed to read about a third of The Heavenly Man (near "unbelievable" biography of a Chinese Christian brother who has suffered much for his faith but has seen phenomenal fruit). Stirring and challenging. It has had me praying much more in the last 24 hours. Arrived in Darwin about 11:30 pm. Checked in...showered...and slept cold under some frigid air-conditioning at the Sky City Casino Hotel.
Much better day today as far as connecting and engaging in my role with the team. Did a workout with the team after a light breakfast and then prepped for the game by searching the Scriptures for appropriate verses to share with guys at our pre-game prayer meeting. Felt lead to share I Corin. 15:58 with one of the guys but didn't actually find an approriate time before the game.
After the warmup on court in a very warm and smallish stadium the usual crew of three players and I met for a brief encouragement from the word and prayer together. We looked at an initial selection of key thoughts from Hebrews 12:1-2 that focused on "endurance" from "start to finish" by looking to the Lord. Short prayer and then...
A tough game against Perth. Though they were playing without "Amazing Grace" (Ricky Grace...a brother in the Lord) they did well and pulled away from us in the second quarter. Although there was some fightback...even toward the end...closing to seven points (from almost a 20 point deficit)...we couldn't bring it together. We only hit 11 of 43 three point attempts. When the percentage is that low it is hard to win. And their big guys really controlled the defensive boards. Anyhow...a bit disappointing for our guys.
I managed to sit on the end of the bench and help with the water...and even felt a degree of success in not yelling (too much!) at the referees. Worked hard at cheering the players rather than jeering the officials.
Returned...in the heat...to a recovery session in the hotel pool and sat down to an early dinner. When almost everyone had left the table I got into a great conversation with one of the guys about his "life journey". It was very helpful...and fun...to chat about where he was coming from. I appreciate his maturing attitude and commitment to read his Bible and pray everyday. We talked a bit about how important it is not merely to know God's word but to be moving closer and closer to the "God of the words" daily...very relaxed and encouraging time.
By the way, this is the guy that I had a verse for earlier in the day...so I shared it with him after dinner. He said with verses like that I could share them with him more often...he seems to place a high value on guidance.
So Day Two has been a step up...looking forward to Day Three.
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