ready for some fb

well the football tourney came and went. we came in 4th, which was good enough to make it to the tourn of champions, though i think we definitely could've done better.

we always come out flat - last year we lost horribly in our first game, something like 21-0. this year we lost horribly in our first game (to the team we beat by 5 td's last year) something like 21-7. i know i played horribly. perhaps the curse of the first match is true for every sport.

i have to say, i knew that gnny would end up being good. and it's kind of funny because i remember last year, when i was debating what church to go to - from a football standpoint, i felt drawn to gnny. it was new, raw, and they would lose badly that first season. but i could see it in the coaches and the girls - they didn't know what they were doing, but they loved it, and they were having a great time. they would improve, they would get deeper, and one day they would be good. i didn't expect it to come this quickly, but hats off to them.

i don't doubt that God wanted me to be at joy. and maybe all this football stuff puts into perspective why you choose a church. i love playing football, and though i know that if i'd joined gnny, i'd be used to my fuller potential and have been able to lead and participate more in shaping the ministry...i guess that's not the best reason to choose a church.

i really do love our pastors and i learn a lot each sunday. i think that's important to me - that balance of respecting them and feeling like i have something to learn, but also having a relationship with them where they know who i am and i can talk to them. hard to find, and i'm glad i've found it. and getting into ministry has been fairly autonomous in terms of being as involved as i want to be. i think that's important FOR me. so all in all, i think joy is where i'm supposed to be. even if it means schlepping myself hours to get out to jersey for football practices and feeling confined to a pre-existing team without room to move.

the day got better as it went on, though. beating gcc by a huge margin felt really good - the one team i'd never beaten in all the years at either church. i still think our team has so much potential. we're so on or off, it's really a question mark as to how any given game will turn out. but i really do think we have the talent and the technical...if only we could put it together and keep things tight.

i really appreciate when people come to cheer for the team. i think more than anythign else - that kind of support is how i receive encouragement and affirmation best. i wonder if that's a love language.

on another note, i've really been enjoying the dominance of the saints and colts this season. brees is giving some competition to peyton as my fav qb. not to be a bandwagon fan - bc again, i don't really follow a team - but it's just good football. and esp for the saints, as a team that's sort of an underdog in having such a good record, i can't help but root for them. i think it'd mean so much to them if they went all the way.