FCA of Southeast Missouri Staff Blog

Prayer is a conversation with God.

Our struggle with Faith

A few months ago, through FCA, I had the privilege of meeting Joey, an athlete at a local college. Joey is one legit dude – a guy who is crazy talented at basketball, has the size to play D1, and is a kid of good character. His life was different than mine growing up. I’m sitting at days shy of 40, and he just landed on year 19. His upbringing wasn’t the same, but we both were taught about Jesus at an early age. We both thought we had it figured out. We were both just off the mark.

To the naked eye, this is a bunch of trees. To the hunter’s eye, he sees four potential shots. Okay, maybe you can see two, but there are four in there – I know because all four of them ran in front of me yesterday at the Black River Ranch. I had to stop and take this picture because it really hit me as I searched for all four in the thick wooded area – that’s how I am with God sometimes. Okay, a LOT of the time.

During the summer months, the set-up pictured above is what gets stuffed into our trunk before we head to the ballpark. Baseball buckets, packed coolers with waters and Gatorades, and camp chairs – pick your piece of equipment above, and it’s traveling with us weekend after weekend. But on Thursday mornings, they come out of the trunk for this nice seating arrangement in our garage. Comfortable? Not really (except my red camp chair and I’m the oldest haha). Functional? That’s all that matters to them.

The two images above are from the same general location, two weeks apart… (photo credits to Smoky Mountain Grocery on Wears Valley Road in Sevierville, TN btw – they have killer Instagram photos all the time). Anyway, this was a striking revelation for me this morning as I sat on my couch, in deep, deep thought about the future and what God holds for me and my family. I’d be a liar to tell you that the year 2020 hasn’t “2020’d me” like it has everyone else. It’s been full of surprises, some good, some bad, some making me question a lot of things – but just bizarre for the most part.

Last night I had the chance of a lifetime – twice. For starters, I’m 28, and I spent the evening with my father at our first father/son only Cardinals game – why it took so many years, I have no clue… but it did – and it was worth it. We made the 2.5 hour trek up to St. Louis mid-afternoon, chatting the whole way about church, the ministry, family, and just life in general. I could’ve turned around at STL and been fine with not even going to the game, as the time I spent with my dad was both quality and quantity time – a true blessing. But, the chance of a lifetime was sitting in section 158, our usual, just the two of us, enjoying a cool evening at the ballpark and a great first inning.

As the dog days of summer drag on, there’s one trend I’ve noticed in some of our youth and in social-media networks such as Facebook – there’s a LOT of hurt going on in society. I had the privilege to take a group of 18 down to Orange Beach, Alabama recently, and throughout our small group times, one of the things I kept experiencing over and over again, was that a lot of our youth are hurting, and calling out for help. I honestly feel blessed to be near them during these difficult times, trying to help and minister where God leads – but maybe some of you are going through the same thing – so here’s a pick-me-up pack of Scripture to see you through – it’s a strengthening passage.