Hockey, Church, and Prayer

Hockey

Yesterday I went to a Chicago Steel hockey game with Rachel S. and 6 kids.  It was the first hockey game any of us had been to.  We had bought the tickets at a great deal on LivingSocial.  We each received a hot dog, soda, hockey puck, signed program, and locker room tour.  The game was full of excitement.  Which brought with it some wonderful teaching moments:

There was some pushing/fight after a player had been pushed down and went sliding across the ice into the wall.  This had the full attention of the kids.  So I asked them, "Was it okay for the guy to push back after he had been knocked down."  They said, "I don't know."  We talked about how it was better not to hit or push back since it is the ref's job to take care of it.  Otherwise the ref has to deal with everyone and more people will get in trouble.  They later saw a fight up close seeing a ref get punched in the mouth.  This helped cement what had been said earlier. 

When one of the opposing team's players wiped out over another guy on the ice a kid said "haha. The other team's guy fell down! Yay"  This provided the perfect time to talk about what the Bible says about rejoicing over your enemy when he falls.  It gave the kids a perfect picture, removed from the situation, to teach it. 

The evening was a lot of fun! 

Church

This morning I had 2 girls go with me to church (Armitage Baptist Church).  They are sisters.  They have been coming every week since their first week 3 weeks ago.  It is a pleasure to hear them share each week what they learn from Sunday School.  They can still state what they learned 3 weeks ago.  They have been learning about Deborah, Gideon, and now Samson.  They really enjoy this because it has been building on their brief overview, of the judges, here at ICI from the Fall.  They LOVE coming, and are very enthusiastic about learning more about God.  We had lunch this afternoon and it was great to hear them quote from memory Joshua 1:9.
They are also getting plugged in.  A lady who teaches their Sunday School found out that they were not going to be coming next week because I will be at Winter Camp.  So she has offered to pick them up next week.  She got their phone number and is going to call.  I informed the mom so she wouldn't be surprised when the lady calls. This is one of our desires here at ICI, to see the kids integrated into a local church. 
God is doing GREAT things!


Prayer
Please be in prayer for Winter Camp.  We head out Friday and come back on Sunday.  I look forward to sharing all that God does there!

"Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
   when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice," Proverbs 24:17