Basketball Extravaganza

Wow this was so much fun.  Let me explain.  This last Sunday night the Beautiful Mess decided that our church gathering should look like a basketball tournament for the night.  In my Easter post I talked about spending some time with guys down under the bridge playing basketball.  Since that time I have been wanting to serve those guys and build some relationship.  So we met them where they are at.  We went to the bridge and put on a basketball tournament.

The totals for the night were staggering.  We gave out over 300 hotdogs, 6 cases of water, a bunch of cupcakes, and one ziplock bag of dog food.  There was over 200 people who came and watched, participated, served, or ate.  The tournament went off without a hitch and no fights broke out.

These are the totals, but not the wins.  The win is that we connected with these folks.  We were giving each other high fives.  We were telling jokes to each other.  Guys were getting facebook names from one another and passing along phone numbers.  And they INVITED us back.  This is great.  They want us to come and hang out.  They felt loved and valued and are in anticipation of feeling that more.

I believe God will use this so that we can share the Gospel with the guys down there.  We may not be preaching from a box on the court, but we will begin to share with them our lives and the message of what changed our lives...Jesus.  I'm a bit giddy over all this.  I can't wait to go hang out with all the guys down there again.







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