In life there comes moments where you get to watch as a loved one is honored for a certain accomplishment or talent. A lot of these moments come at a graduation but also for our family a lot come in connection with sports. I think that a memory I will always cherish is the league awards the year my brother Jacob was a Junior. That night I watched as he was awarded not only his Team MVP but also was voted unanimously by all the team coaches as the best player in the entire league. This weekend brought another CSAA all -league awards to the Barrett household. I had the pleasure of being able to sit back, smile, and cheer with all my heart as my two little brothers (who aren't very little any more :) ) were each honored by being chosen on the CSAA all-league teams. The Awards are a testimony to their talent and hard -work, but what is an award without anything of proof behind it? My brother, Joel, certainly proved his worthiness of the award on the first drive of the all-star game later that evening. Joel dove to catch a ball that was going out of bounds, kept his toes in bounds and still came up with the ball.... that play, I believe, embodies the reasons he was put on 1st team all-league: effort and aggressiveness (leaving it all on the field even when the play looks like an impossibility), brains and field awareness (knowing where you are on the field and what you have to do to make the play happen), and finally Joel has a heart for the game that enables him to play well purely for the sake of enjoying of the game.
All of this would count for nothing unless I also knew that all of my brothers, besides being great athletes they are on their way to being great men of God. They are learning to live life to the fullness as a way to glorify God.
Sports can be great fun as well as great tools to learn more about God as well as life lessons in general. When you ask God to give you a heart for Him he will in turn give you the brains and the ability to give the effort that he needs to so that you can glorify him with everything we are.
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