God is SO sneaky! As you know, I was able to serve at a hockey camp recently. I can not even express to you how amazing it was! I obviously still have a lot to learn about hockey ministry, but it was such an amazing experience. And God is SO much bigger than I expect sometimes! I don’t have the room or time to type out all of the adorable and encouraging stories from camp, but I do want to share one story ☺
My first day at camp, I met one of the counselors, Tod. I introduced myself, and he said that he had heard about me when he served at another hockey camp earlier this summer in Pittsburg. He served at the same camp as Dalton, Ryan and Mark! He even roomed with Ryan and Mark the week that they were at camp! He said that he is planning on sending Ryan a Hockey Ministries International New Testament. I also found out that a former NHL player gave Mark and Ryan new testaments when they were at camp. That means that Ryan has received at least 4 new testaments in the past year and a half! FOUR!! How cool is that! Jesus is hard-core fighting for this boy. And He works in such crazy ways! Let’s think about this for a moment- God has called a complete stranger to pray for him, He has brought a Canadian college pastor to coach the team, has given people in Virginia a heart for hockey ministry, and has used strangers/former NHL players to give Ryan new testaments. That is so cool! God has brought people together from all over to be ministering to the CNU hockey team, and to Ryan! He is so much bigger and international than I realize!
It’s also been cool to see God use this to really put things in to perspective for me. God is working on people all over the world. The kids I was able to interact with at hockey camp, the people I interacted with last night passing out door hangers for the opening of the new worship center, my coworkers, guests at church, customers at Aromas- any of these people could be someone else’s Ryan Dove! Each person has a story, a history, and could have someone praying fervently for them. God may be graciously trying to use me as a vessel to minister to them as an answer to someone else’s prayer. That is so humbling, and it challenges me to be so much more intentional with everyone! Tod had no idea how much I have been praying for Ryan when he met him and roomed with him. Praise Jesus he was so intentional! I hope he knows that he was such an answer to prayer! I tried to convey that to him, but I can’t even express how thankful I am that he was able to minister to Ryan and to Mark that week. That is an opportunity I never would have been able to have! I wasn’t able to serve at that camp, and I certainly wouldn’t have been rooming with them! Thank goodness the body of Christ is so much bigger than just one person. I pray that God would continue to remind me that I am a part of something so much bigger than myself; I may not see how He is using me now, but I pray that I will be faithful with the tasks He gives me, and that I would be able to glorify His Name in every situation.
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