What I did Spring Festival…

So now that I’m back “home” in China, have a few days to rest up, heal up and think about the past two months, I thought I would just write a here’s what we did in Finland/Russia/China kind of update. I’m probably going to repeat things I’ve already said in the past, but that means that it’s important :).

So.  I, along with six other others, travelled across three different countries (the total mileage, practice sessions and games played is soon coming…)with YWAM hockey with one goal in mind; to show people, people who may not get another opportunity to see, what being a “Christian” means, what an authentic relationship with Him is.  Showing them that you don’t have to live a life of boredom and full of rules to be a “Christian” that when you decide to give your life over and trust in God your life will be changed. We wanted to show our passion for hockey and our passion for Jesus.  This “trip” was all self-funded; I saved up all summer to pay for my last summer of university, and I spent it all to go to Russia.  Before I left I kind of doubted if I should really go, and then I had so much trouble with my Russian visa that I really thought maybe I shouldn’t be going, I was going to spend everything I had saved, but something kept pressing me to go, and so I did.  It was worth every penny.  Sure, there are sometimes now where I look at my bank account and wonder how I’ll pay tuition and now I’m making a budget to make sure I have enough to buy a plane ticket home to Canada once I’m done my semester in China; but when I think back to the faces of the kids we met, the men we spoke to, the schools we visited, the opportunities we had, I would do it all over again; hands down, no questions asked.

All throughout our trip we were given the opportunity to speak into the lives of people, people who under any other circumstances would most likely not listen to six young people tell them who Jesus is to them and how He has changed their lives.  But.  Because we had gained their respect, either through playing a game (and most likely winning…)against them, or by loving on their kids through coaching, we were given the amazing opportunity to share whatever was on our heart.  Every time that story changed.  In some cities we were told not to say who we really were, in some cities we could only speak of our love for hockey, and nothing else; in those situations we decided that although we couldn’t share the gospel, we could be the gospel. 

In James it says that true religion is looking after widows and children, it is keeping a reign on ones tongue.  People have this messed up view of “religion”; we wanted to show them that being a Christian isn’t about being religious.  We wanted to love on everyone we met, we wanted them to question what was different about us and be given the opportunity to answer that question.  We had that opportunity. 

Over the course of the trip we coached hundreds upon hundreds of children, we played against hundreds of men, we had thousands of fans come out to watch our games, we were interviewed by multiple TV, radio, and internet stations.  We had the opportunity to plant questions in the minds of thousands of people.  It. was. awesome.

I like it when I see that people see what being a Christian should really mean; now I’m not saying that I live a perfect life, but in all honesty I’m proud of myself.  I kind of wish there were more Christians out there like me and these other guys who were real, not just Sunday Christians...  I’ve made a ton of mistakes, I still do; but I have a solid foundation that I lean on that I go to in times of trouble.  I really do.  I can look back at my life and tell you how it has been changed because of God, how he has worked in my life and made it more than I ever dreamed of.  I had the chance to tell so many people about that story, about my story, about why God, Jesus, is real to me.  To me, that means more than just preaching a canned sermon.  You can see people tune in when they can tell that your life has been changed, you can see the wheels turning, you can tell they want to learn more.  Like I’ve said before; we don’t know how many lives have been affected because of this trip, but in my heart, I know it’s more than I can imagine. 

Was it worth $7316.11?  A lost pair of shoes, a stolen camera, carrying 70+lbs of equipment on my back through three different countries on cramped trains, and almost freezing to death 398340 times? Yes. Yes. YES.