Basketball

I'm still excited about the football season, but I attended a basketball meeting last night and can't wait for that either. I'm on the board at the Y, and I had to go over rules with the coaches that coach in the division that I usually ref in. I have my teams...Alisha's 5th grade girls team and Drew's 3rd grade boys teams. They are both beginning to move beyond the age that I like seeing the most. I reffed last season doing an all-day slate of 2nd/3rd grade girls games (because I had a boys team in that division). While the gym supervisor continues to point out all the moms he thinks is hot, and the parents yell and scream at me from time to time, it was just so much fun to be doing a lot of the same teams week after week. It was so cool to watch them progress throughout the year and to watch their personalities on the court. Even as a ref that is supposed to be a robot out there, I cannot help but coach and encourage a little. I love watching the 'animal' come out in some girls as the games get tight in the end...I just whisper things to them to encourage them to channel it through their play instead of anything that I would have to call. Now, I see a lot of those girls around Wichita all the time. I always notice their double-take of me because they recognize me...sometimes not even sure where from.

All that to say that it just makes you even more aware of the fact that we are to be a light to the world everywhere we go. I love my job and working with kids all the time. I love the positive impact we can have in their lives. I pray I always know what God has blessed me with, and that I can have that impact on them and my own two.