When I began working at Lincoln High School as the athletic "clerk" or secretary, there were lots of opinions floating around me. Many teased, "you should get a gun", "learn self defense", " don't wear your rings or jewelry", "are you scared?" With all of those comments, maybe I was, GEEZE people!
I quickly realized I was dealing with student athletes and they were awesome. I had a heart for these kids, learning their struggles, etc. I remembered how tough high school was for me. Trying to fit in, get grades up and playing sports, singing in choir, play practices, etc, it is exhausting, and at that time, you think life is so hard. Add in family drama and life WAS hard. These kids were right there. They wanted to play sports which meant they had to have decent grades and not miss school, they are almost all very dedicated. A little clueless at times, but dedicated! :) These kids just needed love. Period. They needed to know you cared about them, and knew their names. They needed to know they mattered to someone.
Last spring I was asked to start a new job, one that didn't exist and that would be created if I said yes. It was a little leap of faith, not knowing what to expect. I was leaving a job with the school district to start working for our high school football team. Pretty sure there aren't other high school football teams with a secretary, haha!! But how can you say no? A former NFL quarterback is coaching our team. Everyone wants to play for him. He has huge dreams for the team, school, community. God is in all of it. You can't. You do not say no to this opportunity. So I accepted the position, and have been learning along the way. It has been wonderful. I'm not just part of a football staff. I'm part of a MOVEMENT happening in that whole area. It is so much bigger than a "football program". When it all began and I knew what I might be getting into, I felt a bit like David...asking God, "who am I, that would get to be part of something like this? Who Am I that it would be offered to ME?"
I think sometimes in parenting we lose our identity a bit. Of course we are always who we are to Christ, but in the human flesh part, it can hurt to become "______'s mom". Maybe it is just me. Parenting has taught me just how selfish a person I was before the girls were born. It is a privilege to be their mother, of course, they are amazing girls. I have an 11 year old that wants to become a teacher for special needs students when she grows up. She spends all of her recesses in the special needs classroom at school, helping out and loving these kids that have no friends. I never had a passion like that at 11! Her love language? Time, just quality time being listened to and approved in your eyes (which is what she gives to those kids). I have a 9 year old that is perpetually happy. Brings jokes and laughter and smiles wherever she goes, and is an amazingly devoted friend. She's the student that gets asked to help the new students adjust by hanging out with them and showing them around, making them feel part of everything. They are both every teacher's dream student, what's not to be proud of there!?
I've realized something recently, though. All my life, all I wanted to be was a mother. Even as a teenager, I would dream of it. An old friend recently said to me, "well you're living your dream!" and I was confused, "what do you mean?" She said, "Don't you remember always walking around with a pillow in your shirt saying how great you looked pregnant and how you couldn't wait to have kids?" Ummmm...no. I have no recollection of this, nor would I admit if I did. But that was me, always playing Mamma! By the time I turned 16, I had 5 younger siblings, from 4 years old to 10 years old. And I loved taking them to movies or shopping or the zoo, etc. Now, here I am.
Say "Hello" to my other children:)
This is the team after arriving in Portland, OR last week.
Fast forward to NOW. Last weekend I spent 2 days with the entire football team on a trip to Portland, OR. I spent most of my time with the managers, beautiful young ladies. I cannot wait to see them more this year. Like I said, I have a thing for daughters. (;
But seeing the way these young men are being ministered to, the love that is being poured out on them, and the change in every player. It brought tears to my eyes. Sure, I was tired, this could be why I was emotional, haha!! But to physically SEE God at work, and to see these young men aren't just being treated as football players, but 100% as SONS.....that is what this is all about. Sitting in the stands watching them, I felt a great deal of pride, just as the other parents in the stands, but they had SONS on the team. One mom had a son on JV and stayed to watch Varsity. She nearly cried when she saw him come out suited up for the Varsity game, too. And so did I, seeing her joy! I could have been such a good "football mom" if I had had sons. Now I get to be, anyway.
Someone asked which player was mine. I said, "Oh, I don't have a player. But they're all mine!"
Even though I am still trying to put faces to names, I love them all. They will do great things, and become great men. They are so polite and have great pride in what they are a part of. They have a deep respect for their leaders, coaches and even the seniors, it is amazing to have a front row seat to that.
When leaving the hotel, the woman checking us in and out told me they were the best football team that had ever stayed there. She said it was wonderful that we WANTED our coaches near the players, while some coaches want to be on the opposite side of the hotel and away from their players. I told her, even if they weren't all close by, they would have been just as good. They respect their coaches and know they have something good going on!
I may be raising two of God's most precious daughters...but these coaches and all involved are helping to raise MANY of God's most precious sons. And He is so faithful to meet them where they are, love them where they are, and bring people who would grow their faith in Him and in THEMSELVES! They will make it out of Egypt, this I'm sure....
Oh my heart :)
I am blessed to be any part, even the tiniest part, of their experience. I hope I get to stay connected for years to come, it will look different every year, and I know that those changes are blessing the lives of the people in the school and community. It is beauty, pure beauty.
-Victoria
