Tennis......Life

I like tennis......a lot. I enjoy competing and improving, but I also know whether winning or losing, it is never the most important thing in the world. I have been learning more about it especially in the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago, my doubles partner and I played a great match and won 6-0, 6-0. This is the best possible score in tennis in terms of game count. Shortly after my match, I left my teammates a bit early to get ready for a dinner party later that evening. As I was putting my bag in my car, I noticed the car next to me had a broken window. It turned out the car owner was one of my opponents. I felt bad as she already was not having a great day on the court, but she handled the situation well (and thankfully she didn't lose any valuables). In the end, I stayed with her and skipped my friends' party.

My partner and I had played a great match just a couple of hours ago, but when I left the tennis courts, what I thought about was how unimportant the result was. It just didn't matter.

Not long ago, I played another doubles match with another partner. We had a slow start but played very well in the second set to win it 6-0. For the third-set tiebreak, it went neck-to-neck the entire time, but we lost 9-11. It was so close, so close that if we had won those couple of points, we would have won not only the match, but also the line against the top team in our league.

But after a few minutes of disappointments, I went home, showered and started cooking. The meal was not for us. It was for our neighbors who had just lost their mother(-in-law). It was a sad time for the entire family. Compared to this, I don't see how I could even mention the loss, no matter how tough it might seem at the moment.

My most recent match was against the same top team (we had to reschedule our first match, thus the back-to-back matches). I played with yet another doubles partner. We lost a tight first set, but came back in the second set, and played a great third-set tiebreak to win. We won all five lines, so we returned from second place to the top ranking. However, as I was playing, our neighbors were at their mother(-in-law)'s funeral, saying goodbye to their loved one.

Perspective.

Happy Easter!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”

Matthew 28: 5-7

Love Song

By Third Day

I've heard it said that a man would climb a mountain
Just to be with the one he loves
How many times has he broken that promise
It has never been done
I've never climbed the highest mountain
But I walked the hill of Calvary

Just to be with you, I'd do anything
There's no price I would not pay
Just to be with you, I'd give anything
I would give my life away

I've heard it said that a man would swim the ocean
Just to be with the one he loves
How many times has he broken that promise
It can never be done
I've never swam the deepest ocean
But I walked upon the raging sea

Just to be with you, I'd do anything
There's no price I would not pay
Just to be with you, I'd give anything
I would give my life away.

I know that you don't understand
The fullness of My love
How I died upon the cross for your sins
And I know that you don't realize
How much that I gave you
But I promise, I would do it all again

Just to be with you, I've done everything
There's no price I did not pay
Just to be with you, I gave everything
Yes, I gave my life away

Good Friday

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Romans 5: 6-8

Girl!

It's a girl!

As Hubby and I opened the envelope, we learned about our new sponsored child through Compassion International.

Our second sponsored child turned eighteen years old and had just graduated from the program (she will continue her high school education and wants to go to college!). When Compassion notified us about her graduation, it also meant our sponsorship for her had come to an end. It was a sad time but we were also excited for her completing a milestone, and about meeting a new child.

We would like to stay with children from the same country as our two previous sponsored children, but did not request a specific child. We asked Compassion to give us a child who had been waiting for sponsorship for a long time so we would find out about him/her when the packet came in the mail.

On the same day I witnessed one hundred new sponsorships in a matter of hours (see previous post), we received the packet - our child is a five-year-old little girl whose birthday is only one day apart from Hubby's!

We are excited to get to know our new sponsored child in the years to come!