CCU Baseball: Costa Rica

Day 5:

It's hard to believe that we've been here this long.  I was talking with some of the teammates today and we all decided that there is a point where no amount of sleep can help cure the total exhaustion of the body, and we reached that point these past three days.  Today was a relatively shorter day compared to the other days.  We started our Sunday with breakfast, then headed to Cesar's church for Sunday worship.  I know I can only speak for myself with 100% accuracy, but it sure seemed like all of the team enjoyed experiencing church in a different culture.  We recognized one of the worship songs they played, and it was awesome to hear an entire congregation sing it in Spanish.  After Cesar introduced Coach Hutcheon and the team, we split off with the lead pastor Lamar and went with the other college and high school students.  Cesar had two players, myself and Mark, stand in front of the students and give our testamonies.  In my life, I've never been afraid of public speaking, but for some reason, speaking with a translator really threw me for a loop.  For those who know Mark, we all know he can do no wrong, so when he stood up to give his testamony, everything was smooth running.  All jokes aside, it was an absolute honor to get the opportunity to share my testamony with the kids there, even if it wasn't in the language they understood.  After we finished with that, Lamar took us aside and brought us the word.

Some background on Lamar: he's a native of South Carolina and currently serving as the head pastor of the church we attended in Santa Domingo.  He gave a bit of his testamony in his sermon, saying that when he attended a missions trip in high school, God called him to serve in Costa Rica.  He's been pastoring the church for 13 years.  His message was over Revelation 3 on the letter to the church of Laodicea. In this letter, Christ is saying to the church that they are neither warm nor cold, and he wishes that they were one or the other.  Because of their lukewarm nature, Christ will vomit them out of his mouth.  The theme of the message was that as Christians, we need to make a definitive choice on who we will serve.  I've heard this message before, and every time I hear it, I'm reminded of Joshua 24:15 where Joshua is addressing the Israelites after their numerous conquests in the Promised Land.  The most powerful part of this verse for me is when he says, "Choose for yourself whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  Joshua knew that God demanded his entire devotion.  As Christians, we can't been on the fence with living the Christian life.  If we aren't ready to be 100% devoted to the cause, we are doing more harm than good.  By no means am I advocating that we need to have it all together, but I am advocating that we need to be commited to the Christian life in all its aspects.

After church, we went back to the baseball field for our third game.  We ended up losing 10-9.  Having interaction with the players of the other team has been nothing but a blessing, both in the spiritual and athletic aspects.  As a team, we are using this time to come together and really get to know each other.  I can guarentee that after this trip, we will be a tighter unit than before.

Tomorrow will be our first day without a game, so the team is really looking forward to the extended rest.  From what I know, we're planning on visiting the local tiendas (shops) and doing some local shopping.  I think we're putting on another camp, but I'm not entirely sure.  For those who didn't read the blog yesterday, below is a link for the organization we're working with.  Cesar has been such a blessing in staying dilligent in taking pictures of all we do.  Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

In Christ,

Christian Garcia,  CCU Baseball

https://www.facebook.com/HPSCostaRica?fref=ts