Hey everyone! I can't believe its this weekend! THIS weekend! I'm so pumped! But, I just wanted to take a little time to tell you guys about whats been going on down here in Columbia. This past Saturday, my church hosted Souper Saturday, a big celebration of the Souper Bowl's 20th year, which included this big flag football tournament with churches from the community as the different teams (split up equally to represent the Cardinals and the Steelers!) and also a canned food drive. We'd been working on it for several months and it was truly amazing to see how the small idea that Michael had thought of, of having just our church come out and play a couple games of flag football and celebrate the Souper Bowl of Caring, snowballed into a huge churchwide and community effort! We even had our Christian radio station there broadcasting a live feed and Bruster's was also there selling icecream and donating a percentage of the profits. All the money we raised is going to Souper Bowl, and then the can-drive which I was in charge of, raised 1,283 cans! Which I was excited about, especially for our first year!
Really, it was just amazing to see how Christ worked through all of the people at my church and in the community and especially Michael (he was the go-to guy for the whole event!) to make the day go really well while celebrating that the Souper Bowl has been around for twenty years and grown immensely!
Another exciting part of the day was that Michael and I both got interviewed and were on the local news and we also got a little blurb in The State newspaper about Souper Bowl and our Souper Saturday!
But I think what amazed me most about the whole day, was how it brought my church together during a really tough week. Last Wednesday, our old pastor's wife was murdered as she was depositing money at an ATM by a man who shot her four times. She was a big part of our church even though her husband was gone because they were getting a divorce, and it really hit my church hard. It was and still is a very tough week for all of us. But, as I was thinking about how this could happen and why God would let it happen to such a great woman, the typical questions that arise out of a situation like this, I realized that this was just yet another way the Souper Bowl of Caring was impacting lives. Although all of us were struggling with Mrs. Thompson's death, our Souper Bowl event gave us a common goal to work towards and to focus on, and ultimately this really did bond all of us together and also closer to God, in a time where sometimes God can seem far away. It's made me realize that the God works in ways I will probably never understand, but I do know that he is always with us, and the Souper Bowl showed me that this week.
Well, if you got through alll of that, i'm impressed! But, I hope everything is going well for all of you! We're so close and all of you guys have been inspiring me all these past couple of months with how much you've all been doing! Get excited! Because we are close! I'm praying for all of you and know that you are all gonna do great with whatever you're doing!
Really, it was just amazing to see how Christ worked through all of the people at my church and in the community and especially Michael (he was the go-to guy for the whole event!) to make the day go really well while celebrating that the Souper Bowl has been around for twenty years and grown immensely!
Another exciting part of the day was that Michael and I both got interviewed and were on the local news and we also got a little blurb in The State newspaper about Souper Bowl and our Souper Saturday!
But I think what amazed me most about the whole day, was how it brought my church together during a really tough week. Last Wednesday, our old pastor's wife was murdered as she was depositing money at an ATM by a man who shot her four times. She was a big part of our church even though her husband was gone because they were getting a divorce, and it really hit my church hard. It was and still is a very tough week for all of us. But, as I was thinking about how this could happen and why God would let it happen to such a great woman, the typical questions that arise out of a situation like this, I realized that this was just yet another way the Souper Bowl of Caring was impacting lives. Although all of us were struggling with Mrs. Thompson's death, our Souper Bowl event gave us a common goal to work towards and to focus on, and ultimately this really did bond all of us together and also closer to God, in a time where sometimes God can seem far away. It's made me realize that the God works in ways I will probably never understand, but I do know that he is always with us, and the Souper Bowl showed me that this week.
Well, if you got through alll of that, i'm impressed! But, I hope everything is going well for all of you! We're so close and all of you guys have been inspiring me all these past couple of months with how much you've all been doing! Get excited! Because we are close! I'm praying for all of you and know that you are all gonna do great with whatever you're doing!