Savannah's Daniel Moment

About a year ago I heard the most wonderful talk at one of our church meetings by a really great guy that I love and respect. I think one of the reasons why his talk really resonated with me is because he loves sports and used several personal sports stories as his examples, ones that we in our family can totally relate to. My friend Scott started off by telling us of his love for baseball and that he has always had quite a talent for playing it. When he was a teenager he was so good that the travel team coach was willing to have him on the team despite the fact that he would not play on Sunday. Scott referred to this as a "Daniel moment" in his life. In the church we often hear stories like this, stories that show us that if we just keep the commandments then all will go right in our lives. Except that that's not always the case. Sometimes we have "Stephen moments" in our lives, times when no matter how faithful we are we still get "stoned". One of his sons experienced his own "Stephen moment" when he was a teenager and was bullied off a travel team for his refusal to play on the Sabbath.  It was definitely a hard thing for his son to go through and Scott still got choked up as he spoke of his son's hurt feelings during this difficult experience.
When we decided to let Savannah try out for travel soccer teams we knew that there was the strong possibility that she would not be chosen based on our family's "no Sunday play" policy. We warned her and prepared her that things might not go her way.  It came as no surprise when one of the teams she tried out for said that, although they wanted her, the Sunday issue was a huge problem and  they would have to take some time to think about it.  The coach from the other team talked to David specifically about Sundays but said he still wanted her and offered her a position on the B team the day after tryouts. We were thrilled! First "Daniel moment"!  Yes, it was the B team, it would have been A if she would play Sundays, but it was a travel team and that's all we really cared about!  Both A and B teams would be practicing together and the coach was the same for both teams.  Savannah had a great first year with Northern Elite; her coach is amazing and has done such a great job with these girls. Savannah's skills have greatly improved and she has become such a great soccer player. This summer came Savannah's second "Daniel moment". After spending a year on the B team her coach approached her  and told her he was moving her up to the A team.  Savannah was ecstatic, thrilled, overjoyed, super excited, and more! As for me and David, we were beyond grateful. Grateful to her coach, grateful that Savannah has stuck to her religious convictions, grateful to Heavenly Father for this tremendous blessing in her life. I know that someday she will probably have to face a "Stephen moment" in her soccer career but for now we will just count our blessings and enjoy some soccer!

Some pictures from her season! I LOVE the white jerseys!

A trophy from one of their tournaments!