Learning to Surrender

My name is Jordyn Houston and this was my first year serving on a SportQuest team. Thinking back through my entire journey with SportQuest this year, one word seems to come to mind: surrender.  Last summer when in the process of figuring out where God wanted me to go serve this summer, I had no knowledge of SportQuest and Baton Rouge was as far from my mind as it could be.  My desire was Denver, Colorado, but that just wasn’t happening this summer.  I didn’t know what to think.  How could a place that God had laid so heavily on my heart not be an option?  I didn’t understand, I was upset, I was mad.  I applied for a mission trip to Seattle, just to have to cancel my application because of dates conflicting with church camp.  At this point, I wasn’t just mad, I was furious.  I started questioning whether or not God actually wanted me somewhere the upcoming summer, or even in the mission field at all.  It was early January when one of my mentors showed me SportQuest’s Playing With Purpose scholarship.  I started searching SportQuest’s website and found their summer missions.  I started praying about it, asking God to reveal to me if this was His will, but honestly, at that point, I was desperate enough to go somewhere that I would’ve tried anything.  God confirmed my prayers when I got a phone call from one of the SQ staff members about potentially being a part of one of their missions during the summer.  As months passed on and the project dates grew closer, the more nervous I became.  This wasn’t my first mission trip, so why was I scared?  The more I thought about it, I realized that this was an organization I knew very little about.  All I really knew was what I learned through their website.  I wasn’t backing away though, not this close to the project.  After weeks of dealing with the stress of worrying, I finally surrendered over to God.  I came to the realization that He brought SportQuest into my life and that He had a plan.  I gained a peace that was like no other.  I had no more worries and no longer felt like I was going in blind.  I was excited.  I was ready to take on this new adventure with open arms.  The first few days were hard, not physically, but mentally.  I so longed to be in Denver, and that want was taking my focus off of my purpose at the time.  My purpose.  I couldn’t grasp the fact that Baton Rouge was my purpose.  I didn’t want to grasp it.  Monday night, I talked with another team member who was able to relate to my struggles.  I, once again, came to the conclusion that I had to surrender to God.  I had to surrender my earthly desires to be able to do the work God put in front of me to the best of my ability.  It took a crazy amount of faith, but God definitely rewarded me.


Reading during Story Time at Gardere Community Christian School

I was put with 6 others at the Gardere Community Christian School to assist during the morning with their summer program.  This gave me an opportunity to get to know the kids on a more personal level than just the few hours they were at camp during the evening, and meet new kids that were doing other sports than softball/baseball.  The first thing that happened each morning once all the kids arrived was a Bible story movie.  It was Thursday morning, and a 7 year old boy named Robert came and sat beside me during the movie.  The movie was over Jonah and the whale, so as we watched the movie we shared facial expressions of amazement during the unbelievable parts.  We were watching the movie, when he noticed the bracelet on my wrist.  The bracelet contained five brightly colored beads that all stood for a major part of the Gospel story.  He became curious and asked what the beads meant.  It was at that point that I got to explain to Robert what each bead represented.  From the creation of the world, all the way to the restoration those who believe in Jesus Christ will receive.  I could tell that he was understanding what I was saying, and I was able to give him my bracelet to wear as a reminder of the rescue Christ offers. 

Robert during crafts. Notice the bracelet on his right wrist.

For me, it’s amazing to look back on the week and see how God moved in me, and through me, once I surrendered myself to God’s plan for me in Baton Rouge.