Special Olympics

Today we went to help with the Special Olympic bowling as a class.  I was really excited because this summer I worked with mentally handicapped adults at Camp Barnabas and loved it so this was going to be another ministry opportunity I would have with these amazing people.  Although this was something I was looking forward to, when i saw one of the guys that would be on my lane I was a little nervous, because he looked kind of creepy, but after reminding myself that he was no different than the campers at Barnabas I opened myself up to him and did not worry about it.  This was a great lesson for me in judging people by their outward appearance and how wrong I was.  I also was reminded of something kind of unique today.  I was not feeling to well and was tempted to go sit down and take a break before I prayed for strength to make it through, but I did not and prayed for the strength and God gave it to me and I was able to put a smile on and keep it up.  This opportunity is so rewarding not only because of these great reminders God placed in my life, but also the hilarious stories you get from the people.  I had one guy on my lane that kept me laughing and smiling the whole day.  Any time after he would do something good he would turn around, look at Anna and I, pull up his shirt part way, and start dancing.  It was great because he could have cared less about what anyone thought of him as he did it.  I also had another guy that reminded me of this same thing he would squat and swing the ball between his legs twelve times then let it go.  Most people would look at it and think he was extremely odd, but he did not care, that was how he bowled and he was not going to change just so people would not look at him.  One thing that one of the guys said that made me think about how I look at people is he said that he liked things like that because no one looked at him like he was different.  I thought about it and even if I do not want to sometimes I look at people differently because of how God made them and that is wrong, because I am probably just as odd compared to a lot of people.  This day was great and I would do it again without even being asked.