Comin' Outta Retirement

Fellas,

I've been on the shelf a long time now, but I've continued to read and stay challenged by everyone's emails. So I thank you guys for staying committed. A lot has happened in my life over the past six months.... The Plant Panthers won our second straight championship this past Dec, while 12-15 of the players continue to come to a weekly bible study/homeless outreach. A few days after the quake in Haitii, myself and former teammate Brian Reith headed down to lend a hand......not enough time to write all that God did. My baseball team, the Cambridge Christian Lancers are dominating fools(remember the name Peter Miller) as we make our way to the state playoffs but more importantly am seeing young men's faith grow daily. Oh yeah, lil Mason James(or Makenna Ruth) Marsonek is in the womb right now gettin lose. Kristens about five months pregnant and we are all jacked up on Mountain Dew!

The real reason I decided to write was to share something that happened to me and a few of my football guys from Plant last night. As we were in downtown Tampa, takin Subway orders from some homeless folks, we came across a young woman. After talking to her awhile she professed to be a believer and in a short time, began reciting scripture. Then a young boy, about 16 yo 6'3" 230lb, came strollin up to us. Come to find out, it was her son..... We spent the next 2 hours hangin out with this mom and her son. We learned that Maria worked the lunch shift from 11-3, while Jacob attended Middleton HS, where hes tryin out for the football team. Well, I ended up giving them a ride back to where they are stayin, a storage unit about a mile from downtown.....Can you imagine trying to attend HS, let alone play football livin like that???? They didnt actually sleep in the unit, its only 5x8, they slept outside of it on the concrete. Needless to say my heart was crushed, as were the three other guys who came with me. But before we left that night, we made some vows..... One of the guys was going to meet Jacob twice a week to help tutor, another is responsible for gathering clothes and shoes, and the other is now raising money for food. My end of the bargain is to find them a place to live.... I would just like to ask that you guys pray for guidance and assistance while we try and provide physical needs for Maria and Jacob. Thanks!

Competing for His Heart,

Sam