Soccer, Faith, and Challenge.

I love soccer. It is the only sport I ever felt like I was any good at. I played fullback. Unfortunately my knees were not made for soccer and I had to give it up at a rather young age. I've often wondered how different my path might have looked if the mere act of kicking a soccer ball mid-run hadn't sent me down in a heap with a dislocated knee. I've also wondered why I don't enjoy watching soccer more since I liked playing it so much. I'm not much of a sports watcher anyway (except for the Olympics, which I watch as much as possible). Maybe because it wasn't a televised sport when I was growing up, or at least not on the channels our non-cable household could get, I never got in the habit of watching the game.

I have paid more attention to the World Cup this year than previously. Perhaps because I'm such an avid Facebook user and many of my friends are watching and keeping us all posted on World Cup events it has held my interest more, though I haven't watched a game. Team U.S.A. is still in the mix I hear (just barely it sounds like) so maybe I'll have to try to watch, just this once. Especially since a friend of mine forwarded this article to me about the Team U.S.A. goalie, Tim Howard. Beware that when you navigate to this link there is a noisy video ad that plays whether that is your active window or not...

Tim Howard appears to be a great goalie, a good teammate and a competitive player. He is also a faithful follower of Christ, and a man who is affected by Tourette's Syndrome. Sadly the latter fact made him the target of some uninformed individuals who labeled him "retarded". This is a term falling out of favor fast with the special needs community, but it is especially inappropriate for any disorder that does not affect the cognitive domain. We really need to continue to advocate and educate the public at large about the wide variety of issues that can affect development and behavior. The encouraging thing is to read that Mr. Howard's response to the naysayers and his own struggles is to rely on Christ.

"The most important thing in my life is Christ," Howard was quoted as saying. "He's more important to me than winning or losing or whether I'm playing or not. Everything else is just a bonus."

Not much one can say to follow that, except: GOAL!