By Heather Senter
Statewide Volunteer Coordinator
We are proud to have a team of athletes participating in the Augusta Triathlon on September 25 to raise awareness and funds for Covenant Care!
An event of this type is something that requires months of training and preparation. As we’ve trained over the spring and summer there have been plenty of opportunities to be scared.
One of our dedicated athletes is out of the race after a bike crash a few weeks ago — scary! Several of us have had concerns about not being trained well enough — scary! We’ve committed to fundraise for Covenant Care and asked people to donate toward this cause — scary! We’ve committed to struggle up hills on a bike or press ahead with an open water swim with thousands of people all around — scary!
So why do we do this to ourselves?! On our last training day in Augusta I was wondering dark thoughts like this as my teammates charged the hills ahead of me. Before the day was over, two answers came to mind.
Ministry is scary!
One of my teammates, Mike, is an adoptive dad and shared the beautiful story of their adoption through Covenant Care. The excitement of getting “the call,” the heartbreak of hearing their birthmother had changed her mind on Christmas Eve just before their daughter was to come home. The elation that, a week later, she went back to her adoption plan and placed her baby girl with them for good. Then a call requesting another visit with the birth grandparents.
Mike summed it all up: “It was scary!” (This word as I’m trying hard to catch my breath after chasing my team up a hill on our bike course.) So I thought about the difference between ministry and scary ministry. I concluded (while wiping sweat out of my eyes on mile 52) that if our ministry doesn’t go past our own comfort and resources, we can take credit for our “good deeds.”
But when it’s so scary that we feel like we might throw up (!) and we cry out to Jesus for the strength to do what He’s calling us to do, He gets the glory. It’s all about Him. Mike and his wife pushed past their fears and said that it was truly good for everyone, especially their daughter.
People need this ministry
We’re running past hurting women who need this ministry. I literally did. After our 56 mile bike, we each ran at our own pace to meet back in an hour. I ran past a girl who looked sad to me but my thoughts quickly went back to how much a hate running (or staggering, actually).
I turned around after 30 minutes and headed back to our transition spot. Ahead I saw the same girl I’d passed earlier, but saw that she was screaming in pain on the sidewalk, holding her belly. Sprinting toward her, I saw others gathering to see how to help. She told us that she was 6 weeks pregnant. No food. No vehicle. Her boyfriend had refused to come get her. Her mother had told her, “You’re dead to me now and I’ll punch you in the stomach if I see you pregnant.”
I ran back to a fire station I had passed to get an EMT. I rubbed her back, prayed over her, and cried for her brokenness and pain. When there was nothing more for me to do, I left the phone number for Covenant Care’s caseworker in her purse and ran back to meet my team. I kept wiping tears away realizing that these are the very women we have been called to serve! They are the reason we’re raising money. They need Jesus, not an abortion. They need to be loved in the scary reality of their lives and Covenant Care is here in Augusta to serve them.
Our big event is coming up on September 25! We are still about $5,000 away from our fundraising goal and our athletes need prayer for preparation and safety.
Will you donate to help us cross the finish line? You can give simply and securely toward one of our athletes by visiting www.AdoptAugusta.com.
Thank you for your support!
