Let your Yes be Yes | Crossroads Missions

Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37

I didn’t know that a few pieces of cardboard and a kickball would alter my life so much. I didn’t know that just showing up because I said I would made it life changing for someone else.

I met a spunky, curly red-headed 6-year-old girl playing kickball in the summer of 2006. We played every Monday night at 7pm for 10 weeks. I saw her once or twice throughout the year. She attended other events and other people showed up for her. We resumed our kickball games in the summer of 2007. Monday night kickball continued for another 10 weeks. That scenario repeated itself for 2 more summers. The times that we got to see each other increased between and during each summer.

She taught me a lot how to love people, and how to love myself. She didn’t know it though. We just participated in games, made some crafts, listened to music and laughed – usually at each other. In between the summer festivities, she was able to participate in after school programs, game nights and occasional special events at the Maytown Center where she learned about how much she was loved.

As summers passed my role became more and more behind the scenes, and my games of kickball were becoming less frequent. However, this sassy-says- what-needed-to-be-said unfiltered little girl had my attention and I could not let her go. There was something about her that drew me to her, and I wanted to spend time with her. I asked her if she would want to come work with me one day a week during the summer. Go to the grocery store, the lumber yard, Walmart, deliver supplies to various construction sites, wash dishes, make dinner, wash dishes, whatever happened that day, she would just do whatever I did.

The 6-year-old was now a middle school girl with the same spunk and drive and desire for truth. She decided to join in on this random idea and hang out with me. We did this for 3 summers. We didn’t just run errands though. We talked. We shared life. We participated in shenanigans and mishaps that will remain our secrets. I learned about loving unconditionally. I learned about our need for unconditional love. I learned about the gift of forgiveness. I learned that saying I was coming wasn’t just a half hazard commitment to a game of kickball. By showing up I told her that she mattered to me and that I loved her. It wasn’t just a game of kickball or running errands. It was a little glimpse of heaven.

The times expanded beyond the summer and into the school year. We were learning about loving deeply and personally, despite our own selves and our situations. She learned a little about Jesus. Not just from me, but from those around us. We were/are all trying to figure out how to love and live like Him. She decided she wanted to learn with us and made a commitment to Jesus and was obedient later that summer in baptism.

She continued to serve with us and learn with us throughout her high school years and into her college years. She graduated high school, college. She married a man who supports her in those efforts and is learning with her now. We don’t get to play kickball together anymore or run errands. Our conversations about life aren’t as frequent as I would like them to be, and we haven’t gotten to be in the same place for a long time. BUT we still play a role in each other’s lives, and she still influences decisions I make in behind the scenes planning for other students to experience the love of Jesus.

Beyond ministry, she played a role in shaping me and how I mother my little children now. She is more than a story or a random red head. God brought her to me to learn about loving deeply and that my “yes” being “yes” does have Kingdom impact. She made as much a difference in my life as I hope I made in her life.

When I look at the environment of her childhood, I know her story could have been very different. I know that a game of kickball was a pivoting point for her and knowing that she was loved and worthy of it. Those kickball games became the Gospel being lived out for me too. Those cardboard scraps for bases and a kickball became so much more life changing than the 45 minutes of a childhood game.

– CJ Noe, Appalachia Field Director