MINE!

Back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school, I played volleyball.  Not well, but I tried.  In the 1970’s, girls’ athletics was not quite as competitive as it is today and being 5’12” (as I used to call myself) didn’t hurt my chances of making the cut either.

Generally on any team, you have to communicate with each other.  Specifically in volleyball, if you don’t communicate with your teammates, you might plow into each other, which would defeat the purpose of getting the ball over the net.  When the ball comes your way, you have to send the message, “I’ve got this, so you don’t have to, but be ready because it might be coming your way next.”

As that tends to be a bit wordy, it is condensed into simply:

“MINE!”

Fragrance of summer grill

Probably one of the most popular activities at church parties is volleyball; that is, volleyball in some form.  Because we all know it comes in several creative variations: mud volleyball (a personal favorite, although I’ve never had the opportunity…yet), volleyball with a big inflatable beach ball, and even the old-fashioned kind is still just so much fun on a sunny day with the fragrance of grilling happening in the background.

This, only with volleyball!! (www.utdallas.edu)

 

Such was the situation one morning in our church, as we were setting up for our annual Block Party for the town.

With so many preparations whirling around, a small group of us were fixing the volleyball net, well-used as it was with its holes and tears and tangles and knots.  It can make one appreciate just how L-O-N-G a volleyball is!  There must have been some discouragement as to whether or not it was

Which side of the boat is your net on?

Intramural, co-ed volleyball.  Now there’s a topic that probably has all kinds of analogies just waiting to be discovered. Some quite humorous, I imagine.  I was never very good at sports, despite my height.  I used to say that my main function on the team was to get off the bus first just to intimidate the opponents.  Beyond that, I’m afraid I didn’t have too much to offer.

Nonetheless, I continued to enjoy volleyball, just for fun and exercise.  In preparation for one church event, someone brought out a net that needed untangling and a bit of repair.  It took quite awhile, and I remember one of the women saying, “don’t give up now; look how far we’ve come!” 

There’s volleyball analogy #1, I suppose. 

But I’m thinking about other nets and the storyline that still