Issue 3 - Light and Darkness

GRAFTED MAGAZINE li g ht a n d da rkn es s

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Editor in Chief - Johanna Schnakenberg Creative Director - Catherine Marsh Executive Editor - Caroline Kelly Managing Editor - Jessica Rackley Business Director - Noble Nimmons Editorial Assisstant - Joannah Zimmerman Submissions Manager - Sky Walden Photography Editor - Louis Hintz Sports Editor - Dylan Campbell

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SARAH Sarah grew up as a missionary kid in Peru. She now makes her home in Perth, Australia, working as a full-time volunteer with Youth With A Mission. Sarah leads courses that train midwives and health care workers for developing nations. She has worked in nine different nations and is passionate about seeing God’s Kingdom come here and now for each individual.

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HANN AH GRACE ESTES Hannah Grace is a 21 year old Jesus follower living in a small town in the south with her parents and seven younger siblings. When not writing poetry or fiction, she enjoys taking walks and doing yoga, traveling various places to see her friends, fangirling over her many fandoms, listening to music, and baking cookies. Also, she has a pet dragon named Tegan. By “dragon” she may or may not actually mean “gecko”. Same difference. She blogs at Days of Grace.

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MORGAN DELANGE Morgan DeLange was born in Wisconsin, then moved to Colorado. When Morgan was 12, his father and older sister died in a car accident. An underlying deep faith in Jesus Christ kept drawing Morgan back to God, even as he traveled through dark times that led him to the California jail system, where he currently resides. Now a young adult, Morgan’s faith has drawn him to write lyrics and science-fiction with thought-provoking messages. Facing life in prison, Morgan has poured his love for Jesus, as well as his sorrows, grief, and passion to draw others to Christ, into his writing.

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IN THIS ISSUE

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LETTER FRO M THE EDI TO R joha nna sc hna kenber g WHO AND WHAT I S A M I SSI O NARY? sa r a h lenz J OY T H AT RESTS I N B O NE M ARROW johanna schnakenberg

T HE SUBSTAN CES O F O UR L I V ES noble nimmons

WEL CO M E HO M E hannah grace estes

T ESTI M O N Y O F A ZO ROASTRI AN name withheld

T EAM RECO M M EN DATI O NS the grafted mag team

GO D AT HI S GREATEST morgan delange

DEM O NS O F THE PAST

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joannah zimmerman

INT ERVI EW WI TH STEV EN M I L ES interviewed by dylan campbell

all photos in this issue are credit to : johanna schnakenberg 5

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE ? pl e ase send u s a n ema il,

CONTACT@GRAFTEDMAGAZINE.COM

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers,

These past few months, my friends, have been blurry, wonderful messes. I spent the last part of June and the first part of July in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, visiting my grandparents with my sister Rachel and spending time with my cousin there. It was an incredible and rich experience and I’m still sorting through all of my memories of that trip. Because of that trip though, issue three has been quite a struggle to put together. Well, I shouldn’t say struggle, but it’s been close to that. Still, when we are at our lowest, God is still exalted in our h earts and thoughts and minds. He is worthy of all honor and praise, folks. The fact that we have a magazine at all is such a testament to that fact. These months have been difficult, especially trying to somehow fit in school and ministry and this deep love in my heart for Grafted and everyone here. Like in April, I’ve had to just say “God, this is your project. This is for your glory. Make your glory present in our hearts and minds, show your light to the nations through us. Take my shaking hands off the controls and steady us.” The Creator of heaven and earth, the great artist and designer of the universe is so much better at putting things together than these human hands. We’re just tools to His greater plan, and I know His glory will be shown.

So!

Grafted Magazine, issue three.

It’s hard to believe we’ve come so far.

This issue we’re talking about light and darkness. We’re using 1 John 1:5-7 as our guide.

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

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We can not live in the world speaking “Lord! Lord!” (Matthew 7:21) and still enter the kingdom of God if we do not have His light in our lives. And not just some light touch here in our speech or charity giving; it must be all encompassing. Inside and outside, for all to see and feel. Our souls shouldn’t be touched by darkn ess; while we live in the world, we must live in darkness, but we must ne ver embrace it. God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27) then it follows th at our lives in their good and perfect form should be made of His light.

Yes, we’re made of breath and clay, but it’s His breath. It’s His clay. Born out of His lungs, molded by His o wn hands. We’re put on this earth for one very simple reason and that reason is to please Him. If our hearts’ desire is to please our Creator, then our lives should be like Him: full of light with no darkness at all.

I hop e you enjoy this issue, dear reader. I know that everyone has worked so hard on it and I wish I could gather everyone up and hug them and pray over them and watch Netflix together to celebrate God’s success and our exhaustion, but we’re all mostly scattered around the world right now. I’m so incredibly proud of my team and their willingness to stick through the hard parts and th e fun things we’ve done this year and I for one am so looking forward to issue four and 2015 and all the plans we get to make together!

Next issue will be a self reflective issue, so if you’re interested in submitting anything, this will be the ti me to do so! We’re looking for your thoughts about this past year, your heart’s desire, successes, failures and anything in between.

As always, be blessed to be a blessing.

Much love, Johanna Schnakenberg, Editor in Chief

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W H O AN D W HAT I

by Sar a

The concept of missions can be daunting. With

But who is really a missionary?

hundreds of Non Government Organisations’s (NGO’s) pleading with us to “save the children”

“Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel

or “give water to millions”, the need becomes

to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15 ESV, emphasis

confusing, overwhelming and, heaven forbid, a

added.

trendy app on our smart phone. Often we think missionaries are these really incredible people

When Jesus said this, he was talking to a group

who have an unwanted gift of celibacy or poverty

of people that didn’t know very much. They had

and can do distasteful things unfazed. There’s the

their Jewish traditions, yes. But Jesus had just

old picture that pops into our heads of a bearded

walked into their lives and thrown all of that into

man in a pith helmet, tall boots and high-waisted

confusion. He had made them question everything

shorts on the plains of Africa preaching to naked

that they had ever believed:

nomads. This image is now being replaced by the

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single woman who never had a chance at marriage

“You have heard your teachers say that you should

anyway and nobly sets out to work in a Chinese

not kill. But I say that if you hate your brother in

orphanage. Even short term missions evoke dis-

your heart, it’s the same thing—you’ll go to hell…

satisfactory images of youth groups in Mexico liv-

if you aren’t more holy than your clergymen, you

ing on a diet of greasy fish tacos and Coke for a

can’t get into Heaven.” (Matthew 5:21-22, 20,

week while they build houses for poor families.

paraphrase.)

S A M IS SI O N A RY ?

a h Len z

Now that was like nothing they had ever heard.

ernment, education, sports, art, literature, med-

These guys had spent three years with Jesus

icine, families, music, games—you name it! He

learning how little they knew about God, life, and

wants to bring His kingdom. Now, not later. And

God’s Kingdom. So how did these first mission-

although this world will eventually be replaced

aries do so much to change the world? W as it be-

by a new heaven and a new earth, He doesn’t

cause they’d just spent three years with God-in-

give rhetorical commands to kill time. His busi-

the-flesh? That would be really convenient for us,

ness is transformation. And He chooses to use us

but I think they had another secret.

to bring that. Anywhere, any time, any way. He DOES things! Isn’t that exciting? In a world of

These first missionaries were convinced that

empty advertising, there’s someone who delivers

“missions” has nothing to do with who you are or

the goods! And if we’ll listen, He’ll tell us the se-

what you know. It has everything to do with whom

crets to make a change wherever we are.

you know. If you know God even a little bit, you know that He desperately wants to be able to have

A missionary is one who says “Okay—what next?”

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relationship with EVERYONE. Not just the few privileged to have been born into a good Christian family. You realize that He’s not about getting people to say a prayer or profess Christianity—He’s about changing lifestyle, gov12

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J OY T HAT RE STS I N B O NE MAR ROW b y jo ha n n a s c hn a ken b erg

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There will be days when your heart is troubled, when your soul is crushed and broken, stuck like glue to the inside of your chest, and darling your lungs are scarcely breathing, they’re drowned and burned and scarred, listen close and listen well for there is truth in my words, there is joy which lives like an ocean in your soul, it will overcome your sorrow, overwhelm your tears.

A melancholic heart with insides that beg for joy, upon the tongue like honey, like nectar, like goodness and life, these are the days that must be felt, these are the days that hurt you and hold you, and though you feel there’s nothing left not one bit of string inside you, not one safety pin, there is a mountain deep inside your heartache though you may only see stormy clouds covering the peak.

Do not cower at the sunlight, nor shiver at the night, you were made for more than shrinking away, tell me of your hopes, sing to me of dreams, find the joy until it lines the sorrows of your smile, it isn’t so far as you suppose, it doesn’t hide, and never have I seen more courage than a weeping heart that refuses to lose its joy, it soothes up inside the heartache like a blessing.

Darling when you are weary, when your bones despair, and though I know your soul is aching and all seems lost do not fret and bow your head to shadow and grief, and do not let your lungs be burned or your hands scarred from holding people, holding pain too tightly turn your back away from all the things that break you, fill your head with daylight, let the moon rest in your eyes the thing about joy is: it never leaves your marrow

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TH E S U BSTA NCE by noble

The future is always close, yet always just ahead o

come to know and interact with the future throug

through the present. The present is constantly with

our way. After this, the present passes away quietly have come from, teaching us who we have become.

Likewise, the Father is always very close yet alway become. We come to know and interact with the Fa

Himself through the Son. The Son is constantly wit our way. After this, the Son passes away quietly in have come from, teaching us who we have become

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E S OF OUR LI V E S n i m mons

of us, guiding us toward what we will become. We

gh the present because the future manifests itself

h us through everything good and evil, showing us

y into the past. The past, reminding us of where we

ys just ahead of us, guiding us toward what we will ther through the Son because the Father manifests

th us through everything good and evil showing us to the Spirit. The Spirit, reminding us of where we

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WE LCO ME H O ME b y han n a h g ra ce es tes

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Footsteps Silently treading Across sacred ground I draw near I hesitate Hold my breath I don’t belong here Glancing in the mirror I deem myself Unworthy Yet our eyes meet He beckons Scarred hands Summon me My soul rejoices I am wanted I am loved I am welcome here Home at last.

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T E ST I M O N Y O F A ZO ROASTR I AN the wr i t e r s n a me ha s been w ithheld fo r their s a f ety

I was born in a Zoroastrian family in Iran, Tehran. At age three I moved to the United States and lived there until I was seven. I lived back in Tehran from when I was seven until sixteen. I heard of Jesus while attending Sunday school and of course during Christmas time, but never gave my life to him. At age nine, I chose to publicly announce I am a Zoroastrian and went through the ceremony. I tried to pray five times a day and do all the religious things. But I wasn’t 100% at it and asked myself, How can I have the assurance that I will go to heaven? I further wondered a loving God could make me live a life of fear, dou bt, and uncertainty. Then when I was sixteen, my family and I moved to Dallas, and it was there, afte r visiting a Baptist church, I had questions about how Jesus could be my God and Savior. After they explained everything to me, I just believed and peace came upon me. After that I had doubts and fear, but God confirmed it all through His word, the Bible. I had no idea this was the beginning of the journey for me. Years later, I still experience Jesus’ healing and his setting of the captives free—two of whom were my mom and me

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TEAM

CARO L I N E KEL LY Music: Sleeping At Last Book: The Art of Racing in The Rain by Garth Stein Show: The Middle

C ATHERINE MARSH Music: Belong by Cory Brothers Book: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

LO UI S HI N TZ Music: Colony House

J OHA N N A SCHNAKEN BERG Book: The Insanity of God by Nik Ripkin Music: Unveiled Hope by Michael Card

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PICKS

J OA N N AH ZI M M ERM AN Book: Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers Music: Somebody to Die For by Hurts, Dents by The Acorn Show: Parks and Recreation

NO BL E NI M M O NS Books: One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

J ESSI CA RACKL EY Book: Homecoming series by Orson Scott Card Music: Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack

SKY WAL DEN: Book: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel Music: Broken Hallelujah by The Afters

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G OD AT HIS by mor ga

Throughout my life I’ve come to realize how amazing God really is. At times I’ve had questions such as “Who is God?” and even “What is God truly capable of?” Well, within a couple years I finally got an answer from God, through music, to these questions. From three eye opening experiences I’ve grown so much closer to God. Two of these experiences happened at youth retreats with a church I used to be a part of, while the other was at Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which I’m sure you’ve heard of.

I’ll start with the Desperation Conference and my first encounter ever with the Holy Spirit. The Desperation Band was up and playing and they played a new song of theirs called “Light Up the World.”

It starts getting into the things we, as Christians, believe will happen with the Second Co ming. As we were singing, I can’t explain the feeling, but I fell to my knees and cried tears of absolute and complete joy. I could feel the Holy Spirit throughout the building, surrounding everyone. We were standing (kneeling), worshiping on holy ground and I’ve never felt like I was in a place as pure as that one.

I felt like I was alone in space with God, music playing, just worshiping at His feet, although I knew 29

S GR E ATE ST n de la nge

at the same time I had hundreds, if not thousands of other people surrounding me feeling the same way. It was as if everyone had disappeared, but I knew they were still there.

After about a year, when I was 16 I went on two retreats to a ranch up by Woodland Park, Colorado.

Those two retreats were what turned me into the Christian I am today. Not only did I learn about the Lord, but I also learned how to know when and what He was saying, then and now. I’m going to start with the second one because it’s what ultimately led to the redirection of my life and the acceptance of my surrender to God.

For a month or two before the retreat I was seriously questioning God because I didn’t know who He was, and probabl y never even wanted to until that point in time. I was lost and confused. We were having a sermon the first night during which I prayed that over the five day period of the retreat the Lord would show me who He was. While enjoying the retreat, little things showed up to me, but I still wondered, so I asked my pastor, Travis, and all he said was, “He’s something else for everyone.” He 30

then followed up with, “Wait until tomorrow and if you’re still wondering, ask me again.”

That night the band played the song “Who You Are” which says,

Creator, my Maker, my Father; that is who You are My Healer, my Savior, Redeemer; that is who You are.

At that moment I realized He can’t be described by one person as one thing. He is everything that was, and is, and is to come. Just as He has a myriad of names, He also has countless “personalities,” one for every situation we may stumble upon in life. He is indescribable and impossible to comprehend.

You see, that day I learned that I can question, I can wonder every hour of every day. I can study my life away, but until I am in heaven, never will I ever have an answer worthy of describing my Lord and Savior, my God.

Finally, on the first retreat I went on, I tr uly begged for the Lord to come into my life after I straightened it out. I prayed for God to come back into my life and help guide me in the right direction. As I worshiped one day I felt the Holy Spirit come down onto me and push me to my knees; I felt pressure on my chest to the point where I could no longer breathe. It ended up getting to the point where I left due to the fact I thought something was wrong with me. While outside I felt God tell me to go back in, to pray, to be with Him. So, as I could finally breathe without a struggle again I went back only to feel the same pre ssure again. When it came back even stronger than before the Lord spoke to me yet again saying, “This pressure, this power is nothing compared to the amount of my power you will live to experience. Th is is just the smallest taste of my love, mercy, power, and glory.”

Later that night the song “From the Inside Out” came on, to which I gave everything I am to God. To this very day it is my favorite song to worship to, and I’m sure it always will be. You see, I’ve lived a very unique life…I’ve had many troubles; I’ve gone through a myriad of trials. My life was not easy, nor was it as hard as some people’s. In the end my God has taken care of me; He has shown me who He is, and given me a taste of His power. These have been a couple of my most intimate experiences with God, me being someone who has lived such a hard life. So remember, even the most distraught of people, even the people living in the worst of situations, can experience God at his greatest

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DE M O N S O F TH E PAST b y jo an n a h zim m erm a n

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Guilt is something that holds so many people down. It’s a little nagging voice that goes on in your brain, telling you that you’re not good enough. It’s that weight that you just can’t get rid of, and it keeps stealing your joy. Even when you’ve been forgiven, it’s that feeling that what you’ve done is still held against you.

It’s hard even after being born again to believe you’ve been forgiven. It’s like a demon keeps pulling it out of the back of your mind, and tells you that there’s no way that you could be really forgiven. That you’re too messed up to be really loved, t hat people and God can’t truly forgive you.

So we fight to be good enough, but without grace we lose heart, and we get depressed and don’t believe there’s anything good about us. We slowly just forget that God made us with purpose and a beautiful plan that only we can fill. That He ALWAYS loves us, and that nothing about our pasts can ever make him stop loving us. That everything has happened for a reason, to show His love, grace, and patience as He wipes the slate clean.

When you believe He hasn’t brought you inside and left your past on the doorstep, yo u’re leaving yourself open for demons to toy with you. Reducing you to a broken believer that can’t fight because of the crushing weight of guilt. So we have to learn to accept forgiveness, and let ourselves be truly brought in and cleaned up, and let God’s light shine into our dark pasts. John 1:5 says, “And the light shine th in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

While the past will always affect our future, we do have to stop constantly looking back with regret.

The past taught us lessons that we needed and gave us experience that we would never have had otherwise, that we can share and use to help others that are thinking about going through the same struggle. We use our past in our present and future, but we need to get rid of the rearview mirror

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S P O RT W I T H G O D : A N INT ER in t e r vie we d by

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RV IEW WI TH ST E VE N M I L E S d ylan cam p b el l

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Earlier this month I had the pleasure of interviewing Steven Miles, a professional AFL (Australian Football) player playing the NEAFL, or the North East Australian Football League. The NEAFL is a second-tier league, second only to the AFL, the premier stage for the game. Australian Football, or AFL, is one of the three biggest sporting codes in Australia, arguably being the most participated in sport—although this is up for debate. AFL is played on a large oval field, generally around 160 meters long (approximately 175 yards) goal to goal, and 135 meters wide (approximately 148 yards) at the widest point. The ball is also oval shaped, and “scores” can be worth either 6 or 1 point(s), depending upon which set of posts the ball is kicked through. As well as being a professional AFL player, Steven has also recently gotten married, is a committed Christian, and pursues God above all else.

Hey Steven, thanks for joining us today. To start us off, what do you do for a living, and why do you do it?

That’s a tough question. I’ve got three things. Well, I get paid for two things, and volunteer in others. First off, I’m a web manager at the Department of Health Northern Territory; I look after their internet sites. Also, I get paid to play football for Northern Territory Thunder, and through that get the opportunity to play at the elite level in the Northern Territory, and verse four AFL reserve teams.

That’s what I do for a living.

Outside of work, I used to be a youth group leader with my wife.

You play for NT Thunder at the second top level in Australia; what does that entail for you, training and commitment wise?

Commitment wise it requires me to train at football training three times a week; typically Monday-Wednesday-Friday. It also requires me to play games on the weekend, whether that’s a Saturday or a Sunday. It also demands me to go the the gym, do swimming/boxing or any extra type of fitness that I want to do. At this level, it’s mostly self-motivated, because if you want to succeed, you do it yourself. You only have a few training sessions a week, and they’re only an hour or two long, so if you want to succeed, you have to put in the time and effort.

My typical week is normally spent at the gym for probably 2-3 hours a week, footy trainings 3 times a week, which works out to be 7-8 hours once you factor in getting there early and staying back late, and then playing a game on the weekend, which takes about 3 hours with about 5 hours preparation.

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It also requires me to eat healthy 24/7. The only cheat I have on that is every 3 months I eat Hungry Jacks (Burger King), as a reward for eating healthy for the past 3 months. Every time I go I order the biggest burger, and put on heaps and heaps of extras, so it’s probably worth about 3 burgers! That’s what I do for my goal; have 3 months of eating healthy, then I can have my Hungry Jacks burger. I also married a dietician!

That’s great. What did it take for you to get there? How did you reach this level?

That’s actually a ridiculous question, wow. Pretty much all my life, ever since I could run around, I’ve been playing sports. Since I was under four, up until about 15 or 16 I did athletics, so running and fitness, and in the meantime, under 11’s, under 14’s, I was doing cricket. After that I was playing basketball, from under 14’s all the way through to the top league in Darwin, for about six years. So that was from when I was 12 till when I was 18. In amongst that I was also playing darts, and represente d our state (NT) two years in a row. I also went to Nationals for Javelin and cricket. I did heaps of competitive swimming when I was younger.

Just after school, when I was 18, I started playing AFL, and focused solely on that. I didn’t play any other sport except AFL. I’ve been playing pretty much double seasons, so no off season break. When I was 18 I was playing for the young NT Thunder side, and then during the 2012-2013 season I was contracted to a team (St Arnoud) in Country Victoria, on the other side of the country. So they would fly me down for the weekend game, I would play, and then they’d fly me back up to Darwin. That year they contracted a whole new lot of players, and went from winning 3 games in 3 years, to losing the grand final by one point. It was harsh. This year I was contracted to NT Thunder. That’s pretty much the run-down of my sports, but I’ll give you the run-down of my major injuries as well; because they are w hat defines me, and what gave me character.

When I was 15, I was playing basketball 6 days a week (4-5 training sessions, and then sometimes 3 games!), and because of that, my left knee started to get sore. I ended up having to have surgery on it for tendonitis, so they had to fix that, but it left me with a two-year recovery timeframe before I could play high-level intense sports again. It was probably a year and a bit before I could walk semi-normally again. I put on probably 15 kilograms (33 pounds) during that time. After basketball, once I had started playing AFL, I broke my collarbone, which put me out for 3-4 months. Then, just after the season finished with St Arnoud, I had to get surgeries on both of my calves, as they were blocking the femoral arteries in my legs, and blocking them off when I tensed. So essentially I was only getting 40

blood to my calves and lower legs approximately 40% of the time. They ended up cutting out 98% of the muscle joints in my calves, so even now I can only tense my calves about 2% of what I used to be able to. I am still recovering from this injury now, after almost 20 months. Also recently, I snapped the tendon off my right ring finger. I’m out for another couple of months, at least, with that.

Interestingly, most of these injuries happened just as I was approaching an advancement into the next level. Just before I did my knee, my coach told me that I was probably the best basketball player in the state, and he put my name forward on the list for scouts to look for at nationals. I broke my collarbone just b efore nationals, and was unable to participate. The same thing happened with my calves; my AFL coach said to me that I could start looking at places in other states, bigger clubs and more professional contracts, but it was then that I found I needed surgery on both of my calves. These injuries, though—they are what defines me. You should look for the good in everything, because God is good, and God is faithful.

So true. How exactly has your Christianity impacted your sporting life?

The biggest thing for me is the knowledge that what I do and what I’m good at isn’t necessarily in one thing. My identity doesn’t lie in football, so when I’m injured it isn’t the end of the world. For me, my identity is in Jesus, and not in sport. Jesus is in everything, so even if I’m not playing sport, I’ve still got passions and interests in other areas.

Has there ever been a time when it’s been “inconvenient” to be a Christian in sport?

Yeah, since heaps of sports train and play on Sunday, often sport got in the way of church. That was a big one, because for some weeks or even some months in a row, we couldn’t go to church because of certain sports training and playing. That was pretty taxing, but I guess our priorities were to go play the sport, because the sport was our mission field. It was our chosen outreach; to be a living example of Christ. Looking back, maybe these times did limit the amount of growth we could have with God, so often we would tr y to change things up, by having Thursday night bible studies or something like that.

Other times it was “inconvenient” for me because normally I was the only Christian in a group of non-Christians. Before this year I was often a guy who molded to the environment I was in, in a sense.

I mean I wouldn’t say or do anything bad, but at the same time I would just sit back and passively participate in things like gossip, and just being a part of the world, because I didn’t know who I was.

I think it’s really important to know who you are and where you stand with Christ.

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How have you gotten to the stage where you know who you are and that your identity lies in Christ?

-Ensuring a strong relationship with God, and making spending time with Him a priority.

-Bein g in an environment where growth is available (e.g. Bible study or church), so prioritizing that over sport.

-Having integrity in every situation I’m in, and just being who I am in Christ. Being the same person no matter where I am.

How do you try and share God with the team?

I write poems for people! People are so awkward with it, but I think it’s really important. I want to shatter people’s views on what footy players are like. I’m totally for not being a groupie footy player that flexes their muscles and tries to hook up with girls everywhere they go. So I write poems, I talk to people one on one, I talk to trainers, volunteers, all the people that often get ignored by players that don’t know Jesus. Normally they just take and never give. Even things like saying “thank you” to the guy filling up water bottles for us, because we take things for granted. I also like to have chats to people that recognise me (normally because I’m wearing team apparel, not because they know my face) around town, and just try to get to know them as a person.

How does your sporting career impact your everyday life?

Decisions and priorities. What can I do in my life at any time and any point, and what can I do right now? Right now I can work on my relationship with Jesus, and as I’m young, I can’t play football when I’m older. So give AFL a go now, and save other things for later.

Have you had any role models who you’ve looked up to and endeavoured to be like?

My uncle, my mum’s brother. His name is Ian Van Der Wal, and he swam at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics games, for Australia. He was an Olympian, he held a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport for four years, an d also swam with Australian swimming legends Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Grant Hackett in 1997 to claim silver at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. It was with his guidance as an uncle, and me looking up to him from a very young age, that I strove to be like him. As I aged, people also said I looked like him, and Nanna (Grandma) sometimes got confused and called me Ian. This was an honour for me; especially as Uncle Ian kept who he was throughout his career, and didn’t let hi s sporting success change his worldview as a Christian. He’s who I’m aiming to be in a nutshell.

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What do you value most in a sportsperson?

Attitude, because attitude is a condition of your heart. It is a willingness to learn, and a willingness to accept that what you did is wrong, and a willingness to accept and change it. Attitude also comes out in your actions and words. I try to respect everyone, even those that don’t have a good attitude, but I really respe ct and honor people who have a good attitude and try to learn. I almost like to treat them like a “role model”, and I always try to learn how to have a better attitude.

Thanks Steven. Do you have any final words of advice for other Christian you ng people, regarding sports and God? Pretty much just a summary of this whole [interview]. That is, in a nutshell, to make sure that Jesus is number one in your life, and that he takes priority. In this way, in your chosen sport no matter how inten se, hard, or difficult it is, Jesus an d a relationship with God will prevail through the circumstanc es. Whether you get injured, or whet her you achieve, God will be number one, and He will impart His characteristics onto us. Keep God number one, and work out your priorities. Playing sport at a decent level requires 100% commitment; you have to go all out. So make sure that it’s what you want to do. But also re member that playing sport isn’t everything; because what Jesus calls us to do is tell people about the gospel. That you can do anywhere—in your workplace, school, or sport

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THANK YOU

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