Jon, second from left, pictured with Landon, Adam, and Marek at a Chris Tomlin concert being held outdoors at a church in Cincinnati, Ohio during our mission trip to the WSF&G Master’s Series Tournament.

Exceeding Abundantly Above All

My son Jon is a committed Christian who LOVES, and I mean LOVES, to play tennis. God has given him the desire and skills to compete in this wonderful game, and tennis has become a big part of our family’s world.

As Jon grew and kept up his interest, we began to pray for him, that the Lord would use him and his tennis for the glory of God. I used a book called “Prayers That Avail Much for Teens” by Germaine Copeland to help me focus my prayer using God’s Word and its wonderful promises as a springboard for boldly coming to God’s throne with our needs.

I had no idea where this was going. Jon was in a Christian school that offered no tennis, and his local tennis club instructors and camp weren’t Christian. We wanted Jon to be all he could be in regard to his tennis, but even more important to us was his commitment to follow Jesus as Lord. We didn’t want him to sacrifice his tennis for his faith, but we REALLY didn’t want him to compromise his faith for his tennis.

While we were on vacation I got an email from the International Christian Tennis Association that referred me to the http://www.christiantennis.net. Hmmm. A Christian Tennis camp? Why not try it out.

I called and got Scotty Paschal on the phone. (I found out later he had been asleep on the floor of a pastor’s study in Newport, Rhode Island while his group was on a mission trip to the pro tournament being held at the International Tennis hall of Fame!)

While he was exhausted, not only did he talk with me about Jon, but he thought he could fit him in for three weeks in July and August. What great news! Jon went to the ICTA camps for all three weeks and his life has been positively changed!

Jon’s first phone call home was to tell me how awesome it was with Coach Scotty and the ICTA gang in Palm Coast.

He loved being with the other young people there and he had just spent 2 hours working on a devotional to use at one of the tournaments. I was thrilled. If you had told me Jon was going to be this excited about devotions 2 months before, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here was the fact staring me in the face!

How was the tennis? I asked. Just great. He was hitting at least 1100 balls a day and working with a world class coach preparing him to compete at the International level. I couldn’t believe it at first. I did a couple of weeks later when he came home for a few days and blew me off the court!

Next thing I knew, Jon was off to Cincinnati with the whole ICTA crew for an ICTA large scale mission trip to the biggest men’s ATP tournament in the world. When I looked on the ICTA web site, my heart took a leap. Could this be true? There, listed under the heading “Missionaries” was Jon’s name.

There’s nothing in the world that could make me prouder of my son.

But he keeps on amazing me. He’s been accepted as a full time student this fall semester at the International Christian Tennis Academy, and is preparing for tournaments in California, Italy, Spain and France.

He’s helping out at Christian concerts and working with the other students and staff on designing art work for shirts and writing devotionals for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to tennis players and tennis lovers around the world.

What’s next? Who knows! But it will be great, I know. God gave me a verse that has just knocked me out. The key words are in the title of this testimonial. In the King James Version this verse tell us that God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. I never understood just what that meant until the past few weeks. I’ve got my sites set too low! God’s plans for us are way beyond anything we can ask or think.

I looked up the words at www.hyperdictionary.com :

Exceeding: farbeyondwhatisusualinmagnitudeordegree; “anightofexceedingdarkness“; “anexceptionalmemory“; “Olympianeffortstosavethecityfrombankruptcy“; “theyoungMozart‘sprodigioustalents.

Abundantly: presentingreatquantity; “anabundantsupplyofwater“

Above: inortoaplacethatishigher

All: toacompletedegreeortothefullorentireextent

This verse just knocks me out, and I’m so glad that God gave it to me and showed me what it meant through the ICTA and its ministry. I don’t know what your thoughts are, or what you’ve asked of God or thought about your future. But this one thing I know: God is ABLE to do

Exceeding

Abundantly

Above

All

that we ask or think. This is mind boggling, but it is God’s Word, and if we stand upon it, God will surely exceed all we ask or think! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! .

Ken K

August 27, 2005