Super Mario Bros: "The Lost Levels" is a frustrating game that probably affected my blood pressure this past weekend.
"The Lost Levels" was a game that was never released in the US when it came out in the late 80's in Japan because of the complexity of the game which made it not as fun to play. You can read more about the legacy of the game here.
I played the game with my sons the other night and watched Mario fall to his death dozens of times as I attempted to make him jump across the many gulches in this game.
Playing this game wasn't on my radar for the other night but it was the byproduct of having my middle son at home while he is recovering from his jaw surgery.
We are three weeks removed from his surgery and he is making some progress and is getting closer to eating some solid food.
His recovery from the surgery has been a praise we have shared with each other and with our church family.
I recently got to lead the Wednesday night devotion before our prayer time at church. I went through Psalm 111-113. The Psalmist reminds us over and over again that we are expected to praise the Lord. There are so many things about the ministry that need to work out in order for us to do what we do. We are dealing with the government, transportation, team sports, and ministry- all at the same time!
God has been merciful and has answered prayers over the years and has blessed us with the Gospel opportunities that He has provided.
Our last visit to FCI Thomson was a day full of praises for the Lord!
Last Saturday (8/29/26), we met up at my church at 4 AM and packed up our gear. We spent some time in prayer as a team before departing north for Thomson, IL. Usually our drives are full of bean and corn fields in the dark. This time we took a route where we got to see Iowa on the other side of the Mississippi on the the western side of Illinois.
Of course, this route was in the dark as well.
We made a quick breakfast stop at the local Casey's which involved breakfast pizza, bottles of protein shakes, and my personal favorite, Casey's donuts!
We departed the Casey's and we arrived at the prison on time and made our way through the security process. The walk to the field from the entryway was actually shorter than most prisons.
The field is a multi-sport recreation yard so it wasn't quite a true softball field- there was a walking track that went through the outfield, a huge light tower in center field, and a basketball court in left center field. However, it made for one of the more fun and interesting fields we have played on all year.
We started our first game, and the game was a hard-fought one. We went back and forth for several innings before taking a break for our ministry time.
Josh Thompson who is in his first year of the ministry, shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord. After Josh shared his testimony, Kris Mettelmann shared the Gospel with a big crowd.
After the ministry time, we continued our game and squeaked out a one-run victory! After the game we circled up with the men and handed out some award books to the umpires and team MVPs.
After we finished up the first half of the day, we made our way back out of the prison and had a really quick lunch at the same Casey's gas station. It was still around 10 am so we did our best with some more Casey's breakfast food and whatever we could find in the food aisles of the store.
After lunch, we made our way back to the prison and got ready to play a new team and minister to a different crowd of men. We came out with one of our best offensive games of the year and cruised to an easy win.
In between games, Ray Koonce shared his testimony and I shared the Gospel with another big crowd.
After I got done preaching, I had a conversation with a man who was from India who said he was Hindu but he believed in Jesus. Unfortunately, there was lots of broken English and we had trouble communicating. He said he wanted to write to me to continue the conversation. Please pray for this man and that he follows through with writing to the ministry.
We played a third game and lost on a tough walk-off hit. It wasn't fun losing but it was cool to see their team celebrate as though they won the World Series!
We circled up on the pitcher's mound one more time and handed out some MVP awards. Kris Mettelmann challenged the men on where they stood with Christ and encouraged them to believe and repent before praying with them.
Overall on the day we went 2-1 on the field, handed out 346 Gospels of John and we saw 52 men make professions of faith.
We huddled up outside the prison and we shared our stories about the day. Several guys had stories of one on one conversations where they were able to share the Gospel. One of the biggest blessing as the coach of the team is hearing our men share praises about how God worked and provided opportunities to share the Gospel.
We made our trip back home along the Mississippi. This is actually one of my favorite drives home as we went through several small towns and villages along the river.
We stopped at a local restaurant on the way for a meal which included some incredible cheese fries and Midwest tenderloin sandwiches!
We made it back to the church and unloaded all of our stuff, gave each other some handshakes and hugs, and then headed home to promptly go back to bed after the early start time.
Our next date is 9/12. It was supposed to be a visit to Sheridan CC, but they had to cancel.
However, our Director of Team Operations was able to work the phones and get us into the Pittsfield WC and Jacksonville CC. We have visited both prisons before several times and we are looking forward to wrapping up our season there!
Thank you for praying for our trip and for praying for the ministry!
