Isten a vezetők bányásza és finomítój.
Isten a vezetők bányásza és finomítój. (Hungarian ) God is the miner and Refiner of leaders.
That is how Imre Balogh translated Camacho’s words for me this morning. He called from Hungary to tell me that he and his newly married wife were expecting a little girl. Imi (his nickname) was my pitcher on the Mikepercs, Mosquitoes baseball team. In our wet little village MOSQUITOES were so plentiful that you could make a pie! So, I named the team after the village bugs.
Our little league baseball team played on the local soccer field eating ice cream and watermelon after our practice. Our team was mixture of pre-teens of “white” Hungarian and “brown” Hungarians or Roma (for those who are politically correct, or Gypsy for those who want a knife in their guts).
However, when ice cream is the goal (baseball was secondary), it really didn’t matter what color you were. Your place in line at the ice cream stand is all that mattered. When the boys came over after practice, Trudy (my wife) would open all the windows (this was before the invention of AXE deodorant). I told Trudy that the boys would bathe in the Spring (not a lot of running water in the village). Besides what preteen boy likes to bathe?
After two years of playing on the soccer field, we entered the Hungarian Little league Tournament and came away as the national champions.
While the Mosquitoes continued to grow in number, with a whole host of girls getting into the game. The Mosquitoes grew up to the big boy league and they self identified as Black Sox.
Since then, the boys have grown. Before I left Hungary (to take care of in laws in Texas) Most of the boys accepted Christ. In the year AFTER I left Hungary Imi accepted Christ. He said that when I lived in his village, that he did not have to think about believing in God (apparently, I was doing that for him). Now that I was leaving, he decided to make his leap of faith. (Wow, absence does make the heart grow fonder – although that is not quite what I think it means.)
Anyway, Imi was calling me as he was driving. Yes, he said, I have a driver’s license and a CAR! Imi now works for an EU non-profit ministering to children in an old coal mining town. Many are Roma, but in generational villages, the tensions are much less (not like in Budapest). People are farmers. His baseball program has 80 children (wow).
Imi also works with GoodSports international and helps teach Ukrainian Refugee children how to play baseball on the weekends. There are 204 Ukrainian Roma Refugees (103 Children) in Debrecen, Hungary. Csabi (see below) has a cleft palate and just finished his first surgery. This summer we told them the story of Joseph and how what Satan meant for evil, God reshaped for good. Csabi was escaping a war in Ukraine. He never thought he would come to a place where he would learn baseball and get his cleft palate fixed. God does reshape things for good he believes.
I have been told that working with pre-teens and teens boil down to one thing – time. For ten years the boys (and girls) were ever present in my life. If you made ten practices, you got a glove of your own. Ten more you got a bat and ball. After that you could join the “Captains Club – pizza gathering, served with a side dish of bible study.”
Don’t let Imi know, but I was informed when he walked on the dark side (drugs, sex and hip/hop). Goth clothing and weird makeup. Everything he wore was black.
But then he found the LIGHT.
Today, 18 January 2023 he wrote on Facebook messenger. “How does it feel to be a grandpa?”
Jo volt fiam. Good job son.
Mining takes time, and if you every had teens, it takes a load of patience. But watching boys, change to teens, to men is a God thing. A baseball coach or a coach for Christ? I wasn’t aware I was doing both at the same time.
I wasn’t looking for gold at the time, but now as I look back, I see the shining of gold in the young men that the Holy Spirit brought to Christ.
Isten áldjon, God keep you.
About the Author
Russell Chun
interlinkt.org is now ready for your Refugee Resettlement needs. 15 tasks, languages ESL plans coming5 responses to “Isten a vezetők bányásza és finomítój.”
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Mining does indeed take time, especially as you have so vividly pictured here. Thanks for this post, Russell. I look back at the years of raising two sons and a daughter. Today they are all adults (twentysomethings). One is married. There were times where I think I knew what I was doing, and there were times that I only see what I was doing (or attempting to do) looking backwards. The baseball coach or coach for Christ analogy — that stuck. In the grand scheme of things, it was a both-and. I so appreciate the work you have illustrated, and I think the work you have been doing is/was very coram-Deo — all of life being lived before the face of God, both as a coach and as a coach doing the arduous work of developing young people at the same time.
What a great case study for coaching, and the long-term investment you have made! I think there is something to be learned about Imi waiting to make his choice for Christ until AFTER you left. I wrote in my blog about Samuel, and one of my thoughts that I did not have room to share there was that Samuel didn’t live to see David take the throne. I guess both the outcomes and the timings of our coaching do not always follow what we expect.
What a powerful story. It confirms Comachio’s statement that “Flourishing is not a work of man or of the flesh. It is a work of the Spirit” (p. 102). The investment of your time and sacrifice did not end when you moved away becuase it was empowered by the Holy Spirit, who promises to continue the work (Philippians 1:6).
My heart has often been broken as my husband and I obediently left places of ministry as God called us on to new beginnings. It has made me realize that we are called to mine gold, not to own it.
Mining for gold involves a trust process in the greater cause of Christ.
Russell, what a delight to read your post. It brought big smiles and quite a few small tears. I don’t know that it matters what kind of coaching you call it. But I think I will call it “coaching for love.” You have gift and you use it well! I imagine it is one of many “Sweet spots” you have. Camacho talked about the sweet spots of passion, wiring, and fruit (Camacho, 136). What has been your process for uncovering your passion and wiring? You are certainly abounding in fruit!
Russell just knowing you from our brief time in Cape Town and then the myriad of airports you helped me navigate I can see how you are such an important influence, coach, friend in the lives of so many! I know you are not only a baseball coach but always and forever a coach for Christ. This is a beautiful story and I am sure, only one of many because you have touched so many lives. Thank you for sharing and for reminding me of the relationships I made when I was a campus pastor. It is truly a miracle to watch young folks grow into the people God has designed and called them to be. I am grateful to be able to witness many of my former college students flourish as they enter careers, marriages, and become parents!