The Cross and the Skate: The Fellowship of Christian Roller Derby Athletes

Some time around March of last year God began impressing on my heart that I was to minister to the derby world. This to me is a daunting task. That's all he gave me and since that time I've spent almost a year in prayer over this.

The one thing I believe he has directed is that this be different.
What I am not to do is preach at people, judge their life style, religion political stance, sexual preference or anything else. That's not what this is ever to be about. This is about LOVE. Loving everyone no matter who or where they are. Some may say this is heretical some will say I'm crazy. I'm ok with that. This is not about pushing or forcing anything this is about showing people God's love.

Hopefully you are still with me.

This is a slow process because I do not and will not make a move without God's blessing.

Since then God had opened small doors. The teams I announce and/or NSO for have allowed us to do Food drives for the church food pantry. (Which is another pet project of mine. If you've read my last blog post you know why.) I am hoping to continue this but this is just the beginning.

The next thing on my list is this: before bouts at some yet to be designated area, I would like to take about 3-5 minutes to pray before the game starts. At NFRD AND RCRG bouts whoever is able will congregate by the announcers booth. Otherwise at a designated time I will ask everyone to pray individually. I get that there is a lot of pre-game crazy. HRD, SRG not sure how to pull this off yet.

This is also about serving others.

Here us where I need help.

1. Please pray for me and your fellow Christians.

2. I have created a closed FB group call the Fellowship of Christian Roller Derby Athletes we also have a page. I will admin and have one admin from each league. If anyone is interested in being admin hit me up. Of you are my FB friend then just let me know if you're interested in joining the group. Otherwise just like the page and message me on it! SHARE this we want this to be worldwide!

3. ID any needs that can be filled. Meals, visits, prayer requests etc. Any way we can show God's love.

Also if anyone is interested we will have a meetup in April or May in Houston.

This is just the beginning and I'm open to any suggestions ideas. I'm here to serve you.

That's all for now. Please give me feedback!

Because of Love: Our Christmas Miracle

¹⁹ But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19(KJV)

Some of you know that I’m usually a bit Grinchy at Christmas time. Since 2009 we’ve been stretched pretty thin financially. We’ve had some good moments but every Christmas has been a huge struggle and usually a bit of a sacrifice for us because we both love giving presents and we want them to be awesome.  The fact that we just can’t afford to spoil our niece and nephew is a bit upsetting. This year was no exception. We told no one about our situation because we aren’t the kind to ask for handouts EVER.  I wanted to skip Christmas but God had other plans.

A paycheck came in a week late for the second time this year (that’s another story) which put us in the red by a LOT. It made for a very scary week. We had very little food, no money for gas and the dogs were almost out of food. The gas is a big deal because at the time I was running service calls and that means I had to drive around all day. If I don’t work I don’t get paid PEROID. I cried and cried and cried for hours. Dave called me from work In the midst of my freak out and to my surprise he was coming unglued like I was. He calmed me down, prayed with me over the phone, and then he got back to work.  During our conversation he urged me to spend some time in prayer. I spent the next few hours in prayer when I finally shut up and started listening God told me “I am going to take care of you. You know I supply all your needs.” The thing is that God doesn’t work in traditional ways, and as much as I know that, I am still surprised when he doesn’t make things happen the way I expect.

I was out running calls (I had fuel for that day) when I had a customer give me $60. Now I’m not supposed to take tips and have refused them and though I had a need I wasn’t about to take the money. I left and the man chased me down the street and told me he had to give it to me he didn’t know why but he couldn’t let me leave till he gave me that money. Ok God I get it. I’ll have gas for three days next week. God wasn’t done. I had two other customers who did the same thing but they gave me $20 each. BOOM!  The gas money was covered and not a single soul knew about our struggle.

Then I got a call from my mom she got a Christmas bonus and wanted me to go by and get some cash. She didn’t know about our struggle she just felt that she needed to give us the $ and by the way Cheli this is not your Christmas present. It covered a bill.  Then we ran out of dog and people food. In my searching the house for spare money I found a gift card for $100 to Target. I bought food sparingly cheap unhealthy stuff that makes huge meals that can last a couple of days. Our bank account came back in the black but it wasn’t huge.  We couldn’t afford Christmas not even for the kids.  Five days before the holiday and when Dave’s check came in we’d have enough to make and that was it. God had supplied all our needs.

Fast forward to Tuesday, I got a phone call telling me that a job I’d interviewed for was making me an offer and wanted me to start. Dave and I celebrated and decided we’d just have Christmas a few weeks after. The next night we were having a kid’s service and since I knew I was leaving the job I cut my day short so I could have one last Weds night at church and help on the bus. I went to church that night and my friend Vicki handed me an envelope that was addressed to “the Miller Family” since it was for the both of us I tucked it in my back pocket and almost forgot about it.

I came home from the church bus and got ready for bed, while changing I heard a thud. THE ENVELOPE! I took the envelope to our room and handed it to David. He looked at me and said “What is this?” I replied “I don’t know Vicki handed it to me”.  David opened the envelope and just stared at it mouth wide open in shock. I looked at him and said “WHAT?” He pulled money out of the envelope and then a gift card. We both stared. There was a substantial amount of cash and a gift card for a nice sum too. We could afford Christmas. I cried for about two hours. God not only supplied our needs but gave us exceedingly and abundantly more than what we NEEDED.  He gave us our Christmas.

We were happy just to make it. We were ok with no gifts for each other much less ok with not giving our families anything. God in his LOVE provided for us. It was love that provided the $60 from a stranger and $40 from two others. My mom in her love for me gave me $ that she should have kept for herself my parents aren’t loaded and they are doing their best to make it too. Several anonymous people heard God directing them to give us money or a gift card. (My in-laws who did know helped us with out too.)  NONE of those people knew we were struggling and couldn’t make it on our own. They loved us enough to be obedient to God’s voice and give us some of their own hard earned money. They didn’t have to do it but they loved us so much that they did.

It’s a bit over two weeks and I’m still blown away by God’s love and the love of strangers, family and church family. Our church family is just getting to know us and they love us so much. That Sunday I talked to Pastor Jay and Debi and asked them to thank those folks. I thanked them too though they said they had nothing to do with it. Never in all my life have I felt more at home or loved than I do at this church. I thanked them because the heart of the church starts with the head of the church and our pastors are full of love. They have taught this congregation what love is through their example and in turn that church has a heart full of love for others.  The church motto "Passion for God, compassion for people" rings true. For the first time in years my inner Grinch went away and my heart grew two sizes that day. Thank you anonymous donors, for reminding David and I are SO VERY LOVED. 

Wanna Know more about my church?

Calvary Chapel AG

3822 Greenshadow Dr
Pasadena, TX 77503
(713) 477-8986

Services :

Sunday 10:30 A.M.

Weds 7 P.M.

http://www.calvarychapelag.com/

 

Changes

I'm a different person than I was a year ago. So much has changed. Last year I was an announcer with no team and now I have 2 teams to announce for. I was struggling with the idea of going back to church after having been out of it for 9 years. I was a fatter girl then too. Now I have two teams, a church home, and I'm still fat but I'm finally doing something about it.

This time last year I announced my first bout for Northside Fury with the hope that they might let me become their announcer. Little did I know that not only would I become the team announcer but that I would find a family that I can't help but fall in love with. The great thing is the Derbyverse really loved me and earlier this year Rocket City Roller Girls embraced me as well and now I have two awesome leagues that love me and allow me the privliage of being their announcer. I've become good enough to fly solo as an announcer and I love it! I've still go a way to go when it comes to derby 101 but other than that I've gotten decent at play by play. Now I'm worried with the next ruleset scheduled to come out soon. With the elimination of minors and  the jammer whistle amongst other changes it's going to get interesting. One can only hope this will eliminate the scrum starts but that rant is for another day.

Dave and I were out of church for 9 years and last year we started attending rather regularly since then we have become members of our church.There has been so much healing and peace in the last few months and I'm such a different person now (not because of my church but because of God's grace). I actually look forward to Sunday mornings now. For the first time I am in a church that embraces me just as I am and encourages me to be myself. They love the fact that I'm involved with Roller Derby and they even seem to love my boutfits. It feels normal and natural there! I truly feel at home.They support my derby addiction and even want to come see me announce! I love my church so much that I want to bring everyone along with me, and if you are Derby you are most welcome. It's different there we have people with mohawks, to "clean cut", you can show up in shorts and a tee or a suit, you can come tatted up with piercings and gauges or not. We love everyone as is which is how it should be.


I started out the year with trying to be rid of my PE credit only to be inspired to get a gym membership. I started out just swimming 5 days a week and now I swim 2-4 days a week and I do Boot Camp on Tues and Thurs mornings and Body Pump on Saturday. It eats my lunch and causes a bit of pain but it will be worth it. Thanks to Lipstick Assassin, Rebel Ann, Robi Wan Kenobi, and Kinker for inspiring and encouraging me to better myself. It's awesome to have you in my corner it's also awesome to have clothes that are way too big on me now! :)

My friend Connie is right Roller Derby has been so good for me, it saved my life and drew me out of a deep depression and gave me a place to belong when I felt I had nowhere to be. I can't thank Tex Offender enough for accidentally introducing me to the sport and Rebel Ann for befriending me and sucking back into the sport as a fan. Dave tells me he loves who it's made me and that makes it all worth it. What a year it's been! :)

Playing Like a Boss

Yes I know it sounds hokey but sometimes you can be more impressed by the team that loses than the one that wins. That's how I felt last night! I never like to see my Bosses lose but last night those ladies played their hearts out down to the LAST JAM. I was impressed. They could have easily just thrown in the towel and not given it their all. Nobody would have blamed them. The other team was playing dirty and there were a lot of penalties that were not called. The refs were missing really huge obvious calls. *I know reffing is a very difficult job. I've stood in the middle of the track at practices  and tried to catch all the madness at once, and it's just not possible but when when the one opposing player is chasing the jammer and the rest of the team is LITERALLY on the other side of the track someone should say something. There was a lot of that kind of stuff going on. The team I was rooting for had 4 blockers out on the track while one sat in the box. Somehow nobody caught it for that entire jam!* Despite all of the missed calls the ladies seemed to have fun and played very very hard.

In the second half of the bout with a huge deficit in score, I could still clearly see the Bosses # 19 Betty Watchett having a lot of fun and keeping a big smile on her face. You could see the determined look on Kiki Mojo's face when she took the jammer line. She almost looked scary except that Kiki is my derby friend and an extremely sweet person and I can't see her as scary. (I DO NOT want to take a hip check from her because she looks like she hits hard but still it's Keeks and I can't be scared of her.) Shank with her scary face paint looked deadly out there as well and played like ever jam mattered.

Ladies, thanks for playing that way because to all of the fans out there, it did matter. VERY MUCH! I don't ever remember a crowd cheering that hard for their home team after such a loss. I have never cheered that hard. It didn't matter to us that you didn't win. You played a clean game despite the other side not doing so. You had a lot of heart and made me proud to be your intro girl/superfan. Thank you for making Houston proud! Bosses, I love you LIKE A BOSS.

Lessons learned

I've been to four bouts in the last two weeks- three flat and one banked. I've gotten to observe a lot. I really try to take everything in. I try to learn something from every bout I attend weather it's a game I'm announcing, NSOing or just watching as a fan. I've learned something at every bout. Here are this months observations.

The first bout I attended this month was the HRD season opener. It was a super fun day! My derby wife (Robi Wan Kenobi) her kids and I rode the train at the aquarium, ate at the Hard Rock, and then attended the bout. The lessons I learned that night were: 1. NEVER forget the stadium seats. They will save your back. 2. Reconfirm your rosters before either bout starts. Check with the captain, co captain and both coaches to make sure you have everyone on the list (including the coaches). 3. No matter what always speak from your diaphragm and not your throat when intro-ing. Failure to do so will make you sound like a 13 year old boy, and Krez will make fun of you (and justifiably so). 4. Always line up at least an hour before the HRD bout. 5. I will always love Rebel Ann, and never get enough of watching DBC play.

Bout number two was the SSRD bout this past Saturday. My derby wife was playing and I will be at every bout of hers I can. I NSO'd that bout. I learned that: 1. I can't always blow things off. There are some things you should never call a woman some people can blow it off but it will make me want to throat punch the fool who used the word. The worst part was that the other ladies at the table found this so funny. I know I am a prude and an old fashioned one at that but it just wasn't funny. The laughter only served to upset me more and in the fight to control my anger I cried. I don't know if anyone but Dave noticed I tried to hide it. They guy did apologize but some things can't be unsaid. 2. I enjoyed NSOing. It was lots of fun! 3. Now that they have gotten rid of the campy garbage (penalty wheel) I can enjoy the game. 4. Robi is getting really good at playing. You can tell she's been working on her game play.

Bout number three  was the NFRD's bout against SARD, and I announced that bout. I finally got my hands on the wireless microphone, and was able to move about a bit more freely. I seem to be really loud there. What I learned there was: 1. It is very difficult to catch every move as an announcer and it must be even more of a challenge as a ref. 2. If the refs don't see it, it did not happen. It's not our job to point stuff out from the mic. EVER. It's hard not to yell "how did you not see that girl push the opposing jammer even the photographer saw that. This brings me to 3. Being a ref is the hardest job in derby After all the refs are trying to watch 8 blockers all at once. This while on skates and getting yelled at by the coaches and fans,  getting booed by the other fans,  while having other refs,  NSOs and skaters talking to them and trying to use hand signals.  4. It's super easy to coach from the mic. Announcers should NEVER announce that a jammer has just made it out of the box or what strategy a team should take. It's super easy to do. I didn't do it but it was hard to fight especially when I saw opportunities that could have been taken. 5. No matter what your job is at a bout, the more you come to practice the better you will be at your job. It doesn't matter how much I know the rules in writing if I don't see them in action I'll never get better. I am thankful I have been attending as much as possible. 6. Never be afraid to pick a refs brain. Thanks to all the Zebras who are willing to teach me I know this coupled with regularly attending practice have helped me step up my game on the mic.

The fourth and final bout of March (for me) was last night's Friends and Family night for HRD's Machette Betties. Lessons that bout taught me included: 1. No matter how loud I am at the rinks I announce at I am never loud enough at an HRD bout. NEVER. 2. As a skater getting inside your opponents head is one of the most effective strategies there is. This includes taunting your oppenent. I watched Global WarMan do it at least twice it was very effective and I loved it. 3. Again as a skater, distracting your opponent can really help out your jammer. I watched Rushin' Cleavage do this from the coaches bench, and it was brilliant. 4. Announcers do better with individualized mics. ALWAYS!  5. I love LaRude she is amazing and Oregon is lucky to have her. (I hope somehow she gets moved BACK to Houston  soon I know WarMan does too).

I have a lot more to learn but I'm not off to a bad start!

My life of Faith and Roller Derby.

Sunnie the Announcer

I have come  to the conclusion that I am strange and I'm okay with that. It's part of what makes me fit in well in the roller derby world. There strange is embraced. I can have purple hair and nobody bats an eye. I love that. The rest of the world may never get me and I'm okay with that. There's only one other place like that for me and that's my church. Words I never thought I would say again. Right now I'm still shy. I'm not one to make close friends very quickly I have a lot of friends but very few that I'm super close to.  I digress. I like my church like I like my derby. Wild, loud and with a lot of action. It seems odd even to me because I'm the quiet one at church but I'm like that at derby- till the action starts.
I'm excited about everything that has happend in my derby life as of late. I'm an announcer for the Northside Fury Roller Derby and Rocket City Roller Girls. Yes that is two teams. I stay busy! :) I love announcing and I love roller girls. Derby is like this never ending family you can meet someone in another town and it doesn't matter what you look like or where you're from if you are derby there's an instant bond.

I have a church home now  and I'm excited about that too. I love my wild church. :) I just have to be careful not to get too crazy on bout days. Gotta preserve the voice. That too is like a worldwide family I get the same kind of reception. One of the things I love about this church is that they don't judge you on your hair color or cut and what you wear is insignificant. You will see everything from people in shorts and football jerseys to suits and dresses. We have mohawks, and brightly colored hair to uber tidy hair.

Want to catch me the next time I announce? I will be rockin' the mic for the Northside Fury March 25th at Champions Roller World. Click the NFRD's website for all the info!

Want to join me at church? I attend Calvary Chapel AG on Greenshadow and BW8 Sundays at 10 a.m.

Year reacap.

This year has been a wild ride. I started off the year as a rec leaguer with Spindletop Rollergirls in Beaumont. If it wasn't for Messica, Dougie, Fairlane and Ruby Ridikule and their never ending patience with me I would still be clutching the wall. Some time in January or February, I became the announcer for the now defunct Clutch City Roller Girls. I'm still very saddened by the loss of the team and it's still hard to set foot in that rink. (It's even harder to skate on that rink because it's not very well maintained.) I have since announced for Flat Out Roller Derby and most recently for Northside Fury Roller Derby. I've really improved! I'm no Val Capone or Dumptruck but I'm not half bad. I hope to become NFRD's announcer this season. I freakin' love announcing!

I became a writer for Examiner.com (I have some great articles there so please check them out!). My best interview ever is posted there!
Then I lost my best friend (see earlier post) supposedly because of Roller Derby. In the meantime my beautiful and wonderful niece arrived! I don't get to see her often but I adore that child.

I have two derby wives right now - Kinker Spaz and Robi Wan Kenobi. I love them both dearly and they are some of the few that get me and my weird sense of humor. Every roller girls and announcer should have a derby wife.

My job has been a bit of a roller coaster after a coworker quit I absorbed his territory and I have been working crazy hours since leaving little time for my blog or skating. I chunked up and I need to get back on my quads! I miss them! I have about 4 interviews that I need to get going I'm excited about them all! I was in college this past semester I took tech writing which consumed what little free time I did have. We went on vacation and I spent most of it doing homework for that class. I'm now convinced that college sucks out your soul.

That is my short version of my crazy life in 2011.