Jacob's Cup

Michael Ritchey

Description

A visionary approach to God's love

It is September 2018 in war-torn Afghanistan as Ali, a young wrestler, diligently completes his homework without any idea that a group of men have just bombed a wrestling facility in Kabul, killing his father and other athletes. A short time later, a college wrestling coach hears Ali’s story and offers to adopt the boy and bring him to America to live in a small college town in Oregon.

Once he is renamed after the Olympic wrestling champion Dave Schultz, little Dave learns new wrestling skills from his father and the greatness of Jesus from his mother. After he gives his life to Christ, Dave is encouraged to listen to Channel 33, the code for the voice of God, and to remember the Christian mission of more temples. As Dave works on his wrestling techniques and focuses on becoming a state champion, he must face a variety of obstacles and challenges. Will his faith carry him through his trials and tribulations and allow him to spread the message of God’s unconditional love to all who need it?

In this inspirational novel, an Afghan boy who is adopted by an American wrestling coach must rely on his faith to overcome many challenges and achieve his goals.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Lucha libre profesional
• Peace
• Wrestling
• Christian
• Fiction
• Fantasy
• Paix

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 26 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664288386
• Langue: English

Extrait

JACOB’S CUP
 
PEACE IS IN THE HEART
 
 
 
 
 
MICHAEL RITCHEY
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2023 Michael Ritchey.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture taken from the Darby Version of the Bible.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8839-3 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8840-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8838-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023900110
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 01/23/2023
CONTENTS
Foreword
 
Chapter 1       God Has a Plan
Chapter 2       The Olympics—The Year of our Lord 2028
Chapter 3       The Olympic Finals Six minutes of fury and friendship
Chapter 4       Jacob’s Cup, or JC-3
Chapter 5       The Big Decision
Chapter 6       Making the Team
Chapter 7       Jacob’s Cup—The Christian Team
Chapter 8       Training & Motivation
Chapter 9       The Tournament Begins
Chapter 10     Day one of the Cup Christians’ Cup Runneth Over
Chapter 11     The Evening of Excitement
Chapter 12     Big Dreams
Chapter 13     Big Dreams and Ponderings
Chapter 14     Back to the Cup—Never Waste a Gift
Chapter 15     Wrestling Jihad
Chapter 16     Same God
FOREWORD
Written by Michael Ritchey
This book was written as an exercise of healing from some traumatic events in my life at a time when I had lost most things of value, including my belief in people, to be honest. The idea for this book started as a motivational coaching tool I imagined in an airport while waiting on a plane. It has slowly evolved into this statement of hope for the world to find peace. I feel this book will not only invigorate the reader’s spirituality, it will introduce the reader to the wonderful sport of wrestling. A highlight is an introduction to the great American and wrestler, Dave Schultz.
Healing is an ever-evolving process in itself. Through writing this book, I have gone from counseling to confidence: confidence in what I stand for and who I want to become. I am not perfect and I have allowed the Holy Spirit to comfort me. The power provided through you as a temple of God allows the Holy Spirit to guide and teach you and me through every process. In the end, we just need “more temples,” as Dave’s mom would say. As a lifelong educator, the development of these principals has helped me as a coach, and I wanted to pass them on to the next generation.
As a senior in high school, I flunked senior English and started college in Writing 40. I barely passed to move on to Writing 60. My skills as a writer are limited, but my passion for a message is like the flames of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago. I found strength as I began this endeavor, while watching a video filmed for the NCAA wrestling tournament by the great author, John Irving (a former wrestler and friend of my late coach and mentor Bob Riehm). I had the “aha” moment that the process of writing was like a wrestling match. I realized at that point that writing is a lifelong endeavor and similar to wrestling. Writing is an “effort to reward” process: the better the effort, the better the reward. Only sometimes you are rewarded, and that is never guaranteed. I really don’t consider myself a writer, but more of a messenger of hope through writing and wrestling. I wrote this book for me as much as the reader. I have now regained my faith in my fellow humans and reinvigorated my faith in God and the holy trinity. I live a life in retirement and caregiving. I write when it appeals to me, but caregiving comes first.
I dedicate this book to a young man who would have been a great coach and father one day. Unfortunately, he never got his chance. RIP Hunter Roberson; live, laugh, and love. You can read a poem I wrote to his family at the end of our story. I have also included a few other writings and the poem of “How to Wrestle with God.” You can order your free copy in a digital format. Simply email me at [e-mail] . I will not charge you for it. Just find a way to pay it forward in your own life.
Thank you in advance if you decide to go on through the story of Little Dave, a name he particularly didn’t like. The book has similarity to real world events from the first chapter to Chapter 9. The bulk of the book is spent in the future of hope for peace. I hope you take the time to enjoy doing some research on your own in regards to the book’s attachment to reality. A simple phone search should suffice. This book is written to be shared as a family and hopefully you will be inspired to turn on Channel 33!
Thank you and see ya matside—1 percent a day.
Michael Ritchey,
servant of the Great I Am
CHAPTER 1
GOD HAS A PLAN
This is the story of an excellent boy. Little Dave was a boy who came to America in the wake of a tragedy.
In the war-torn country of Afghanistan, a boy named Ali wrestled for his father’s wrestling club. In September 2018, while Ali was at home doing his homework, a group of men bombed the wrestling facility in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, killing his father and many other wrestlers. A college wrestling coach in the United States heard of this tragedy while reading an article in WIN Magazine. 1 After reading the article, he decided to find a way to help. He came across the story of Ali, who was living with only his mother and several siblings. The coach offered to adopt Ali and bring him to America to live in a small college town in Oregon. Since Ali’s new father was a wrestling coach, he nicknamed him Dave after the late great Olympic champion Dave Schultz. 2
Dave/Ali was welcomed into a wrestling family and a loving home. Because his new dad was a coach, he learned many things about being a wrestler and being a Christian. Although Dave had begun his life as a Muslim in Afghanistan, he learned of the greatness of Jesus from his mother and gave his life to Christ. His mother would often ask him if was listening to Channel 33, which was code for the voice of God. Then she would remind him of the Christian mission: “More temples.”
Dave was small for his age and was nicknamed Little Dave at school, a name he particularly disliked!
Dave loved wrestling, and he did many things to become better at it. He would watch videos of the late great Dave Schultz and would try to master his techniques in practice.
When Dave’s dad was young, Dave Schultz would visit the college town and the wrestling room there on his visits to see his mother. He would share techniques he’d learned traveling the world and bring them back to this small college town in Oregon. Dave’s dad was very grateful for all he had gleaned from Dave Schultz, and now Little Dave was learning them as well.
According to Dave’s new dad, the coach, wrestling was a game of chess with your muscles, and your moves or techniques were just as important as your strength. Strategy, as in chess, was also an important part of the sport. The coach was a math person and had written an article on the theory of opposites in wrestling. 3 Although Dave worked very hard at wrestling, he wasn’t the best wrestler in his family. His new sister Jody was a state champion in her age group in wrestling and boxing. Dave admired his new sister’s skills and dedication in both sports.
The coach hadn’t been sure he wanted his daughter to wrestle, so he’d started her out in boxing as a way of learning self-defense. Jody soon gravitated to wrestling and became quite good. She developed great hand speed from boxing. Hand speed was not something that wrestlers worked on, but it became apparent to the coach that the training she had in boxing was instrumental in her wrestling skills. He began teaching hand drilling to his wrestlers at the college as well. Since Jody was a girl and a very good wrestler, the boys didn’t like to practice with her. Dave would often be her practice partner. When Dave would have to practice with Jody, she would always hit her patented move.
As a side note: Dave and Jody’s parents had split up for a while—I’ll explain later. This was hard on Dave because he loved his new American family very much. Dave knew that if he became a state champion, his parents would take him to dinner. He felt the dinner could be a chance for them to reconnect.
Dave learned from Jody that on his parents’ first Valentine’s Day they shared a heart-shaped pizza. Hmm , he thought, I need to win that dinner date . To do so, Dave intensified his training for the upcoming season. Dave asked Jody to teach him her patented move, “the inside trip.” This wrestling technique i