Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A Conversation with Coach Danny Miles

Editor's Note: I am back from my sports missions trip with Athletes in Action. We served in Kenya and Rwanda. Some also went to Uganda. Danny Miles coaches basketball at Oregon Tech. He is widely known in the college coaching ranks. Here is one of our talks while in Rwanda.



Coach Danny will enter his 40th season of collegiate coaching this fall.

The 64-year-old veteran has collected over 906 victories and two national championships on the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Collegiate Athletics) level.

Coach Danny has experience many things in basketball and life. I sat down with him in a Rwanda gym to get his thoughts on the African trip.

The Personal Side

“I’ve been blessed to go all over the world and coach and this is by far the most special trip,” he said. “The kids (at basketball camp) want to listen and learn so bad.

“I’ve just been placed with so many incredible coaches and support people that you don’t want to go home.

“To be able to share it with my wife (Judie) is really special.”

Impressions

“The sharing of our (personal) testimonies (with each other) was just awesome.

“They were some children that were just special. I wish I could put them in my suitcase and take them home. There were (other) people that we met that just grabbed your heart.”

Spiritual Lessons

“Sometimes we take three steps forward and one back and I just think my wife and I have taken positive steps during this trip. (Coach Dan said that he became a Christian Nov, 16, 2001).

“To have the faith that these people in Rwanda do is so special.

“Any doubts I had about the Lord’s presence in our lives were completely vanished.

“For those who have been in the Word for many more years than I have…almost every case the person became stronger from trials and this was shown by the experience of the people in Rwanda.”

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