Sports was my life growing up. Even as a child, when we weren't in school, I could remember playing touch football in the streets, basketball in our driveway, and teeball in the backyard. This is what consumed our summer days and the evenings after school. It was something I was good at and loved to do.
In middle school and high school, I began to get to play in a more organized fashion. I played many different sports, but my love was always basketball. But looking back now, who I was when I played is not a person I'm proud of. It's not a person that at all looked to further God's glory. Instead it was all about me: How good can I be? Will people like me more if I play well? What kind of recognition can I get for this? And on top of that, I was a dirty player. I remember a coach telling me early in my high school career that I was the strongest kid in the league and I needed to learn to use that asset. And I did. I learned to push and shove my opponent around. I made a lot of enemies on other teams, and not a whole lot of friends. I often played dirty when the ref wasn't looking and as I got older learned to channel lots of anger and frustration into my play.
As I went on to college, I joined my school's dodgeball team. Dodgeball was an incredibly fun sport, but also became a terrible influence on my life. My teammates largely weren't Christians and didn't have the same sense of morality I was raised with. Slowly this began to rub off on me. Additionally there is no sport more conducive to hotheadness and anger than dodgeball. While I loved playing, I often found this anger rising up within me as I played. And it was hard to hide. While I played on the team, I don't know that anything I did ever showed my teammates that I was a Christian. In fact, the way I acted with my team was something I hid from my Christian friends. When I first began realizing what it meant to live for Christ, that part of my life became my shame. It was my junior year after I came back from my first summer serving at camp that I quit dodgeball. It was then I began to take my faith seriously and knew I couldn't make those pieces of my life line up. And until this year, I haven't really touched sports since.
Then this year I was asked to coach the middle school girls team here at the school I work at in the Philippines. Our motto for the season was "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1st Corinthians 10:31). Whatever you do includes play basketball. And weekly we tried to discover what that meant. I led this girls on the court and in devotions. I looked for ways to build connections, furthering my ministry here at the school and hopefully building those relationships where I can continue to guide them in a positive and meaningful way. Even now that the seasons over, my girls tell me how much they miss basketball so I'm looking into opportunities currently to open up the court for a little open gym for them.
Not only has my love for basketball lead me to meaningful relationships with my students, but is leading me into ways to build relationships in the community. Whether it's playing with the girls from church or playing with some ladies who don't know Christ, basketball is quickly becoming my common ground with locals and a huge way to connect with people whose background is so different than mine.
As I've been meditating on this great progress that God has made in my life, this verse really has stood out to me: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1st John 3:8b). Basketball was never a bad thing. God gave man the idea to create it with such beautiful intentions. But the devil, like he did in the garden, took and distorted what was meant for good. He made something that was inherently good, and made it into something it was never intended to be. But Jesus comes to undo that work. He says, "I'm taking back what's good and once again turning it back into good. Satan doesn't get to distort my work anymore." The book of Colossians tells us "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through himself reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, which was shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20). Where Satan looked to destroy, Jesus looked to redeem. And Jesus, my friends, has won. So no longer do my shoes need to be hung up, my jerseys put in a closet where no one can see, because Jesus has done the redemptive work of turning what was once a destructive force in my life into a constructive force for His kingdom. Praise God for giving me back this love and such a great second chance!
