OK, so it’s not really the Allen Iverson, but it’s the only name I got so I’ll go with it. I was waiting outside of our base here in Manila when a boy called me over. The first question he asked me was, “Who is your idol?” Interesting question to start a conversation, so I tried to fire one back so I could learn a little more where he was coming from. When I asked him his name and he told me Allen Iverson, I had a feeling I knew where this conversation was going. I tried to steer it in a different direction if I could.
I found out Allen was supposedly a first year high school student and was the top of his class. However, he also told me he was only 10 years old. So either his math wasn’t adding up correctly, or he was a really bright student. Whether he was telling the truth or not wasn’t up to me and he was worth the time, so I tried to press on. Since I couldn’t really get a straight answer, I figured we needed to go back to the original question. So I asked Allen who his idol was.
Immediately, he told me all about Allen Iverson and why he went by that name now. Honestly, if you’re going to pick an idol from the NBA, I’m not totally sure this is the best one to pick now, but it was who Allen wanted. Even though he was excited to give me his answer and tell me all about Allen Iverson, he was a little more excited to hear my answer to the question. I told him I didn’t have idols because it was something my God didn’t take too kindly. He laughed at this and asked if I was a Christian. He told me he was one too, but when I asked him why he wanted an idol, he didn’t have an answer. I think we lost something in translation.
I asked him what an idol was and he told me it was someone you look up and want to be like. So again, he asked me who my idol was. I told him that if that was my definition, then I guess my idol is Jesus. I laughed when he asked me if I thought Jesus would play basketball. That has now become one of my favorite questions. My conversation with Allen went on for another few minutes, but I loved thinking about the idea of growing up to be like Jesus. Do we really even see that as an option?
This kid really thinks and expects that he will grow up to be like Allen Iverson. He practices basketball daily and even tries to talk like him. How different would my life be if I pursued Jesus that way? What if I practiced his trade daily and tried to speak like him? Maybe I’d live a little differently…
