For the past 17 years of my life I have played basketball, and all of that changed when I heard the sound of the last buzzer as the clock struck zero at Jacksonville University on Friday night in my final collegiate game. For the past 17 years I have sprinted up and down many wooden courts and dribbled and shot a basketball so many times I have lost count. God has taught me so much through victory and defeat, overcoming injuries, and practicing daily with my team. I have poured the last 17 years of my life into this game, into my teammates, and coaches and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
There are many things I will miss about the game, but there is even more that I will miss by not being with my teammates. I will miss moments of shooting with my teammates that turned into sitting on the court and having “real talk” for hours. I will miss wearing pre-wrap as my constant and very dependable headband. I will miss the hilarious dances my team had in the locker room. I will miss getting to travel to different states (and countries) with my team. And as much as I hate to say it…..I will actually miss conditioning (s/o to 2 trips, sweet 16s, and 2 and a half x2).
It’s hard to believe that the days of watching game film, practice film, hours and hours of treatment for injuries, getting my ankles taped, wearing ice bags to class, and playing with my team have passed. But as I reflect back on so many special moments throughout my basketball career, what I have come to learn is that playing basketball has taught me far more about the game of life rather than merely putting a leather ball through a hoop. This game has helped mold, refine, strengthen, and prepare me for many things I will experience in the “real world”, and I thank God that He was able to keep me strong through the finish line.
These are a few of the many Biblical truths God has taught me through the game of basketball:
- Basketball Lesson: What I practice on my own must carry over into games.
- Biblical Truth: What God teaches me when I study His Word in the silence of my bedroom must carry over into everyday life.
James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets by a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
- Basketball Lesson: Numbers on a stat sheet do not define me.
- Biblical Truth: My identity and worth come from who I am in Christ, not from performance on a court (THANK YOU JESUS!!!!).
Psalm 139:5;13-14, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
- Basketball Lesson: People will forget how many points you scored, how many games you won, and how many trophies you have (Please, someone tell me who won the Women’s Basketball National Championship 8 years ago??? Yeah, I have no idea either).
- Biblical Truth: People will never forget how well you selflessly loved them.
John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 Corinthians 13:7-8;13, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away….So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
- Basketball Lesson: There’s really no other way to put this…..injuries are the worst.
- Biblical Truth: JESUS HEALS. (Yep, Jesus totally-100% healed my feet in 2015 from a basketball injury. You can read more about that crazy, awesome, tear-filled encounter with the Lord here http://alexandraleebanks.weebly.com/blog/but-god )
Also, just read through the whole book of Acts—Jesus still heals people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The list of everything God has taught me through basketball could go on and on. But now it’s time to turn the page. God is calling me into a new season of life to leave basketball and leave America….and I couldn’t be more excited. Jesus is calling me to cross new waters, live with new people, and tell of His Great Name all around the world. The desire God has given me to spread the Gospel is one that He has implanted within me and grown over time since I was in middle school. And now it is time to GO!!
It’s time to start a new chapter in life—one that may not involve basketball (…and if it does, I can see myself teaching some little kids in Rwanda how to shoot a ball through a woven basket). Jesus is still the Author…it’s just time to write a different story.
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