If you know me you know I love basketball. I love watching basketball, I love playing basketball, I even love talking about hypothetical situations with dream teams that would never happen. But what I love more than that is Jesus. I love talking about Jesus, reading about Jesus and even introducing people to Jesus. This past month in Swaziland and this month here in Madagascar God stole my love for basketball, captured my love for Jesus and bound them both together.
When I am at home I play basketball at least once a week, if not more. I enjoy the competitive nature of the game; I love acquiring the skills that I must sharpen to be at my best; I like how there is always someone out there that is better than me because that pushes me harder to be that much better. I know that I will never be in the NBA or do any kind of professional basketball overseas and I am ok with that. But that doesn’t stop me from trying to be at my best every time I step on the court. If you are a competitive person and love any sport then you can probably relate to my last statement. With that being said you can imagine how it sucked for me not being able to play basketball at all during my first month in Mozambique. But luckily the Lord knew my heart’s desire and was already making a way for me to glorify him through basketball.
In all three African countries that our squad has now travelled to, Mozambique, Swaziland and Madagascar, whenever someone sees us they point, wave, smile or just look confused; sometimes its a combination of all of those reactions. It isn’t just every day that people in these countries see foreigners from the states. Some of my squad mates and I decided to use our off day our first Saturday in Swaziland to go check out a near by court and possibly get a couple games in…man did it turn into something more than that. We played for a good three hours that first Saturday. During those three hours we got to know the Swazi natives that we were competing against us on deep levels. I connected with a young man named Desmond. He was actually not a native of Swazi but he is originally from South Africa. He wasn’t very good at basketball and he would be quick to let you know that. He enjoyed playing and hanging out but his real passion is Rugby. That first Saturday we played and got to know those fellas was pivotal in what God was doing through us because it started to turn into more than just basketball. Through a combination of our competitive nature and the relationships we built we were asked to come back and play ball a lot more the rest of the month, not just on Saturdays. When we got back to our compound after the first Saturday we told our teams about how things went and how we met a lot of people and they were stoked; A lot of them wanted to come join us the following times when we played.
For the next three Saturday and Sundays a group of us would come to the basketball courts to play and watch. Like I mentioned before, not many people in Swaziland have met foreigners from the states so it was easy to spark up conversations with them and through these conversations we were able to speak to a lot of them about Jesus. Desmond came back each time we were at the courts, not to play basketball but to hangout and talk to us. During these conversations we had with him we learned about how he had a very tough childhood and how when he was younger he was prophesied over that he would be a pastor one day. He told us that he believed in Jesus but didn’t know what it meant to have a relationship with him. (Man isn’t that how a lot of Americans are now-a-days.) Some of us got to pray with him and it was super awesome. For the next three weekends the Lord really opened up a lot of opportunities for us to witness to the people playing basketball and to the people that were watching.
We did a lot of ministering without ever having to say a word as well and that was by our actions on the basketball court. Basketball can be super competitive and can get chippy at times, which is all apart of the game but that doesn’t mean we should act any different when our emotions are running high. It is easy to get flared up when someone elbows you or gives you a hard foul but what better way to show someone you have the love of Christ in you than when in a moment where you can react just like anyone else would, instead you show love? Desmond came up to me after one of those really competitive, emotion-filled games and told me that he knew I was different. He said that he had been watching me since the first Saturday we were there to see if my actions matched my words and after that game he knew I was for real. I didn’t know during those games that he was watching me yet in those tough moments when some would say I had a right to react aggressively, I showed love instead; it was a witness to Desmond that Jesus lives inside me.
The Lord has given me a lot of opportunities this month in Madagascar as well to show his love through basketball since we have two basketball courts right beside our facilities where we are staying. These past two months God has really shown me a lot. I am blessed to have the athletic ability to play basketball but I am also blessed and thankful that I get the opportunity to glorify God through it.
What abilities has God blessed you with that you can bring glory to him through? You might not be athletic but what other gifts has God given you that you can use? Painting? Drawing? Singing? Playing an instrument? Cooking? God says in his word that everything we do in life should be to glorify him so what does that look like for you? For me right now, its sharing Jesus’s love through basketball. Love and Basketball.
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