Basketball Faith

After nine gruesome yet amazing weeks of counseling, I was finished. I had just ended the last work day and was spending the rest of my day on the court. Because my dad’s flight only came the next morning I had to eat time. The previous month at camp I had been spending a significant amount of time playing basketball as it was one of the ways I could connect with my campers. However, I was terrible at it. I had created some drills for myself to practice, one of which involved making a total of ten shots from each notch that surrounds the hoop. There are four notches on each side with the free throw line in the middle. Because my skill level is that of a three-year-old when it comes to shooting, it normally takes me three to four minutes per notch. I was doing terribly and by the time I had gotten to the third notch on the left side and made five shots, it had been almost twenty minutes. I was discouraged. But I wasn’t just discouraged with my performance. Before basketball I had fallen into sin. What happened? I was a counselor for nine weeks serving the Lord and seeing him do amazing things through me and more than six months free from masturbation and now suddenly I was back to something I thought I was done with. The truth is that basketball that day was more of a distraction than an intentional practice. As I was struggling to make my shots a reminder came to me that I had sinned and my heart was not right. Because of my doubt I bitterly asked the Lord for a sign. I asked that if he were here with me right now and had not abandoned me he would allow me to make the last five shots on the third notch on the other side in a row. Now my theology is strong and I know that the Lord doesn’t abandon because of sin, but I was downcast, I felt hopeless and empty. When you are in an addiction and free from it for a long time, relapsing is one of the hardest things to deal with. As I made my first shot I was in doubt, but as the second shot went in my eyes started to open. The most shots I had made in a row on a good day were probably four from the third notch. And as the third and fourth shots went into the notch I was afraid. But the moment the fifth shot went in, my eyes flooded with tears. God was still with me and he loved me. I asked my Father in heaven to forgive me, to forgive me for the sin I had committed, and to show me if he did. Now my mind already knew I was forgiven and loved but my heart was still in doubt. And so I dared ask the Lord for another sign but this time praying that I would make all consecutive ten shots from the second notch. This was impossible, I was missing sleep, my body was sore, and considering that earlier on the right side the second notch had taken four minutes, this was not in my cards. But as I made the first five shots, my faith started to build. As I hit the eighth I was in tears; my God was kneeling down to the level of basketball to show me His love for me. As I sunk the tenth shot in a row, I was frozen. Filled with joy and excitement I opened my New Testament randomly to John 1 and read Jesus’ words to Nathanael: “Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.’” In that moment Jesus' words were not just to Nathanael...