Sports

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Tebow makes us uncomfortable.

Regardless of whether or not you like football, you will still like the clarity and keen observations presented in this USA Today article.

Columnist Larry Taunton does a great job revealing that even in sports, the media’s bias propaganda machine against Christians is alive and well.

Here’s an excerpt:

“When it comes right down to it, we don’t want heroes who are truly good. We want them to fail the occasional drug test or start a bar fight from time to time. It makes us feel better about ourselves. Tebow, however, doesn’t make us feel better about ourselves. People like him make us feel a little convicted about the things we say and do. So we find a reason to dislike them.”

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A Spherical Gospel Tract

missionball11Last summer, my wife and I attended her class reunion. We piled into one of her classmate’s cars to do some sight seeing for the day. I was surprised to find some gospel tracts I was familiar with in their car. It turns out that this couple likes to go out witnessing. They’ve been on several missions trips, and they’ve had a great idea.

Most Americans realize that soccer is a terrible sport. But in most parts of the world, soccer is the most popular sport. A quick way to draw a crowd is to bring out a soccer ball. What better gift for people who love soccer than a soccer ball with a solid gospel message printed on it? How many people will get to read the message on the soccer ball?

Whenever a Christian tells my friend and me that we’re not witnessing properly, he always responds that they don’t have to do it our way, and rattles off a list of creative ways for them to preach the gospel. There is no shortage of creative ways to preach the gospel, only a shortage of people willing to actually carry out the ideas. I think this soccer ball idea is fantastic, and I’ll be praying for their success.

You can check out their website to find out more. They’re currently trying to raise money to have 10,000 soccer balls manufactured.

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Lessons from Coach.

voddie-baucham The following is a heart-wrenching excerpt from Voddie Baucham’s book Family Driven Faith:

Over the years Coach and I have kept in contact. Every once in a while I pick up the phone and catch up with Coach. Recently I discovered that he had fallen on hard times. He had finally retired and didn’t know what to do with himself. What’s worse, his marriage of over twenty-five years had recently ended. At first I wondered what could possibly have gone wrong. Then it dawned on me. We saw a committed coach who arrived early every morning; his wife saw a man who was never home when she got up in the morning. We saw him as committed; she saw him as overextended. We saw him as a confidant who was always there for us; his children saw a man who was more of a father to strangers than he was to them. Now he spends his nights alone missing the woman who spent a quarter of a century missing him. He sits at home reminiscing about the house he was so committed to that he drove an hour to work every day rather than moving. He yearns for time with his kids, but that time is scarce because they are busy doing what he didn’t—spending time with their families. His days are spent with his elderly father, and occasionally he has a chance to watch his grandkids play ballgames, something I’m sure he wishes he had done more with his children. Every once in a while someone from the past calls and asks, “How’s it going, Coach?” A few minutes later the reminiscing is over, the voice from the past is gone, and Coach is alone with his memories. And all he has to show for it are a few trophies, a couple of pictures, and some patches on an old, faded jacket. I cried when I got off the phone that night. . . . All of the pictures came together, and I finally saw the truth that had been there all along. This man who had meant the world to me had sacrificed his family on the alter of his career, and I was oblivious to it. I considered it normal, even admirable. Suddenly, all these years later, I went from admiring Coach to feeling sorry for him. I saw the trade-off, and it wasn’t worth it. The occasional thanks of strangers will never dull the pain of years missed with your family. Needless to say, when I got off the phone with Coach, I spent some time with my kids. It turns out Coach still had lessons to teach.