Fast forward to college. By the time my first semester was up, I knew that soccer and basketball were pretty important to the students and BBC was our biggest rival. I laughed at our promotional videos with BBC jokes and pretended I knew all about it when I really didn't have a clue. So what? They were our rivals. What more did I need to really know?
(Fun fact -- those two in the video are now married and have a really cute baby.)
The only basketball game I enjoyed was the traditional donkey ball during Homecoming. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching students vs your Four Gospels professor and your Pauline Epistles professor and other Resident Life staff trying to dribble a basketball astride a donkey? Seriously. Best game ever. Too bad PETA people spoiled it.
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DONKEY BASKETBALL IS, CLICK HERE!
After I dropped out of orchestra due to time constraints, I missed playing my flute. Finally somebody came up with the idea that we needed a pep band. The pep band was made up of super loud and energetic sporty American youth. The quiet, introverted unathletic Asian signed up anyway. I enjoyed the music but not the expected loud cheering and chanting. Finally we got to go to our first game. Our team color was red. I knew that much. However, I soon learned that I had no clue why they were shouting offense and defense and I couldn't for the life of me figure out when to shout which. I cheered for every basket made because I didn't get it. Sure, I was on some county sports team in 3rd grade, but I was the clueless one who probably never made a basket. (I only remember the Baskin Robbins and the licorice from my grandfather after a game which I guess we won, no thanks to me.) But I digress. The point is, I didn't get it and was the most unpeppy pep band member in the short history of the pep band.
September 2012. Enter the first time I watched a basketball game I cared about. I taught 6th grade for the first time and during intrams, many boys from my home room and other sections joined in the games. I watched the boys I had spent hours with every day as they tore down the court. I read their emotions and watched their facial expressions. The careless, quick tempered boys only proved those traits even more on court. The driven, fighter boys fought on court. For the very first time I felt transported with them in their game world. As I entered their world on court, I fell in love with basketball.
What?!?!? Did I just say that?! Ok, maybe I should clarify. NBA? Don't care. But our school games?! It's a new world for me but I love it. The first set of boys have since moved on up to 8th grade, but I have 7th grade boys from last year who are involved in the current battle for championship and one current 6th grader is also part. Their defeat today felt like a defeat to me and yet I found myself praying for their character out there. I love those boys like little brothers and I see they are fast becoming men. They are growing up in a world that centers around self and earthly goods. Manhood isn't characterized by compassion, humility and prayer these days. It's a dog eat dog world. Some boys and perhaps their parents make grades and sports idols. I found myself pleading for the hearts of these boys, that they would learn something about God today. I want them to know deep in the very core of their being that they cannot make it on their own. They are entirely dependent on God. And I want them to know that there is a much greater battle to be engaged in and that is the battle against sin. I want to see them fight for Christ and everything that matters for all eternity in the same way that they fight for that ball on court. No, I want them to fight harder than they fight on court. I want these young men to be Davids and Daniels in this selfish, dark world. The lessons on dependence, selflessness and teamwork will help mold them into men of character, but it all begins with whose side they are on - God's or the world's. I want them to win the championship basketball, but I would rather they win the battle against sin and the Devil and bow the knee completely before the God of all the earth. This battle is not fought physically but is waged on the battlefields of the minds of our young people. Winning this is really the only victory that actually matters. Championship? That's a bonus. May they all become soldiers of Christ.
