Monday, February 13, 2012

Jumping on the Jeremy Lin Bandwagon

Let me preface this by saying two things.  One, I'm not as big of an NBA fan since the debacle that was David Stern & Clay Bennett allowing the Sonics to leave Seattle in such a horrible way.  Two, since moving to SC I have seen zero NBA games because I have no cable & internet access is minimal.

However, when there are good stories I tend to pay attention and this would be one of those stories.  I always enjoy hearing a good underdog story.  I also enjoy hearing athletes who are believers who share their faith both in action and in words.  So when you have a story that involves both?  As a friend would say "even gooder".

Jeremy Lin, the "it" player right now, is both those things.  He is an underdog story in that he graduated from Harvard and went undrafted in 2010.  He spent his rookie season mainly on the bench of the Golden State Warriors.  He then was cut by them to start the year, then signed & cut by the Houston Rockets, then signed by the New York Knicks, rode the bench & even spent time in the D-League.  But due to some injuries, he was brought back up and given the chance to play.  And from that, the "Linsanity" began.  He has had some Sportcenter worthy performances and has been on a tremendous roll.

He also is very honest and vocal about his faith in Jesus Christ.  I love this quote that I came across a few years ago in an interview with InterVarsity:

"I think one of the most rewarding experiences in life is to see people come to Christ and make lifestyle changes. When that happens, you definitely see God behind it. . . . I'm really thankful that God is changing somebody, or sometimes he's changing me. To see that transformation brings me a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment. I definitely want to do something in ministry down the road, maybe as a pastor if that's where God leads."

Kudos to Jeremy Lin and wish him the best in the rest of this season and for whatever God has in store for him.  I might acutally keep up with the NBA a little more now....

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