Sports Trivia Question

A good friend in our church forwarded me an article written by Chuck Colson that began with this question: which major sport was invented as a Christian evangelistic tool? Would you have known the answer? I certainly didn't! Basketball.

"In a recent Wall Street Journal article, John Murray recalled the story of the game's founding. The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, became convinced that he stood a better chance of exemplifying the Christian life through sports rather than through preaching. So he took a job as a physical education instructor at the YMCA's International Training School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith's vision was 'to win men for the Master through the gym.'

In 1891, Naismith set out to invent a new indoor game that students could play during winter. He spent weeks testing various games, including versions of soccer, football, and lacrosse, to no avail. 'Finally,' Murray writes, 'Naismith decided to draw from all of these sports: with a ball that could be easily handled, play that involved running and passing with no tackling, and a goal at each end of the floor.' In short, he came up with basketball."

The article ended by reminding readers of the great witness that Christian athletes have displayed throughout the years - from Eric Liddel (Olympic running) to present day Tim Tebow (of pro-football fame).

This should also bring to mind the passage from 1 Corinthians 10: "So, whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This certainly includes 'winning men for the Master through the gym.'

Now that's a slam-dunk for sure. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist!)