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2018 YEAR IN REVIEW Golden State’s Stephen Curry takes on Cleveland’s LeBron James during Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals. The Warriors swept the Cavs for their third title in four years. (AP Photo/Gregory Shamus)

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CONTENTS 10 — Sports Spectrum Gift Guide

Gift ideas for the sports fan on your list

12 — Athletes Serving Others

Carson Wentz and others give back to those in need

14 — 2018 Year in Review

Highlights from another incredible year in sports

24 — Wisdom in Waiting

Michael Porter Jr. has long been touted as an elite talent, and he has finally reached the NBA. But injuries have put his budding career on hold, and he feels God is doing a work on him in the process. + 9 NBA Games to Watch in ‘19

30 — Headlining the Heels

Led on the court and in Bible studies by senior Luke Maye, North Carolina is again a top-10 title contender

34 — Lessons in the Losses

In one of Tony Bennett’s toughest moments — seeing his top-seeded Virginia team become the first to fall to a No. 16 seed — the coach showed character that comes from following Christ

38 — From Outcast to Outstanding

Cut in the middle of last season, Ryan Carpenter found himself praying for a future in the NHL. God surprised him with a role on hockey’s most stunning team + 9 NHL Games to Watch in ‘19

44 — Olympic Bound and Heaven Sent

As the U.S. women prepare for softball’s return to the Olympics, some stalwarts of the squad are using their platform to spread God’s Word throughout the softball community

50 — And That is Our God

The little-known yet incredible story of a zealous college football player/ reporter following God, seeking his purpose and feeling abandoned — only to find out years later that the Master Planner was authoring a salvation story greater than anyone could ever imagine

56 — Daily Devotionals

13 weeks of devotionals from professional athletes, chaplains and leaders

+ PLUS

SPORTS SPECTRUM

4 - By the Numbers | 6 - Around the Spectrum 8 - Sports Spectrum Digital | 84 - Gospel Message

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$18, 4 ISSUES (PRINT) For information on subscriptions, back issues, discount bulk issues, or changing your subscription address: Web site: www.sportsspectrum.com/subscribe/ Phone: 1-866-821-2971 Mail: 640 Plaza Drive, Suite 110, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 Email: support@sportsspectrum.com General correspondence, Letter to the Editor, or Writer’s Query No unsolicited manuscripts, please E-mail: support@sportsspectrum.com Permissions, Reprints Phone: 1-866-821-2971 E-mail: support@sportsspectrum.com COVER • PHOTO CREDITS: Michael Porter Jr. (Garrett W. Ellwood/Getty) Ryan Carpenter (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) Red Sox/Mookie Betts (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

PUBLISHER Sports Spectrum Media PRESIDENT Steve Stenstrom

VP OF MINISTRY OPERATIONS Howard Haworth MANAGING EDITOR Jon Ackerman jon@sportsspectrum.com ART DIRECTOR Aaron Dean Sauer aaron@sportsspectrum.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Becky York becky@sportsspectrum.com COPY EDITORS Kirsten Brotze Tiffany Foley PODCAST HOST Jason Romano CONTRIBUTORS Cody Benjamin Kevin Mercer Lauren Atherton BUSINESS OPERATIONS Thomas Tanner

Sports Spectrum Global is a multimedia ministry with the purpose to impact people by connecting faith and sports in a relevant way, ultimately directing people, with resources for discipleship, toward a personal, loving God who demands Christ-centered lives. Printed in USA. Copyright © 2018 by Sports Spectrum Publishing. Bible quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

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108

POINTS

SCORED BY L.A. RAMS RB TODD GURLEY

AP Photo/Alex Gallardo

THROUGH WEEK 10: 13 RUSHING TDS 4 RECEIVING TDS 3 TWO-POINT CONVERSIONS

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

AP Photo/Don Wright

MONEY FORFEITED BY STEELERS RB LE’VEON BELL AFTER THE ALL-PRO DECLINED TO PLAY ON THE FRANCHISE TAG.

FIRST-PLACE VOTES OUT OF 30 FOR ATLANTA’S RONALD ACUNA JR. IN 2018 NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR VOTING. “I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD, MY FAMILY, MY PARENTS AND TO ALL MY TEAMMATES,” ACUNA SAID.

JUST SIX POINTS SHY OF HIS TOTAL FOR ALL OF 2017.

AP Photo/Tony Avelar

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AP Photo/Wade Payne

Championship victory parades in Boston since 2002 with the New England Patriots (5), Boston Red Sox (4, including 2018 World Series), Boston Celtics (1) and Boston Bruins (1).

$14.5 MILLION

BY THE

28:2

TOUCHDOWN-TO-INTERCEPTION RATIO FOR ALABAMA QB TUA TAGOVAILOA THROUGH 10 GAMES. HE TOSSED 26 TDS BEFORE THROWING HIS FIRST PICK. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE FOR DENVER’S NIKOLA JOKIC ON OCT. 20, JOINING WILT CHAMBERLAIN AS THE ONLY PLAYERS IN NBA HISTORY TO POST A TRIPLE-DOUBLE WITH 30 OR MORE POINTS WITHOUT MISSING A FIELD GOAL. JOKIC HIT ALL 11 SHOTS WITH 35 POINTS, 11 REBOUNDS AND 11 ASSISTS.

AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski

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NEW NBA RECORD FOR 3-POINTERS IN A GAME SET BY GOLDEN STATE’S KLAY THOMPSON, WHO NETTED 52 POINTS IN A WIN OVER CHICAGO ON OCT. 29.

STANLEY CUPS WON BY COACH JOEL QUENNEVILLE

for the Chicago Blackhawks, who fired him 15 games into his 12th season with the franchise. He was the longest-tenured coach in the NHL and is the second-winningest coach in AP Photo/John Locher NHL history (890 wins).

AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

CAREER TRIPLE-DOUBLES FOR SABRINA IONESCU OF OREGON. THE WOMEN’S ALL-TIME NCAA RECORD WAS SEVEN, BUT IONESCU TALLIED 10 BY THE END OF HER SOPHOMORE YEAR, THEN NOTCHED HER 11TH TO OPEN 2018-19.

AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski

BY THE NUMBERS

Points earned by the New York Red Bulls in 2018 to win the MLS Supporters’ Shield, overtaking Atlanta on the final day with their fifth consecutive win.

SPORTS SPECTRUM

AROUND THESPECTRUM

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

KERSHAW REMAINS A DODGER

Longtime Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw opted not to test free agency this offseason, as he signed a three-year, $93 million contract with L.A. just days after the Dodgers fell in the World Series for the second straight year. The 30-year-old lefty said he looks forward to challenging those who think he’s in decline. “Winning is still the most important for me, that won’t change. And I think this deal, as well, gives me a chance to prove a lot of people wrong,” said Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and seven-time All-Star.

SPORTS SPECTRUM

BREES COLLECTS MORE RECORDS

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees entered his Week 5 Monday night matchup against Washington needing 201 yards to top Peyton Manning for the most career passing yards in NFL history. He had 250 yards (and two TDs) by halftime, and ended up with 363 yards (and three TDs) on the night. Five weeks later, his three TDs against Cincinnati gave him 509 touchdown passes in his career, moving him past Brett Favre into second place, behind only Manning’s 539. The performance also helped the Saints to their eighth straight win after opening the season with a loss.

MAHOMES STAYS AMAZING

With 375 passing yards and three touchdowns in Week 9, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes had compiled more yards (3,042) and passing touchdowns (29) through 10 career games than any player since 1950. With two more touchdowns (and 249 passing yards) in Week 10, the 23-year-old broke the Chiefs’ singleseason franchise record for passing TDs (held by Hall of Famer Len Dawson since 1964) with six games to go. As the second-year QB seemingly breaks a new record each week, he has led the Chiefs into the AFC driver’s seat.

DAVIDSON IS RUNNING WILD

On Sept. 13, Davidson College rushed for 685 yards, a single-game FCS record, in a 91-61 (not a typo) win against Division III Guilford. On Nov. 10, the Wildcats rushed for 789 yards (not a typo), a single-game FCS and FBS record, in a 56-52 loss to San Diego. And that was actually the second game in a row in which Davidson gained more than 500 rushing yards and lost (56-53 to Stetson on Oct. 27). Against San Diego, Davidson’s 852 yards of total offense along with San Diego’s 625 came up 72 shy of the FCS single-game record (1,549).

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BASKETBALL | BASEBALL | FOOTBALL | SOCCER | HOCKEY

AROUND THESPECTRUM BUTLER BECOMES A 76ER

Following his trade request in September, which caused much tension after only one season in Minnesota, Jimmy Butler was finally granted his wish in November, as the Timberwolves traded the four-time All-Star to Philadelphia. The 29-yearold Butler joins a young 76ers core (Ben Simmons is 22; Joel Embiid, 24; Markelle Fultz, 20) eager to improve upon its thirdplace finish in the Eastern Conference last season. The 76ers will challenge Toronto and Boston, the East’s top two teams in 2017-18, who feature more playoff-tested veterans and figure to battle for the east’s No. 1 spot once again in 2018-19.

LEBRON’S OFFICIALLY SEATTLE SET FOR NHL LINDSEY VONN’S EXPANSION SQUAD FINAL SEASON A LAKER Following his much-hyped move to L.A., LeBron James finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds in his first regular-season game with the Lakers, a 128-119 loss in Portland on Oct. 18. Two nights later, he officially debuted in Tinseltown with 24 points, five rebounds and five assists, but lost again, a 124-115 defeat to Houston. James posted his first triple-double in a win against Denver (28 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists), and by Nov. 11, James had the Lakers above .500, a place they never visited all of last season.

A decision on the NHL approving an expansion franchise for Seattle is expected to come at the Board of Governors meetings Dec. 3-4 in Sea Island, Ga. The ownership group in Seattle has its eye on getting a team ready for the 2020-21 season, but a start date will be based on when renovations to KeyArena will be complete, which may not happen until November 2020. KeyArena is home to the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, and did house the NBA’s SuperSonics before the team relocated to Oklahoma City (and became the Thunder) in 2008.

The winningest female skier will retire following the 2018-19 World Cup season — regardless of whether she breaks skiing’s most hallowed record. Lindsey Vonn, 34, entered the season with 82 World Cup wins, and five more would eclipse the all-time mark of 86 held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark. Vonn had previously said she’d compete until she surpassed Stenmark, but she now admits she “can’t physically do it.” Vonn is the oldest woman to win an Olympic medal in Alpine skiing (downhill bronze in 2018 at age 33), and her lone Olympic gold came in the 2010 downhill event.

AP Photo/Christophe Ena AP Photo/John Raoux

AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer

AP Photo/Jeff Roberson www.sportsspectrum.com

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GOLF | SOFTBALL | VOLLEYBALL | RUGBY | SKIING

M GAWVI BRINGS FAITH TO THE INTERSECTION By Cody Benjamin OF SPORTS AND HIP-HOP Hip-hop isn’t sports, and sports are not hip-hop, but nowadays, it’s hard not to find the two attached at the hip. Steph Curry’s name might evoke memories of the NBA’s most incredulous 3-pointers, but his name is also one of his generation’s most popular rap lyrics. Drake is as much an entertainment icon as he is a bandwagon sports fan. (Snoop Dogg isn’t far behind.) The reigning Super Bowl champions made a Meek Mill song their anthem and now have the artist narrating their hype videos. It’s an unwritten and fully embraced urban-culture mashup. With Christian hip-hop, there is no exception. The genre’s “Christian” name too often elicits eye rolls, surely suggesting preachy, watered-down and poorly produced hip-hop to anyone outside the faith. But in 2018, rappers who represent Jesus are about as distanced from those stereotypes as they’ve ever been. And there might not be a clearer example than what’s going down on NBA courts during the opening weeks of the 2018-19 season. Drake may be sitting courtside to cheer on Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors this year, but it’s another man who’s been tapped not only to welcome basketball’s return this year, but to maintain hip-hop’s role in sports. His name is Gabriel Alberto Azucena, and he goes by GAWVI. Fans of Lecrae and the Grammy-winning rapper’s Reach Records label likely know of him by now. A five-time honoree at the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards, GAWVI started as a producer before becoming his own artist in 2016. Among his claims to fame: He made the beat for Andy Mineo’s “You Can’t Stop Me,” a single that became one of MLB’s most popular walk-up songs and preceded every Indiana Pacers home game in 2017-18.

And he’s getting even bigger. On Oct. 20, the day after his second studio album, “PANORAMA,” released, the Bronx-born artist hosted what amounted to an hour-long pregame party at American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat. The same night Dwyane Wade returned to Miami with the Heat for the first time in two years, GAWVI was tasked with hyping South Florida before tip-off and again at halftime of Miami’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. Less than a week later, he did almost the same with a private event at Toyota Center before the Houston Rockets’ Oct. 26 showdown with the Los Angeles Clippers. For the 30-year-old GAWVI, raised in South Florida by an El Salvadorian father, Dominican mother and Latin American culture, the NBA gig is part-Wade tribute, part-hometown hangout... To read the rest of this story, search “GAWVI” on SportsSpectrum.com.

“AS BELIEVERS, WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING WITH EXCELLENCE, SO WHETHER IT’S FOR CHURCH OR THE RADIO, IT SHOULD ALWAYS SOUND UP TO PAR OR EVEN BETTER FOR ANYONE TO LISTEN TO. YOU MAKE STUFF PEOPLE LOVE, AND THEN WHEN THEY FIND OUT THE TRUE STORY ABOUT YOU, THEY GO, ‘OH, WAIT, THIS IS A CHRISTIAN GUY?!’”

For your daily sports and faith content — such as news, videos and devotionals — visit SportsSpectrum.com. 8

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HUMBLE CONFIDENCE

By Trey Burton, Chicago Bears tight end

“I WANT TO LIFT UP THOSE AROUND ME WHILE PUTTING MY BEST FOOT FORWARD AT ALL TIMES. WHEN I DO THIS, I KNOW THAT AT THE END OF THE DAY I’M BEING THE MAN CHRIST HAS MADE ME TO BE, TAKING ON THE SERVANT MINDSET HE HAD.”

Once high school hit, I started becoming pretty decent at football. I can remember that being the turning point for me. As I watched the NFL throughout high school and college, I remember seeing players who were all about themselves, with the “Look at me and what I can do!” mindset, and I was so turned off by that. Ever since, I’ve wanted to be different. I’ve chosen to be more of a quiet, reserved type of guy. What most people don’t know about me is that I’m extremely confident in my ability to play football. But I never want to talk about it or share that vocally with others. When my teammates find out how confident I am, I think they are often shocked. I’m glad. That’s the way I want to live my life — humbly but confident. There’s a way to be strong in your

God-given abilities without constantly lifting yourself up, and I think that’s a lot sexier than being boastful. As a team, we are going through the book of John right now. In this book, we see Jesus feed the 5,000 through a miraculous event. Immediately after, he retreats for a period of time. He didn’t stay to bask in the glory or watch people talk about how amazing that “performance” was. He went away to spend time with His Heavenly Father. In the NFL, we don’t have to talk ourselves up. There are plenty of other people who are talking about what we’re accomplishing. I’m thankful that my wife and Christian teammates are there to keep me grounded, holding me accountable for any times when I might begin to talk myself up more than I

should. When they do approach me about this, I want to take what they say and really reevaluate my own heart and actions. After praying about it, if I see that I was wrong, I make sure to make the necessary adjustments and apologize when appropriate. My aim is to have a meek and humble spirit — one that’s teachable at all times. One of my new teammates has had a rough couple years of being blasted by the media. The other day I saw something in his actions that didn’t align with his character. Out of love for him, I approached him and said, “I saw how you handled the media coming at you, I know that’s not who you are. You’re better than this.” Knowing that my concern was for him, he heard me and agreed... To read the rest of this story, search “Trey Burton” on TheIncrease.com.

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For more stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30, visit TheIncrease.com.

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Athletes Serving Others

BUILDING A FOUNDATION OF LOVE AND GENEROSITY

Carson Wentz embodies God’s love through his AO1 Foundation “Everyone’s in need and it’s a spiritual need.” That’s Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, who used this realization as motivation to launch the Audience of One (AO1) Foundation. He started it in 2017 with his brother, Zach, and their mission became “uplifting people around the world by tangibly demonstrating God’s love for His people.” “We started the AO1 foundation right after my rookie season,” Wentz said. “I knew when I was drafted that I wanted to use my platform for good and make an impact. Many people told me to wait a few years until I settled in the league, but I thought, ‘I’m not promised that I’ll have this platform in a year or two, so why wait when I can make a difference now?’” Wentz’s unique approach to carry out this vision has caught the eye of many, as the AO1 team focuses the attention of the non-profit organization on maximizing impact through a variety of initiatives, including sports complexes, outdoor experiences and the nationwide trending popularity of food trucks. “I really just think the Lord is going to use this to make a difference in people’s lives all around the world,” Wentz told his Twitter followers at the foundation’s 2017 launch. The Haiti Sports Complex was the first initiative Wentz utilized to share the Gospel. Inspired by the work being done in the country after experiencing a missions trip with “Mission of Hope: Haiti,” Wentz joined forces with the organization in 2017. Since then, AO1 has been able to raise more than $1 million to see this project flourish. This sports complex is not only an outlet for villages and communities to host sporting events (when completed it will feature soccer fields, basketball courts, a basketball stadium, a weight-training facility, and a soccer and track stadium), it also provides 91,000 meals and education to more than 9,000 individuals. AO1 is also helping build up nearby villages.

The second vision AO1 cast is to see lives impacted through outdoor experiences. AO1’s Outdoor Program includes an outdoor youth camp, as well as a hunting/fishing experience for those who are underserved, challenged physically, physically ill, or a U.S. veteran. The purpose of these programs is to push the “campers” closer to God while developing a love for the outdoors. And then there’s Thy Kingdom Crumb, one of the most unique approaches to ministry today — a food truck. AO1 unveiled the vehicle this past summer to drive community outreach, food distribution and relationship building, while demonstrating God’s extravagant love and generosity in providing free food for the community. “Food brings people together,” Wentz said. “With the food truck, we’re able to interact with people and share the Gospel. We’ve had a handful of people accept Christ!” Using his position in the NFL as a springboard for Kingdom impact, Wentz and his team continue to find unique and powerful ways to share Christ’s love in experiential and tangible ways around the world.

By Becky York

“I KNEW WHEN I WAS DRAFTED THAT I WANTED TO USE MY PLATFORM FOR GOOD & MAKE AN IMPACT”

To donate to, support or get involved with the AO1 Foundation, visit AO1Foundation.org. 12

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Athletes Serving Others

Steven Souza, Arizona Diamondbacks Home Runs for Hope

Matt Forte, former NFL player What’s Your Forte Foundation

For every home run he hit in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Souza committed to donate a certain amount of money to Consider the Lily, an organization which rescues young girls and women from abusive homes and sex trafficking. This organization not only offers physical healing and education, but also the hope for eternal life as they are taught about the salvation message of Jesus Christ. “It’s been amazing to see the growth and impact that’s taken place for the program in the past few years,” Souza said. “By simply saying yes to a call we knew God placed on our hearts, we’ve been able to be a part of God’s Kingdom work all around the world, partnering with players, fans and other ministries to see incredible miracles take place.” ConsiderTheLily.org

Inspired by the scripture passage Mark 8:36 — “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” — Forte decided to give back to God with what He’d given him. So in 2013, Forte began a foundation in inner city Chicago, the What’s Your Forte Foundation, focused on engaging with and mentoring kids to help them find a pathway to chase their passions, whatever they may be. “I just wanted to shine a light for God in that area of darkness, where kids are getting killed because there’s no youth center for them to play at,” he said. Now that Forte has hung up his uniform, he looks forward to diving into the lives of these young kids on a more personal level. To hear Forte talk about his passion for inner city youth, visit TheIncrease.com and search “What’s Your Forte.” WhatsYourForteFoundation.org AP/Paul Sancya

AP/Steve Nesius

Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors Nothing But Nets

The two-time NBA MVP continues his work with the Nothing But Nets foundation, a global organization striving to raise awareness, funds and voices to fight against the spread of malaria. This year, Curry partnered with the campaign by selling a special edition of his signature shoe from Under Armour, the proceeds of which went directly to the cause. “As a father, I can’t imagine a world where kids are still dying unnecessarily from a preventable disease like malaria,” Curry said. Together with other sponsors and partners, Nothing But Nets has raised more than $65 million and delivered more than 12 million bed nets and other preventatives against malaria to families in 31 countries. NothingButNets.net/Steph AP/Eric Kayne

MLB players Blaine Boyer and Adam LaRoche

Boyer and LaRoche first found a yearning to fight against sex trafficking when they traveled to Thailand with an organization called Exodus Road. Transformed by the brutality and injustice they witnessed overseas, these men have committed to the fight by partnering with multiple organizations worldwide. “This trip completely messed us up ... in a good way,” LaRoche said. “From then on, we were on board to fight against trafficking. Boots to the ground, Blaine and I continued to travel around the States trying to get familiar with as many organizations that we could who had the same mission.” This past year, LaRoche joined Deliver Fund and, together with the FBI and other local agencies, fought against one of the largest sex-trafficking events in the world, the Super Bowl. To read LaRoche’s full story, visit TheIncrease.com www.sportsspectrum.com and search “helpless.” AP Photos: Top - Patrick Semansky; Bottom - Luis M. Alvarez

Matthew Boyd, Detroit Tigers Kingdom Home

During the summer of 2018, Boyd launched a non-profit with his wife, Ashley, to see Kingdom impact through what they call “Kingdom Home.” Located in Uganda, Kingdom Home is a rescue mission for children who have been taken out of sex trafficking, genderbased violence or abandonment. Once safe in the home, the victims’ material, emotional, educational and spiritual needs are met through experiencing the love of Jesus Christ. “Thinking of a child being taken away is horrifying, it’s unbelievable,” Boyd said in a press conference. “We want to let children have a childhood. Something has to be done.” Boyd has not only jumped on board to fight for these children, he has recruited teammates to join the mission as well, including Tigers players James McCann, Nick Castellanos and Shane Greene. SPORTS SPECTRUM 13 KingdomHome.org 13 AP/Paul Sancya

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty

JANUARY

BAMA RIDES FRESHMAN QB TO ANOTHER TITLE Down 13-0 at halftime, Alabama put in freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa and battled back to tie the game at 20 and force overtime. After a Georgia field goal, Tagovailoa was sacked for a 16-yard loss on Bama’s first play in OT. But his next pass was a game-winning 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith, giving Alabama its fifth national championship in the past nine seasons.

FEBRUARY

AP Photo/Luca Bruno

EAGLES PRAISE GOD EN ROUTE TO SUPER BOWL Upon defeating the mighty New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, numerous Philadelphia Eagles took the stage to praise their Lord and Savior. First was head coach Doug Pederson, then tight end Zach Ertz, and then quarterback Nick Foles, who was named MVP.

SOUTH KOREA HOSTS WINTER OLYMPICS On the snow, Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic became the first female to win Olympic gold in two different sports at the same Winter Games (skiing’s super-G, snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom). On the ice, the U.S. women’s hockey team knocked off Canada in a shootout for their first gold in 20 years. On a different sheet of ice, the U.S. captured its first gold in curling when the men defeated Sweden.

Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty

On the men’s side, Roger Federer’s Australian Open victory made him the first male to win at least six titles at two Grand Slam tournaments (six at Australian Open, eight at Wimbledon).

FIRSTS AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki captured the Australian Open for her first career Grand Slam singles title, and in the process regained the World No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2012. 14 14

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AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File AP Photo/Chuck Burton

MARCH

NCAA TOURNEY AT ITS MADDEST Few knew what UMBC stood for when March Madness began, but then the University of Maryland-Baltimore County became the first No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1, as it stunned Virginia. A week later, Loyola-Chicago advanced to the Final Four as an 11 seed, tied with three other teams as the lowest seed to ever make the national semifinals. NATHAN CHEN CRUSHES COMPETITION Following a disappointing Olympics, where the gold-medal favorite placed fifth, American Nathan Chen, 18, ran away with the men’s figure skating world title by executing six quads and scoring 321.40 points — 47.63 points ahead of the nearest competitor, the largest figure skating margin of victory at a world championships, Olympics or Grand Prix Final. www.sportsspectrum.com

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AN INCREDIBLE YEAR IN SPORTS

2018

APRIL

EUREKA, ARIKE! First, Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale shot down an undefeated Connecticut team in the Women’s NCAA Final Four with an overtime buzzer-beater. Then in the national title game against Mississippi State, she drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Notre Dame its second women’s basketball national championship.

VILLANOVA RIDES BENCH STAR TO DOWN MICHIGAN Donte DiVincenzo came off the bench for 18 points by halftime, and ended with 31 on the night — the most ever for a nonstarter in an NCAA national championship. That led Villanova to the 79-62 win over Michigan for its third title in history and SPORTS SPECTRUM 15 second in the past three years.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

MASTERS DRAMA SEES REED FEND OFF FOWLER, SPIETH Patrick Reed held off a hard-charging Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth to card a 15-under 273 for the Masters victory, his first major title. His final-round 71 was just good enough to beat Fowler by one stroke (final-round 67) and Spieth by two (final-round 64). U.S. WOMAN WINS BOSTON Desiree Linden slogged through steady rain to post the slowest winner’s time since 1978, but she became the first American female in 33 years to win the Boston Marathon. Her time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds was nearly 18 minutes slower than the previous year’s winner.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

AP Photo/Michael Conroy

AP Photo/John Locher

MAY

REAL MADRID STILL THE REAL DEAL Led by two second-half goals from sub Gareth Bale, Real Madrid downed Liverpool, 3-1, for the UEFA Champions League crown. The win marked Madrid’s fourth title in five years, and it became the first team since 1976 to win three consecutive Champions Leagues championships. And it was the club’s 13th title, another Champions League record.

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POWER SURGE IN INDY With Will Power’s first career Indy 500 victory, he became the first driver to win both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, as well as the first to take both races in the same year..

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2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

OVI AND THE CAPS CAPTURE STANLEY CUP After 43 years, the Washington Capitals finally won the Stanley Cup, riding the legendary Alex Ovechkin (who was named playoff MVP) to a five-game series win. They defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, who set a slew of records as they became just the second expansion team since 1960 among the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB to play for the title in their inaugural season.

JUNE

MAJOR COLLAPSE AVERTED Ariya Jutanugarn, who in 2016 became the first golfer from Thailand to win a major championship, lost a seven-shot lead on the back nine of the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. But she managed to pull out the victory on the fourth playoff hole against South Korea’s Hyo-Joo Kimto.

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WARRIORS SWEEP CAVS TO GRAB THIRD TITLE IN FOUR YEARS With their two perennial MVP candidates leading the way, Golden State cruised to another championship victory over LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Steph Curry dropped 37 points in Game 4, as Kevin Durant’s triple-double earned him the Finals MVP.

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YEAR IN2018

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MOLINARI’S FIRST MAJOR IS ALSO ITALY’S As big names faltered around him (Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth), Francesco Molinari stayed steady at the British Open with bogey-free golf to collect his first major, thus becoming Italy’s first golfer to win a major title.

JESUS AND JUSTIFY With a convincing win at the Belmont Stakes, Justify became the 13th horse to capture the Triple Crown. Riding Justify was 52-year-old jockey Mike Smith, who said in his nationallytelevised post-race interview, “First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Smith is the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown.

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WORLD NO. 1 GETS GRAND SLAM NO. 1 Romania’s Simona Halep had already earned the world’s No. 1 ranking, but then she earned her first Grand Slam trophy by defeating American Sloane Stephens in the French Open final.

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JULY

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FRANCE PREVAILS FOR WORLD CUP TRIUMPH When Germany couldn’t get past the group stage, and Brazil was bested in the quarterfinals, France became the FIFA World Cup favorite. Les Bleus won their second world championship by defeating Croatia by 4-2 in the final, powered by stars Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezman.

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2018 YEAR IN REVIEW SEPTEMBER

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WELSHMAN WINS TOUR DE FRANCE A two-time Olympic champion for Great Britain in track cycling, Geraint Thomas shifted full-time to road cycling and won the Tour de France, the first Welshman to accomplish the feat.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

A FIRST FOR JAPAN With a straight sets victory over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman to play in a Grand Slam singles final, and the first Japanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles championship.

AUGUST

BROOKS KOEPKA COLLECTS HIS SECOND MAJOR OF THE YEAR With a surging Tiger Woods on the prowl, reigning U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka flew somewhat under the radar to his two-shot victory over Woods at the PGA Championship. The 28-year-old became just the fifth player to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same year. YELICH GETS SIX AND A CYCLE The Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich not only clubbed six hits in a 10-inning, 13-12 win over Cincinnati, he also hit for his first career cycle. He’s one of just four players to have six hits and a cycle in the same game (since 1908).

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M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P! Regular-season MVP Breanna Stewart also claimed the WNBA Finals MVP award in leading the Seattle Storm to its third championship. Seattle swept the Washington Mystics as Stewart averaged 25.6 points and six rebounds in the series, becoming just the third player to win both MVP awards — and just weeks later she also took FIBA World Cup MVP honors.

TIGER IS BACK To cap his best season in five years, Tiger Woods won the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship, his first victory in more than five years and his 80th career PGA Tour win.

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YEAR IN2018 OCTOBER

JOSEF MARTÍNEZ NETS MLS SCORING RECORD With his 31st goal of the year in the season finale, Atlanta United FC’s Josef Martinez set a new mark for single-season scoring in the MLS. Weeks earlier, the 25-yearold Venezuelan striker broke the previous record of 27.

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2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

RED SOX DOMINATE MLB With a convincing 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, the Boston Red Sox claimed their ninth championship, and fourth since 2004.

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Boston’s lone loss to the National League champs (3-2 in Game 3) was the longest postseason game ever played — 18 innings in seven hours, 20 minutes.

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The Red Sox also lost just once each to the 100-win Yankees (ALDS) and the defending World Series champion Astros (ALCS) en route to the World Series. Mookie Betts, 2018 AL MVP

With first-year manager Alex Cora at the helm, the 119 total victories by Boston in 2018 go down as the third-most in MLB history, behind the ‘98 Yankees (125) and ‘01 Mariners (120). AP Photo/Elise Amendola

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NOVEMBER

SAINTS MARCH OVER PREVIOUSLY UNBEATEN RAMS A 45-35 defeat to the New Orleans Saints in Week 9 dropped the Los Angeles Rams from the ranks of the unbeaten. The game also served as a possible NFC championship game preview, as the Rams and Saints stood among only three one-loss teams (along with Kansas City) through Week 10.road cycling and won the Tour de France, the first Welshman to accomplish the feat.

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2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

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SIMONE BILES REMINDS EVERYONE SHEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE BEST The 21-year-old Simone Biles, who won four golds at the 2016 Olympics before taking 14 months off, captured six medals at the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships to become the most decorated female gymnast in world championships history.

LOGANO LOGS FIRST NASCAR SERIES TITLE Joey Logano won just once in the regular season, but was victorious twice in the last four playoff races to nab his first career NASCAR Cup Series title. The 28-year-old won the finale, the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, by taking the lead from Martin Truex Jr., the defending Cup champion, with 12 laps remaining. Truex Jr. finished second in the series standings, Kevin Harvick third and Kyle Busch fourth.

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MICHAEL PORTER JR.

MICHAEL PORTER JR. HAS LONG BEEN TOUTED AS AN ELITE TALENT, AND HE HAS FINALLY REACHED THE NBA. BUT INJURIES HAVE PUT HIS BUDDING CAREER ON HOLD, AND HE FEELS GOD IS DOING A WORK ON HIM IN THE PROCESS. 24

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DENV ER NUGGET S

HIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. Michael Porter Jr. began basketball training with his dad, Michael Porter Sr., at the age of 3. Fourteen years later, he led his high school team to the Missouri Class 3 state championship, dropping 31 points and 19 rebounds in the title game. The next year, after his family moved to Seattle, the high school senior averaged 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds for a 29–0 squad that captured the Washington Class 3A state title. He became the 2017 McDonald’s All-American Game MVP, Mr. Basketball USA, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, the Naismith Prep Player of the Year — just to name a few accolades. ESPN ranked him as the No. 2 recruit in the nation; Rivals pegged him No. 1. Pundits far and wide predicted he’d spend one season in college, the minimum required prior to entering the NBA draft, then get scooped up within the first two, maybe three picks of 2018. And sure enough, Porter Jr. is now in the NBA. He’s making millions of dollars to play a game he’s played as far back as he can remember. It can appear to be a picture-perfect story of a boy being groomed by his father, falling in love with 25

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the game, and becoming so good that far-reaching stardom becomes a foregone conclusion. Except it wasn’t that perfect. Porter Jr. went off to college, signing with his hometown school, the University of Missouri, where his dad had become a men’s assistant coach after previous stints in other roles within the program. And Porter Jr. is now a professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets. But the Nuggets didn’t select him with a top-three pick; he fell into their laps at No. 14. His rookie season is now 20-some games underway, but Porter Jr. has yet to participate in any one of them (as of print time). In fact, he has only appeared in three official contests since he collected that second highschool crown. Two minutes into his first game as a collegian, Porter Jr. was taken out by Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin, whom Porter Jr. told right before tip-off that his leg “didn’t feel right.” Ultimately, it was discovered that he had injured his back, which required surgery on his L3 and L4 spinal disks. He missed the rest of the regular season. But Porter was cleared to play in March, logging 23 minutes and 12 points in an SEC tournament loss to Georgia, then 28 minutes with 16 points in an NCAA Tournament loss to Florida State. T O S U B S C R I B E : C A L L 8 6 6 - 8 2 1 - 2 9 7 1 25

MICHAEL PORTER JR.

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rom where he sits now — on this particular late September day, behind a draped table in the Nuggets’ practice gym at the Pepsi Center during the team’s media day — Porter sees the injury as a blessing. A young man of strong faith and blessed with elite basketball talent, he’s asked how he stays humble. “Honestly, God kind of did humble me Himself with the injury,” the 20-year-old said amid the buzz of media activity around him. “Just being honest, I kind of feel like it was a God-thing that I got hurt, because I feel like going into college [as the] No. 1 recruit, and then if I was to go to the League, [possibly a] No. 1 pick, I just feel like I wasn’t ready spiritually to handle it. So it’s like He almost did that for my blessing. “That’s how I view it now. I used to not view it like this, but I view it now like He did it for a blessing for me so I would have this time and try to mature myself — [go] through a struggle and mature — so when I get back healthy, I’m on top of things.” When he gets back healthy is the big unknown. The 6-foot-10 forward underwent a second spinal surgery in July, and though he has said he’s painfree, the Nuggets remain in no rush to get him into game action. The team has repeatedly said there’s no timetable for his return. Following media day, it even declared him “off limits to media while he is injured.” So there exists the possibility that Porter Jr. may sit out another season. Porter Sr. thinks the time out of the spotlight could be good for his son. He already believes the unwanted downtime has netted benefits. “It’s always good when a person can take a step back and experience the game from a different perspective,” he says. — M I C HAE L P OR T E R J R. “Mike had been in the spotlight for most of his high school years And so came to an end the much-anticipated college too,” adds Porter Sr., one of the top career of Michael Porter Jr. assistant men’s coaches at Missouri. “He commanded a Despite the back injury, he still declared for the NBA draft. whole lot of spotlight, and so now the injury has taken His stock had taken a hit — teams in the top five weren’t going to him out of it. [He’s] just learning how to handle the spend such a valuable pick on a bum back — but there was little highs, the lows, the ups and downs of that life, because doubt he’d still go in the first round, possibly even to a lottery that’s what it will be in the NBA now. There will be team. The Nuggets held the last lottery pick. highs, there will be lows, and being able to maintain an “We were very surprised, and happily so, that Michael even keel [is important]. In order to do that, you have continued to fall down the board,” Denver’s president of to have experienced the highs and the lows … I think basketball operations, Tim Connelly, said on draft night. that’s going to help him tremendously down the line.” With a young squad that was surprisingly deep for a nonPorter Jr. can also rest in his belief that God has playoff team (the Nuggets missed the postseason by one game), big plans for his life. Denver didn’t need a rookie to come in and contribute right off “He cares more about my soul than He does the bat. about my success in this world,” Porter Jr. says. “So “At some point it becomes a risk-reward ratio,” Connelly that’s how I view that right now. I could be the No. 1 said. “We think he’s an elite talent, a guy [that] with no back recruit, I could be the best player in the NBA, but if I’m issues we wouldn’t have the good fortune of drafting. I think not [connected to Him], what’s the point of it all?” you have to take a swing at guys like that. … I think we’re going Among the first things Porter did upon arriving to be extremely patient, we’re going to take the long view for in Denver was find a local church. He settled in at the everything we do with him. But he was there [at No. 14] certainly vibrant multi-campus Red Rocks Church, and before because of concerns about the health of his back.” long was bringing fellow rookies Jarred Vanderbilt and

“I KIND OF FEEL LIKE IT WAS A GOD-THING THAT I GOT HURT, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE GOING INTO COLLEGE [AS THE] NO. 1 RECRUIT, AND THEN IF I WAS TO GO TO THE LEAGUE, [POSSIBLY A] NO. 1 PICK, I JUST FEEL LIKE I WASN’T READY SPIRITUALLY TO HANDLE IT.”

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[God] cares more about my soul than He does about my success in this world. M I C HAEL POR TER J R. 27

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AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

MICHAEL PORTER JR.

Thomas Welsh with him — an act his father wasn’t aware of. “Man, that’s awesome. I’m really proud of him for that,” Porter Sr. said. To defend against the wild and tempting lifestyle that’s prevalent in the NBA, Porter brought out a couple roommates from back home in Missouri. One of his best friends from Columbia is living with him in a Denver apartment and traveling with him on the road. And one of Porter’s older sisters has also taken up residence in the Mile High City. “With the lifestyle I’m going into, now it’s about surrounding yourself with people that are further along than you, that can help mature you, and you can be more like them. But that’s in your free time because you can be around crazy stuff in the NBA. So in your free time you got to make sure you’re around the right people,” Porter Jr. says. He knows to take these precautions because of the foundation and values his parents instilled in him — and his seven siblings — while growing up. As the children of sports missionaries, the Porter kids (Bri, Cierra, Michael Jr., Jontay, Coban, Jevon, Izaak and Jayda) were constantly presented with Biblical principles.

and I think our job as parents is to help our kids figure out what God has put inside them, the gifts that He’s given them, and then to help them to grow that and nurture that so that they can accomplish those three things,” Porter Sr. says. Lisa and Michael were also intent on their kids graduating from college debt-free, so Michael began training Bri and Cierra when they were 6 and 5, respectively, and when Michael Jr. was 3. It began in the backyard with simple but fun basketball drills. The kids initially just loved playing with Dad, but as they got better, more skilled and grew taller, they fell in love with the game. Bri, Cierra, Michael Jr. and Jontay all went on to play at Missouri. Dad also led “Bible Time” every

night. He would take a Bible story or some aspect of the Bible and read it to the family, then lead a discussion. Each Porter kid would extract life lessons from the Bible lesson and apply it to their life. In addition, Lisa began teaching each child how to read at age 4. By the time they were 7 or 8, they could read well beyond their years. So Mom and Dad would buy children’s Bibles and challenge each one to read it cover to cover. Some kind of reward would be waiting for them if they did. And the children also attended rap concerts — Dad’s rap concerts. During his time working for AIA, he realized that many of the students he spoke to had trouble reading, but

orter Sr. met his wife, Lisa, while they both competed for Athletes In Action. When they began having children and realized the power of peer pressure, they decided to homeschool the kids and ensure they were imprinting their values. “Our belief is that God gives you gifts for three reasons: obviously to bring glory to Him, but also for you to make your way in the world and to be a blessing to your fellow man. I think those are the three primary reasons,

“OUR BELIEF IS THAT GOD GIVES YOU GIFTS FOR THREE REASONS: OBVIOUSLY TO BRING GLORY TO HIM, BUT ALSO FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR WAY IN THE WORLD AND TO BE A BLESSING TO YOUR FELLOW MAN.” — MI CH AEL P OR T E R S R. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

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9 NBA GAMES TO WATCH IN '19 JAN. 3 — HOUSTON AT GOLDEN STATE Rockets’ first trip to Bay Area since 2018 Western finals

JAN. 3 — TORONTO AT SAN ANTONIO knew all the words in rap songs. So he began writing his own lyrics, came up with the stage name “Rahlo,” and began performing at local ministries when the family lived in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Those led to larger U.S. gigs, which led to month-long tours overseas. “At local concerts, my kids would come and they would hear me share the Gospel from the stage, talk about God and try to help people or introduce them to Him so they could know Him personally,” Porter Sr. says. “[My kids] grew up hearing that over and over and over again.” “They just instilled from a young age the importance of Jesus,” Porter Jr. says of his parents. With home school in the morning, basketball training in the afternoon, and Bible time at night, the Porter kids lived in a controlled environment — for which Porter Jr. says he is very thankful. He feels like that upbringing is a large reason he excelled at basketball. But his “mind was opened to so many things that they kept me away from” when he first attended public school in eighth grade. “There was just kids doing stuff I didn’t even know kids my age did — drinking, smoking, having sex,” he says. “I didn’t know that they were doing that at that young age. So I was probably a little awkward at first because I didn’t know what was going on.” Like any young teenager, he wanted to fit in. He wanted to be cool. And now, as a budding NBA star just months removed from his teenage days, he still wants to be accepted. But he’s purposeful about who he surrounds himself with, he listens to the wisdom of his parents, and he stays rooted in God’s Word. Reaching the NBA has long been Porter’s dream. While he learns patience in waiting for the day his debut comes, he’ll continue growing in his walk with Christ. God has given him basketball as a stage, and he knows he’s called to use it well. “I’m trying to use my platform so when I’m back playing, [when] everybody knows my name, is watching me play,” Porter Jr. says, “I’m out using my platform to help influence people for good instead of being selfish with it.”

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Kawhi Leonard returns to San Antonio after blockbuster trade

JAN. 13 — CLEVELAND AT L.A. LAKERS LeBron’s old crew gets to see his new digs

FEB. 22 — NEW ORLEANS AT INDIANA Two-thirds of NBA’s brother trio: Aaron Holiday welcomes Jrue

FEB. 26 — BOSTON AT TORONTO Celtics travel to Toronto in possible Eastern finals preview

MARCH 16 —GOLDEN STATE AT OKLAHOMA CITY Durant returning to old stomping grounds is always entertaining

MARCH 30 — PHILADELPHIA AT MINNESOTA Jimmy Butler returns to the city he forced his way out of

APRIL 1 — CLEVELAND AT PHOENIX Loser could gain inside track to next year’s No. 1 pick

APRIL 2 — DENVER AT GOLDEN STATE With or without Porter Jr., Nuggets could surprise teams in West SSPPOORRTTSS SSPPEECCTTRRUUMM

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LUKEMAYE

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LED ON THE COURT AND IN BIBLE STUDIES BY SENIOR LUKE MAYE, NORTH CAROLINA IS AGAIN A TOP-10 TITLE CONTENDER by KEV I N ME RCE R 30

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uke Maye knows the feeling of winning a college basketball national championship. He also knows what it’s like to get upset in the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend. He’s experienced the highs of hitting clutch shots in crucial moments. And he’s also been an undervalued recruit, languishing on the bench in obscurity. But now, thanks to hard work and a dash of patience in a world of instant gratification, Maye understands what it’s like to be one of the best players in the nation. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior forward for the North Carolina Tar Heels appeared on almost every preseason All-America list, and he’s sure to keep NBA scouts busy this season. With his combination of size and skill, Maye is a threat from inside the paint and outside the 3-point arc. Hopes are high for the Huntersville, N.C., native as a grizzled vet and leader of his team. All of the excitement this past summer surrounding Maye and his senior season in Chapel Hill could have led to a bit of an inflated ego. It sometimes does with college kids. But not Maye. He isn’t swayed by the fickle whims of the world. Only God’s opinion truly matters to Maye, and it matters eternally. “My faith is everything to me,” Maye said after a preseason practice. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A TA R H E E L S

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“I felt like that day, the pastor was talking to me. His sermon was about just taking your faith into your own hands and being passionate about Christ.”

a four-star rating from ESPN, and offers from schools like Clemson, Gonzaga and Notre Dame. Yet when North Carolina — a college basketball blue blood — came knocking, even though he would have to be a walk-on as a freshman, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. “He loves this place so much,” says shooting guard and fellow senior Kenny Williams. “He grew up a North Carolina fan and wanted to be here.” Upon arriving in Chapel Hill, Maye found himself surrounded by long, athletic playmakers everywhere he looked. There was little space in the Tar Heels’ rotation for someone like him. Being relegated to the end of the bench as a little-used role player for two seasons might have discouraged some, but Maye knew God loved him just the same. With that assurance, Maye resolved to do whatever he

could to make himself more than simply another name on the Tar Heels’ roster. “We have never, ever, ever had to say ‘Luke, you gotta go hard.’ Never,” says UNC assistant coach Hubert Davis, who played 12 years in the NBA. “It’s the opposite sometimes.” Maye spent many late nights at the gym trying to add new wrinkles to his game, but he remained an afterthought — until one weekend in March 2017. He came off the bench against Butler in a Sweet 16 victory to score 16 points and grab 12 rebounds. Two days later against Kentucky, Maye scored 17 points and made numerous clutch plays — including the buzzer-beating dagger that sent the Tar Heels to the Final Four and Maye into March Madness lore. A week later, Carolina collected its sixth national championship.

– UNC S ENI O R L UK E MAY E

It defines his entire life and, in many ways, his basketball career. Although Maye was born into a family with two Christian parents, it wasn’t until high school that God actually entered his heart. One Sunday morning during Maye’s sophomore year of high school, his mother, Aimee, awoke feeling sick. His father, Mark, made the decision to stay home from church to care for his wife. Luke easily could have stayed home as well and had the morning to himself, but instead he felt a nudge to drive to church. “I felt like that day, the pastor was talking to me,” Maye says. “His sermon was about just taking your faith into your own hands and being passionate about Christ.” Maye became a Christian that day. He saw God’s glory. He saw his Savior and the immeasurable joys of a relationship with Him. As his walk with Christ began, his life was changed forever. Maye worked relentlessly throughout the rest of high school to learn more about his Lord. He worked nearly as hard to turn himself into a basketball player that could play in college. Maye developed a reputation as a knockdown shooter, and his performances eventually garnered www.sportsspectrum.com

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LUKEMAYE

In his typical “aw, shucks” attitude, Maye downplayed his role in the historic moment. “(Teammate Theo Pinson) pitched it back and I was thankful it went in,” Maye said. “It was a great play and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do it without the confidence from my coaches and my teammate that I could knock it down.” Maye knew better than to give in to complacency or the praise that comes with newfound celebrity. He was back in class at 8 a.m. the next morning, and back in the gym the next summer preparing for his new role in 2017-18 as the starting power forward. “Luke is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in my life,” Williams says. “He just goes after it relentlessly.” Maye’s work ethic catapulted him into a successful junior campaign, when he averaged 16.9 points and a team-leading 10.1 rebounds per game. Throughout the season, he shared the spotlight with a decorated senior class, as the Tar Heels earned a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament. After a disappointing secondround exit, though, the seniors graduated and Maye declared for the NBA Draft. Yet as the draft deadline approached, he withdrew his name to return for his senior season. Maye opted to improve on his game and finish his college career on a better note. AP Photo/Gerry Broome

“He’s a perfect role model — a perfect person to look up to when it comes to faith and a relationship with Christ.”

“[Maye has] been really instrumental for me in my four years here just growing in my faith and growing in my relationship with God,” Williams says. “He’s a perfect role — UNC S ENI O R KENNY W I LLI AM S model — a perfect person to look up to when it comes to faith and a relationship with Christ.” But it was more than simply a basketball decision. He knew On Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., you’ll find the senior duo the value of a college degree, what a gift college life is, and and roughly seven other teammates growing together in the lessons God could still teach him. their faith at a team Bible study organized by Coach Davis “I felt like having another year of college is and members from a local church. Every week, a different something that you can’t get back,” Maye says. “It’s player leads the team through a passage and subsequent something that I’ve really wanted to finish and wanted to discussion. Last year, the focus was Jesus’ parables. This continue to grow as an individual before I have to make year, it’s Daniel. big life decisions afterwards.” “Really a huge reason why so many of the guys show His announcement sent waves through the college up is because of Luke,” Davis says. “His leadership and basketball world as the Tar Heels skyrocketed into the his faith and the willingness to share his faith with his preseason top-10 rankings. Maye is expected to be the teammates has been really huge for this team.” centerpiece of a loaded North Carolina squad with three The UNC team Bible study began years ago and has promising freshmen and a bevy of returning talent. only strengthened since. A number of strong Christians Williams has felt the impact of Maye’s return beyond the have come through the program and left their marks, basketball court. He has another season with his roommate including Davis, who returned to his alma mater to of four years, his best friend and his brother in Christ. coach in 2012. 32

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And the fellowship of believers on the Carolina squad extends beyond Tuesday nights. They’ve even started a group chat on their phones that’s active throughout the week. Davis or the players impart words of encouragement, or share further insight into discussions from the Bible study. “Having a Bible study once a week has really been beneficial to growing us deeper as a team and individually,” Maye says. “That’s been really crucial for my development.” In Maye’s busy schedule of classes, practices and media obligations, he makes time to study God’s Word on his own. He recently read through Proverbs and plans to start Ephesians or Philippians soon. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he takes God’s Word to the world. For Maye, the relationships he forms are opportunities for God’s Spirit to work in the lives of others. “Once I’ve built a strong enough relationship, [I have] that opportunity to really see where they are spiritually,” Maye says. Maye’s recognizable face around campus often isn’t conducive for this type of evangelism, and, like any true Christ-follower, he doesn’t flaunt his faith for personal gain. Yet God has so shaped who Maye is that the evidence of Maye’s transformed heart is unmistakable in how he lives his life. Fame hasn’t changed him one bit. “He’s the real deal,” Davis says. “He really is an example on the court and off the court, and you always want to be an example of Christ in the way that you walk and everything that you do. And that’s what Luke does, he witnesses through everything.” Maye could have pouted about his draft stock or grown selfish this past offseason in an effort to improve it. Instead, he’s been a witness for Jesus. He’s humbly accepted his role as senior leader because it too is another gift from a gracious God. He’s gladly devoted himself to another offseason of hard work to help his team. As head coach Roy Williams, Davis and the other Tar Heel coaches will say, Maye has shown up on the first day of practice each season better than he was the year before. A lot of questions will be answered about Maye’s future in the next few months. Will he reach his NBA dream? Will he develop into a perennial NBA All-Star? Or will he play overseas? Regardless, Maye knows he’ll be all right. “It doesn’t matter what I do,” Maye says. “I know the Lord will always be with me.”

AP Photo/Crystal LoGiudice

“His leadership and his faith and the willingness to share his faith with his teammates has been really huge for this team.” — UNC ASSISTANT COACH HUBERT DAVIS

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TONYBENNETT

IN THE

By JASON ROMANO

In one of Tony Bennett’s toughest moments — seeing his topseeded Virginia team become the first to fall to a No. 16 seed — the coach showed character that comes from following Christ

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

ony Bennett has been the head coach of the University of Virginia men’s basketball team since March 2009. He is a three-time National Coach of the Year and led Virginia to the Elite Eight in 2016. He played college ball at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay under his dad, Dick Bennett, and was selected in the second round of the 1992 NBA Draft (35th overall) by the Charlotte Hornets. He would play four seasons before a foot injury ended his NBA career. 34

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Bennett became a head basketball coach in 2006 at Washington State, succeeding his father, and his team promptly won 26 games in each of his first two seasons. After his first year, Bennett was named Naismith College Coach of the Year. With Virginia, Bennett has led the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament each of the past five seasons, and in 2018 he became the first ACC coach to win 17 conference games in a single season. Also a three-time ACC Coach of the Year, Bennett led Virginia to the

2018 ACC Tournament and regularseason titles, but the team suffered a devastating loss to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the NCAA Tournament — the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed. Recently, I chatted with Coach Bennett to discuss what he learned from that historic loss in the NCAA Tournament, where his faith in Christ took shape, how he lives out the Biblical model of serving in the way he coaches, and the verse that has shaped him as a person. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CAVALIERS

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“IF YOU’RE GOING TO ENJOY ALL THE GOOD THINGS THAT COME YOUR WAY, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE WHEN THE HARD THINGS COME.”

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To listen to the entire interview with Tony Bennett, visit SportsSpectrum.com

From a coaching perspective, how you were able to put that loss to UMBC behind you? Did you allow yourself to mourn a bit or did you move on the next day? When you have a season like we had — which was record-setting in terms of the most wins in the ACC, winning the regular season and conference tournament ACC championship — it was such an exciting time. We enjoyed it to its fullest and there was great anticipation and hope heading into the NCAA Tournament. And then when it ended how it did, it was tough and you mourn always when the season is done. But of course, the magnitude of the historic loss that we had was very humbling and you are forced to kind of deal with that. Of course, you’re thinking about your seniors, your players. The reality of it is, it’s constantly going to be brought up, but that’s OK because it is part of our story. I’m thankful for what happened with the good and in a strange way, as you and I know, you have to rejoice and give thanks to what God’s doing or how you’re being equipped through the hard situations that we have. So much was made of the No. 1 vs. No. 16 seed thing, but I remember watching the game, and you had a wonderful response to CBS after the loss. It’s easy to be Christlike when things go your way, but when adversity comes, that’s when the character really comes out. Your character really came out. Why was it important for you to respond the way you did in the midst of that adversity? If you’re going to enjoy all the good things that come your way, you have to be able to handle when the hard things come. It’s faithfulness to know that we are blessed beyond what we deserve. I have been, I know that in my life. Of course, I’m blessed with my relationship with my Creator, with Christ, with my wife, with my family, those things that are unconditional. When you’re loved and accepted unconditionally, there are 36

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only a few things that can do that — the ultimate, obviously, is the unconditional love and acceptance that you get with your relationship with the Lord, and then I believe it’s your close family and friends. But the ability to stay faithful, whatever it looks like [is important], whether you’re being praised at the highest level or you’re being criticized or you’re discouraged. And that I think was really important. I was just reading in my quiet time today, the end of it was about Romans 5, where it [talks about] knowing that hard times or suffering produces endurance, and how that produces character and ultimately hope. Hope is the greatest gift we have in what is to come in our life with Christ and what we have in the present. It makes you realize that, “I’m OK,” and there are things far greater than a significant loss in a sporting event. Why is that quiet time with the Lord important to you each day? You first must fill your own cup and spend that time, and if you fill that up and out of that overflow, hopefully you can be a light to others. You feel right, you feel grounded, you know it’s right when you do it. That’s a practice that has to be established, just like in coaching. It’s an awesome thing when you can communicate and spend time with the Lord. Give us a snapshot of where faith in Jesus began for you? I’m kind of a simple guy. I don’t talk about too many things, but I can talk forever about basketball and the Lord, and I never get tired of it. I grew up in a Catholic home. When I was 14 or so, going into eighth grade, my father took us to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp. We went out there for a week, drove from Wisconsin to Colorado, and that’s where I first heard the message clearly of the Gospel of Christ. I was on fire and I couldn’t get enough of the Word and hearing it. That was such a powerful moment for me, and obviously it’s been a journey since of growing and learning. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

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“YOU HAVE TO REJOICE AND GIVE THANKS TO WHAT GOD’S DOING OR HOW YOU’RE BEING EQUIPPED THROUGH THE HARD SITUATIONS THAT WE HAVE.”

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

As believers we can never force our faith or push something on someone else, but we’re called to be salt and light in the world. How do you incorporate that faith, which began when you were a teenager, into your job each and every day? That’s a great question. You have to be respectful of people. They’ll see it through your actions, your life, how you handle success and failures, and you’re faithful to those opportunities when there are chances to speak about it. We’re called to be in the world but not of the world.

AP Photo/Steve Helber

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Is there a Bible verse you cling to, maybe a life verse that’s been important in your life? The one that jumps out, that I always used to talk about through college, the NBA and even now, is Romans 8:39: “... neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to

separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s a powerful one that you need to have as your hope. We’re going to experience the highs and lows, but nothing can separate me from that relationship I have in Christ with our Heavenly Father. What is the Lord teaching you right now? Probably to hold things with open hands. The Lord is more than ample. He’s enough. In Him is really all sufficiency. To be faithful to that principle. He is awesome. He is enough. In Him there is great joy and great rest, regardless of what the world is screaming at you through great success and great failure. That’s a truth that has really been brought home in the last few months and the last year. SPORTS SPECTRUM

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By Cody Benjamin

Cut in the middle of last season, Ryan Carpenter found himself praying for a future in the NHL. God surprised him with a role on hockeys most stunning team. 38 38

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VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

“I CAN START WORRYING ABOUT WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN, BUT IT KEEPS ME GROUNDED TO SEEK JESUS AND SEEK HIS KINGDOM.”

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hen Bill Foley and George McPhee assembled the Vegas Golden Knights as owner and general manager, they did so with outcasts. Now, it’s rare when an expansion team — in any sport, at any time — comes together with anything but outcasts. The very process of expanding a professional league dictates teams to share players, and in this context, “sharing” is just a nice term for showing players the door. So when Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena was called upon to host the 2017 Expansion Draft and bring to life a 31st NHL franchise, the Golden Knights were gifted some big names — former Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and former Nashville Predators winger James Neal most notably among them. But even those stars were only available because they were made available. Like the rest of the Golden Knights, they were, at least in some sense, unwanted (the other teams could choose only a small number of players to protect from being selected by Vegas). They were overlooked. Bypassed. Outcasts. It’s not entirely dissimilar to the story of Ryan Carpenter. When Vegas took the ice on Oct. 4, skating into the 2018-19 campaign after one of the greatest inaugural seasons in the history of hockey, the 27-year-old Carpenter was among them. But the veteran center’s journey to The Strip was never by his design. And while his emergence with the Golden Knights had absolutely nothing to do with Vegas’ forced embrace of outcasts during the team’s first summer in the NHL, Carpenter’s presence on the team now seems as if it was meant to be. In fact, he’ll tell you it is.

imber Creek High School was established in 2001, just 10 years after Carpenter was born. Raised in Orlando, the future forward attended school within the Orange County District, which happens to be among the 10 biggest school districts in the United States. But his school’s hockey spotlight was about as bright as the NHL’s presence in Florida at the time of his birth — nonexistent. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers didn’t come around until 1992 and 1993, respectively, and Timber Creek’s athletics department is known more for its cheerleading state championships than anything. Even so, the seeds for a life on ice were planted early.

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“My dad’s from Staten Island, New York,” Carpenter said recently on the Sports Spectrum Podcast, “and he was a huge Rangers fan growing up. He never really played hockey, but he loved the Rangers. And I had older cousins that played roller hockey at the time, so we’d always go up for Christmas to New York, and we would be in my grandparents’ basement — I think I was 3 or 4 or 5, around that age. I saw my cousins playing hockey, and I think I just

joined in in the basement.” It wasn’t long before Carpenter went from playing roller hockey as a toddler to watching ice hockey as a preteen. The Orlando Solar Bears, a defunct International Hockey League team that once served as an Atlanta Thrashers affiliate, are to thank for that. The Solar Bears name and color scheme can now be found in the ECHL (since 2012), but the original franchise played from 1995-2001. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

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“That was a team I grew up as a little kid going to watch play,” he said, “and so that’s how I fell in love with the game, and I’ve been playing it ever since.” There was only so much, however, that Orlando could offer a young boy struck with a passion for hockey. So at age 16, before most kids get their driver’s license and a full two years before he officially hit adulthood, Carpenter was out the door. Like a high school graduate packing his bags for college, the Florida boy moved away from home for a sport that had gradually emerged as his dream. He left his world for another, all in hopes that the grass on the other side wouldn’t necessarily be greener as much as it would be frozen. He found ice, it turns out, and on that ice, Carpenter realized his hockey aspirations weren’t far-fetched. Closer to refined scouts and coaches, he honed his craft with elite amateur teams in Michigan. In 2009-10, his first year of junior hockey with the United States Hockey League’s Sioux City (Iowa) Musketeers, he posted 22 points in 58 games. The following season, his points total more than doubled, hitting 45 as part of a Musketeers playoff run. And by 2011, he was lacing up skates for Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio), scoring at least 30 points over 40-plus games in two straight seasons. Off the ice, though, the relocation wasn’t paying quite as many dividends, particularly in the spiritual department. Carpenter was raised in a Christian home, brought up in Church and introduced to Jesus — foundational building blocks that kept him grounded in more than just his own goals as a kid. But not long after his step into big-boy shoes, the soon-to-be hockey standout found himself in a proverbial penalty box. “I think that’s when I was kind of away from the protection of my parents and the rules and the values they had,” he said, “and I think that’s when I started to look more and more like the world … living this double life.” He’d sometimes go to church on Sunday, but “the rest of the week, Jesus didn’t really apply to my life.” It’s a conundrum countless believers face, clinging to weekly tradition more than daily devotion. And for Carpenter, surrounded by peers who may or may not have cared anyway, it looked like a gradual drift from the morals he’d been taught.

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“WE PRAYED A SIMPLE PRAYER. WE JUST SAID, ‘GOD, SURPRISE US,’ BECAUSE I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO PRAY FOR. IT WAS A PLACE WHERE WE WERE REALLY FORTUNATE TO GO ON OUR KNEES AND TRUST IN JESUS, AND … YEAH, HE SURPRISED US.” T O S USBPSOCRRTI SB ES: PCEACLTLR U8 M6 6 - 8 2 1 - 2 9 7 1

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“Then, while playing in Sioux City, Iowa,” he said, “we got into some trouble as a team, and I remember our coach challenging us to go to church.” Carpenter took that challenge, perhaps to save his chances of a hockey career as much as calm his inner conflict. And it was right then and there — tasked by his parent away from home to explore a faith his true parents had already demonstrated — that the youngster reworked his priorities. “It was weird,” he said. “Whatever the pastor was sharing that Sunday, it didn’t matter what it was, but the Holy Spirit would just be convicting me of the sin in my life and that double life I was living and trying to hide and trying to mask … Being a man, it’s tough to show weakness, but I started kind of confessing to [my coach] my sin, he shared Jesus with me and the story of the Gospel and how Jesus died and rose again … I had heard that so many times, but I finally understood that and believed that, and I wanted that. From that day on, I was all in for Him. That’s when God really changed my heart and gave me a new heart and a desire to walk with Him and enjoy Him.” 42

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Now, is this still a story about Ryan Carpenter the hockey player? It sure is. And, frankly, this is where it begins. Because without Carpenter’s relatively abrupt and prominent return to faith, he’s convinced he wouldn’t be where he is today. You don’t get Ryan Carpenter, Opening Day center on the defending Western Conferencechampion Vegas Golden Knights, without first traversing his path to God. About three years after his cometo-Jesus moment, the then-22-year-old got his surest confirmation yet that he had the skills to play his favorite childhood game at a professional level. On March 25, 2014, filling out at 6 feet and 180 pounds with what SB Nation College Hockey deemed “pro-style size” and “strong, fast” offensive skills, Carpenter signed with the San Jose Sharks. He’d done it. Assigned to the Sharks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, he made his pro debut in Massachusetts TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

(before the team relocated as the San Jose Barracuda in 2015), scoring 34 points in his first full season. By his third AHL season, he was leading the Barracuda in points (55) while collecting community service awards on the side. And starting in 2015-16, he began splitting time between the Barracuda and the Sharks’ NHL roster, even serving as a backup during San Jose’s 2016 Stanley Cup Final run against the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I was just excited I made the team,” he said. Entering the 2017-18 season, his fifth in pro hockey, Carpenter finally cracked the Sharks’ regular roster. He landed a two-year contract extension. And for the first time ever, he had clear sight of a role in the NHL. Memories of watching teams like the Solar Bears as a kid were surpassed with realized dreams of playing for teams like the Sharks as an adult. Those years of leaving home, moving around and chasing recognition were finally paying off. Until San Jose changed its mind. “For whatever reason,” Carpenter said, “they decided to give other guys a chance, and I was eventually in and out of the lineup, getting some healthy-scratch games here and there. And then, in the middle of the season, they decided to put me on waivers.” Just like that, after a half-decade of growth, it was over. Bitten by the Sharks who just months earlier had re-signed him, Carpenter had a chance of reverting to the AHL, but he was 26 closing on 27 at the time. He knew that if he wanted to justify a continued NHL career, he needed a new team to claim him. Becoming a lifelong minorleaguer was a real possibility since he was no longer a younger prospect, but with a wife, Alexis, now by his side and his own future family to consider, becoming a lifelong minorleaguer was far from ideal. In fact, it may have been a death knell for his hockey career. “It was a shock,” he said. “There were a lot of emotions and thoughts going through my head and my wife’s head. We loved it there in San Jose and were planning on staying there, and then it’s just 24 hours where you have no idea what’s going to happen. You just find out at 9 a.m. the next day. So we kind of just felt helpless, my wife and I.” Cue the connection to God. “We prayed a simple prayer,” Carpenter said. “We just said, ‘God, surprise us,’ because I didn’t even know what to pray for. It was a place where we were really fortunate to go on our knees and trust in Jesus, and … yeah, He surprised us.” On Dec. 13, 2017, Carpenter woke up as a Vegas Golden Knight. He didn’t expect a potential playoff team, let alone the NHL’s hottest, to pick him up. Going from San Jose to being benched to www.sportsspectrum.com

Las Vegas in a matter of weeks was a “roller coaster for me and my family,” he said. And “in that moment” when things were uncertain and the Golden Knights were still hours away from welcoming him, Carpenter said it was easier to “wrestle with your identity” than have peace. The trials helped him realize, however, that “you’re a Christian first before a hockey player.” And they led to what even a skeptic might call a divinely-appointed opportunity in Nevada. By season’s end, Carpenter had played more games for the Golden Knights (36) than he’d ever played for the Sharks, scoring nine goals and 14 points as part of the regular forward rotation. Along the way, he helped Vegas finish 51-24-7, the best first-year record by any NHL expansion team ever. He helped it become the first inaugural team to win its division in more than 90 years. He helped it make the playoffs, which no NHL expansion team had done in its first year since 1980. And he, specifically, helped the Golden Knights advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Vegas was up against none other than the Sharks in the second round of the playoffs, and as the Las Vegas-Review Journal reported in April 2018, Carpenter was “the Golden Knights’ only link” to San Jose, giving him “unique insight” into a red-hot opponent that Vegas needed to top to get to the Western Conference Finals. He ended up logging an assist in each of the Knights’ first two games against the Sharks, and Vegas would go on to top San Jose, 4-2, ultimately cruising all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where the Washington Capitals captured their first championship. “It’s hard to believe,” Carpenter said, “being a part of the run we had.” Like most Golden Knights, he prefers not to dwell on the Cup that could’ve been his. Now in his first full season with the team, he’s just as confident they can make a run again, noting that “we still have a lot of our core intact” and “any time you have a goalie like Marc-Andre Fleury, you have that belief in your room that you can win.” But the biggest takeaway from his sudden and magical ride with the Golden Knights goes deeper. It centers on the reality that, at least in his eyes, he was meant to land in Vegas. “I remember playing against [Vegas] in San Jose, and our coach told us, ‘Hey, I know they’re an expansion team, but they’re not surprising teams anymore,’” Carpenter said. “It was that underdog chip-on-your-shoulder mentality that [Vegas] took on. Even that first playoff series, a lot of people doubted us, but in that room, there was a really strong belief … there’s a bond with your teammates and just that unity among the guys and that hunger.”

If that doesn’t define both Carpenter and the Golden Knights, then what does? Vegas was assembled with outcasts. Underdogs. So was it really just a coincidence that, the day after surrendering his on-ice fate before God, Carpenter found a team not so unlike himself? He was a young man freshly recommitted to a purpose beyond his playing career, and he was gifted the most ideal of circumstances to share that purpose with the world. A bypassed player for a team full of them. “I can start worrying about what’s going to happen,” he said, “but it keeps me grounded to seek Jesus and seek His Kingdom … I just realized how good God is to me.” Carpenter will be 28 in January. He and his wife, Alexis, now have a son. He can tell you now that Vegas is where they all want to be and that a long road of hockey still lies ahead. But don’t be mistaken. If the time comes again for Carpenter to find a new home, to uproot his dreams or to be one of the outcasts, well, he knows Who to call on.

9 NHL GAMES TO WATCH IN ‘19 Jan. 1 — Boston at Chicago

2018 NHL Winter Classic, Notre Dame Stadium

Jan. 18 — N.Y. Islanders at Washington

Islanders coach Barry Trotz meets his former team

Jan. 23 — Washington at Toronto

Defending champs face Eastern Conference favorite

Jan. 27 — NHL All-Star Game The sport's best meet in San Jose

Feb. 22 — Winnipeg at Vegas

Rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals

Feb. 23 — Pittsburgh at Philadelphia Stadium Series, Lincoln Financial Field

Feb. 27 — Edmonton at Toronto

Future stars: Connor McDavid vs. Auston Matthews

March 12 — Washington at Pittsburgh Current stars: Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby

March 16 — Nashville at San Jose

Frontrunners for the Western Conference Finals SPORTS SPECTRUM

AP Photo/John Locher

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By Becky York

In capturing its 11th world championship this summer, the U.S. women’s softball team also booked its berth in the 2020 Olympics. As the women prepare for their sport’s return to the biggest athletic stage, some stalwarts of the squad are using their platform to spread God’s Word throughout the softball community.

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p to bat with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, runners on first and third, U.S. catcher Aubree Munro prayed. She spoke out loud — in the batter’s box, during a crucial moment of the WBSC World Softball Championship gold-medal game this past August — words that were fresh on her mind: a Bible verse one of her teammates had shared with her the week before. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” — Hebrews 4:16 “I was praying for confidence to draw near to the Lord,” Munro recalled, “and for grace no matter what happened. If I got out, the game would have been over and we would have lost. So I prayed that no matter what, I would find light and use it to glorify [Him].” If she got out, Japan — the longtime rival of the USA Softball women’s national team — would walk away with the title. But if she got a base hit, the U.S. would tie the game at 6 and keep alive their gold-medal hopes. On a 3-1 pitch, Munro drilled a shot into left-center field. It bounced once and cleared the fence for a ground-rule double. Game tied. Next up, with the winning run on third, was Kelsey Stewart. She roped a hit down the thirdbase line, bringing home Michelle Moultrie — and with her the gold medal. It marked the 11th World Baseball Softball Confederation title for the USA Softball women. And so capped an incredible day for the U.S. ladies, whose first major accomplishment that day of August 12 was little of their doing. Before Japan booked a berth in the final game, it had to defeat Canada. And when it did, it subsequently awarded a berth in the 2020 Summer Olympics to the Americans. The winner of the world championship would qualify for the Tokyo Games, but being the Olympic host, Japan already owned a berth. That meant win or lose in the final, the U.S. was in the Olympics. The six-team Olympic tournament will be softball’s first appearance in the Games since it was cut after the 2008 Beijing Games (along with baseball, which will also return in 2020). And this 2018 World Championship final was a likely preview of what’s to come in the Olympics — the U.S. and Japan have met in the last seven Olympic and world championship finals dating to 2006, including Japan’s upset of the U.S. in the 2008 Olympic final. As that time draws near, the U.S. women’s softball team will continue to grow and improve. And the Christian faith of a number of players on the team will be a TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971 driving force.

OLYMPIC BOUND USA | OLYMPIC BOUND AND HEAVEN SENT Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty

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YOU ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, GOD’S SPECIAL POSSESSION, THAT YOU MAY DECLARE THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS AND INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT. — 1 PETER 2:9

“God chose me. I am His simply because He chose me! He’s called us out of darkness and into His glorious light, not because of anything we’ve done. I had spent my whole life trying to earn things, meet people’s expectations, and be who everyone wanted me to be. It was so freeing to know that God doesn’t ask me to be anything but His.”

uring the world championship games, Reed, Moultrie and fellow outfielder Haylie McCleney — each professing Christ-followers — were determined to not only play their hardest, but to also encourage each other and keep their perspective on eternal things. “We would shout out things to each other like, ‘Stay faithful!’ and ‘He’s writing a story here,’” Reed said. This Christ-centered community is a dream come true for Reed, who has made the most of her time with the team. Not only has she found great success and joy on the field, but also from the unexpected and unparalleled community in the sisterhood she’s discovered off it. However, that deep sense of fellowship and community has not always been a reality for this team. But Reed

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

unro, now in her third year with the national team, remembers her mom waking her fourth-grade self up in the middle of the night to watch the Olympic softball competitions live in 2004. The Americans were led by stars like Jennie Finch and Jessica Mendoza and won gold that year, their third straight Olympic gold medal. “When it was taken out of the Olympics in 2008, I was so sad,” Munro said. “I thought it was over.” That sentiment was shared across the world by many young women. But they fought to get their sport back into the Games, and if only for 2020, they accomplished the feat. It is yet to be determined if softball will remain in the Olympics after the Tokyo Games. This is not lost on the U.S. women. Their world championship victory provides them an opportunity many only dreamed of — a chance to compete in the Olympic Games — and 2020 may be their only chance to see this stage. “How crazy is it that we are in the right place, playing college softball at just the right time, to be able to qualify for the Olympics?” said Janie Reed, a fourth-year outfielder for the U.S. “Say we don’t get back in in 2024, and this is just a random era of girls who actually get to play softball in the Olympics?” The squad that qualified for Tokyo, however, is not ensured of staying intact for the Games, still two years away. Not one player is guaranteed a spot on the team’s plane to Japan, as the athletes can only work to gain a position with each season’s tryouts. “I feel so grateful to be considered for this opportunity,” Reed said. “I often think, ‘Why me?’ I don’t know why, but I’m going to do my best with the opportunity I’ve been given … “When I’m working because I know God’s given me this gift and I can be a tool for His Kingdom, I can push myself to go even further than I ever imagined.”

Janie Reed’s favorite verse:

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made it her mission to go deeper with these women she would call her teammates. “My first summer on the team (in 2015), I was just happy to be there as a rookie, trying not to make too many waves,” she said. “The next summer I reached out to my friend Michelle Moultrie and asked her if she would want to do Bible studies with me over the course of the summer. It started out just the two of us and our rookie teammate Aubree (Munro) joined.” Munro had just been baptized as a Christ-follower. Having recently experienced a life-changing relationship with Christ, she had been praying for God to put people in her life who would help her grow in her relationship with Him. Little did she know her prayer was the answer to her teammates’ as well. The three women started meeting for pregame chapels and mid-week Bible studies, each time sending out a text to the rest of the team, inviting everyone to join. “One by one, girls started coming,” Reed said. “We don’t get to go to church during the summer because we’re always either traveling or playing. By the end of the summer, about eight girls were consistently

coming. During the summers of 2017 and 2018, the numbers were similar. Even girls who weren’t Christians, but were curious, were coming.” As God began to do a great work in the lives of these women, He also began to speak a very specific message to Moultrie in the summer of 2017. “I had been studying [about baptism] in the Word for a couple months before we got together, and it really seemed like this was an important thing for people’s walks with God,” she said. “God put it on my heart to ask anyone if they would want to be baptized. I started talking to Janie about this and she got really excited about it too.” The team was in the Dominican Republic, competing in a PanAmerican qualifier — a tournament the U.S. needed to win to make it to the 2018 World Championship, and ultimately qualify for the 2020 Olympics — when the topic came up. “We asked our teammates, not knowing if anyone would be interested or not,” said Moultrie, now in her eighth season with the national team. “A few days went by before anyone said anything. But then one of our closest friends, Ali Aguilar, said

she had given her life to Christ but never been baptized. “It was probably the coolest sports moment in my life, and it wasn’t even on the field. Our whole team came together as Ali and Haylie [McCleney] got baptized. Even though most of them don’t come to chapel, everybody really respected and loved each other and knew that this was a big moment for Ali and Haylie.” This took place the night after the U.S. qualified for the World Championship. Instead of a typical post-tournament party, the teammates celebrated in the kiddie pool back at the hotel. The entire team gathered around as Reed and Moultrie shared a message from the Bible, and then submerged their dear friends into the water, only to lift them up into a new boldness and confidence found in the statement they declared that night about their relationships with the Savior. “It was so cool that God gave us that opportunity to not only baptize these girls, but minister to the rest of our team,” Moultrie said. “That was the hand of God on our team, showing them how much He loves His people.”

Aubree Munro’s favorite verse:

WHO KNOWS WHETHER YOU HAVE NOT COME TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS? “I have always felt a deep need for purpose — to do great things and impact people’s lives. When things are good or when things are bad, this verse helps me remember that I’m made for a purpose, whether I succeed or fail. I’m always going to be able to learn something from this moment or take it and use it to help others.”

— ESTHER 4:14

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OLYMPIC BOUND USA | OLYMPIC BOUND AND HEAVEN SENT AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

Munro

Michelle Moultrie’s favorite verse:

EVERYONE WHO IS CALLED BY MY NAME, WHOM I CREATED FOR MY GLORY, WHOM I FORMED AND MADE. — ISAIAH 43:7

“When I was a freshman at the University of Florida, I kept asking myself the question, “What is my purpose?” I clung to this verse and the fact that we are created for His glory. From that point on I’m always trying to find ways to be a light to others in softball. This has nothing to do with my success as a player but it does have to do with what kind of a teammate and person I am. “We all get to choose a walk-up song. Since I want to be true to who I am and what I listen to before my games, I choose an upbeat Christian worship song. It’s not typical and might seem boring to others, but it’s true to who I am. I’ve had people come up to me and say that this meant a lot to them. This is only one of the many small ways we can choose to glorify God in our lives and sport.“

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pon making an impact in the lives of their own teammates, these elite athletes decided to step out and impact softball players from all levels, as well as their families, with the truth of the Gospel — something often overlooked in this sport. Moultrie, Reed and Munro each explained that while they had grown up in a Christian household, they all-too-easily lost themselves to the sport, searching for identity in their own performance on the field. Until they each had a life-altering encounter, when they realized that only Christ could fulfill them, they placed softball first. They admitted this is very common in a sport that travels and plays most weekends, leaving players and families unable to attend traditional church services. So with

the national-level stage they’ve been granted, these women are making waves to change this pattern. “The people God has elevated and given a platform on the [U.S.] team is a testament to all the people in the community who are praying for good role models within this sport,” Reed said. “Because of this platform, me and four of my teammates are able to lead the ministry Church on the Dirt, which comes straight from USA Softball.” Reed first started Church on the Dirt for those softball athletes and families who are unable to attend regular Sunday services due to the sport’s schedule. While coaching at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., just outside of Los Angeles, Reed and her boss, Lorie Coleman, the Biola head coach at the time, cofounded Church on the Dirt — a ministry that brings church to the field. Their motivation came from the fact that they themselves were often unable to attend church with their families. Today, Church on the Dirt provides many resources for families to be able to “attend” church together each week. “We have online resources and ways to connect through our app, but our real heart is going to the field and providing chapel services before the game,” Reed said. Recently, Church on the Dirt — represented by U.S. team members Munro, Aguilar, Moultrie, Nikki Udria and, of course, Reed — provided its services at the Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals in Huntington Beach, Calif. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

Udria

Munro

Coleman

Aguilar

Reed

Moultrie

Photos courtesy of Church on the Dirt

Munro Girls in uniforms, along with their families, gathered together for a time of music, testimonies shared by the U.S. team players, and prayer. “A lot of people don’t know why or how to mix God with softball,” Reed said. “Or they ask the question, ‘How can I play for God?’” Church on the Dirt has become a way for Reed and others to not only grow in their own faith, but proclaim it to anyone within reach of the field. These women, fueled by their faith and dedicated to their sport, are not only changing the game of softball, but transforming lives for eternity. Knowing their source of strength and impact comes from Christ alone, they are the first to say none of it is by www.sportsspectrum.com

Aguilar

Moultrie

their own doing. Moultrie’s testimony is echoed by many of these Christ-following athletes: “Without Christ in my life I wouldn’t be on the national team. There were so many things throughout my softball career that are unexplainable apart from God. I was never recruited to play in college, I walked on the team and even then I didn’t push myself hard enough to think about playing for the USA team. It was the hand of God pushing me along to put me exactly where He wanted me to be. “If I didn’t have Him in my life now, I think I would be so overwhelmed with the pressure and

Reed constant comparison that you face as a professional softball player. Mentally, that can be hard to deal with, but I am able to find freedom from this in Christ. So instead of worrying about people’s comparisons, my finances, or how others expect an elite athlete to live, the Lord gives me peace and freedom, because I know He’ll always make a way — His way.” As these U.S. women press on toward the 2020 Olympics, they are setting a legacy for their team, their nation and the sport of softball. “We all know that if we’re in the Olympics, that platform is huge, once in a lifetime,” Munro said. “If we can use that to bring glory to God, that’s the best we can hope for.” SPORTS SPECTRUM

AND THAT IS OUR GOD

s a skinny journalism student at the University of Southern California in 2006, Ben Malcolmson yearned for one last great story to be published in the Daily Trojan, the campus newspaper. He’d already covered the football team during some of the finest days the program had ever seen — national championship games, Heisman Trophy ceremonies, undefeated seasons. Nearing graduation, he sought a glorious send-off piece. Malcolmson’s greatest idea ever hit him as he leafed through a copy of that very newspaper one day. His gaze stopped on an ad for walk-on tryouts. “No one’s ever written an article about this,” he said to himself. “This is pretty cool that the No. 1 team 50

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in the country just does an open casting call. This is pretty unique, this is pretty special.” He didn’t simply want to write about it, he wanted to try out and write about it. He hadn’t played football since fifth grade, he weighed only 165 pounds, he had never run a 40-yard dash — all of which would make the story even better. So he approached head coach Pete Carroll. “Well, it won’t be very interesting,” Carroll said, “but sure, go for it.” Malcolmson promptly got his butt kicked on the field. “I go home that night, I’m writing my article, and it was literally going to be the best article I ever had,” he said recently on the Sports Spectrum

Podcast. “This was unbelievable. I got to go through tryouts for the best football team in the country, and at that time had become just a perennial contender, just an unbelievable program.” Two days later, he received a call saying he’d made the team. “My first thought was, ‘This has got to be a prank.’ Like, there’s no way I made the football team, because it never even crossed my mind that that was a possibility. My only intention of being out there on that tryout was to write an article,” he said. If it wasn’t one of his friends crafting a hoax, it had to be Carroll. The jolly coach was renowned for cracking jokes and pulling pranks. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

Photo courtesy of Ben Malcolmson

AND THAT IS OUR GOD

“Almost the moment I found out I was on the team, I had this deep sense that I was there for a purpose, that God had me on that team for a reason and a calling, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was.” — Ben Malcolmson Ben Malcolmson takes the field in 2006.

The note and Bible that Malcolmson left in each of his teammates’ lockers.

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“So I’m trudging my way over to the football building,” Malcolmson recalls, “with a little bit of excitement and a little bit of curiosity, but mostly just gearing up for him to pull the rug out from under me. Because he did tell me, ‘It’s not going to be very interesting.’ So I figured he’s probably setting me up for a nice little prank here.” “What do you think?” a smiling Carroll asked Malcolmson. “Well, the prank’s over, just tell me now,” Malcolmson said. With utter seriousness, Carroll responded, “No, you can run fast, you can catch the ball. We want you on the team.” Despite not having played football in 10 years, Malcolmson was handed the playbook for a team that had spent all but one week of the previous season at No. 1. The plays were “like 19 words long” and brought to mind “a Madden [video game] playbook.” He didn’t know how to put on pads or a helmet. He dreaded getting hit.

But once he did take a hit — and survive — he thought, “OK, I can do this.” However, Malcolmson was not young and zealous only when it came to writing. An active member of a Christian fraternity on campus, he was also on fire for Christ. College is when he began a lifechanging relationship with God, and being surrounded by frat brothers who were “sold out for Jesus” gave Malcolmson ample examples to follow. Surely this crazy, sudden adventure onto the USC football team was a divine calling. “Almost the moment I found out I was on the team, I had this deep sense that I was there for a purpose, that God had me on that team for a reason and a calling, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was,” Malcolmson said. “So I was pressed into that, almost from Day 1, just trying to figure out and just pray, ‘God, what am I here for? What is my reason for being on TOP BOTTOM the team?’” SPORTS SPECTRUM

AP Photo/Matt Sayles

AND THAT IS OUR GOD

tars like Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush left for the NFL after the ‘05 season, but the ‘06 USC squad was filled with future NFL talent: John David Booty started at quarterback, Chauncey Washington led the team in rushing, while Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett both caught more than 70 passes and 1,000 yards that season. Linebackers Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Rey Maualuga led the stout defense. USC looked like a strong national title contender for much of the year, but dropped its season finale to crosstown rival UCLA, and was sent to the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl against Michigan. The Trojans won 32-18 and finished the season ranked No. 4 in the country. Malcolmson’s biggest contribution was entertainment. Some friends started a “Get Ben In” campaign, and it actually worked. In the last home game of the 52

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season, as No. 3 USC hosted No. 6 Notre Dame, Ben got in — for a quarterback kneel as the Trojans led by 20. But off the field, all season long, Malcolmson sought his purpose for finding himself in that locker room. Why did God have him in that position? Early on in the season, he thought it was to start a Bible study for the team. So he dove into his Bible, searching for the perfect passage to preach on, wrote out an entire study, included some discussion questions, and printed 100 flyers to give all his teammates. He entertained visions of this study becoming a longstanding Trojan tradition. “No one showed up,” Malcolmson said. A few weeks later, he was struck with the idea of starting a prayer group. “So I told all my teammates

Photo courtesy of Taylor Odegard

Mario Danelo, right, kicking in 2006.

Mario Danelo, left, with Taylor Odegard. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

AND THAT IS OUR GOD

“I was a zealous 21-year-old college student hell bent on finding my purpose. I was fully expecting the hallelujah chorus to be sung in the locker room, gold light emanating from the doors … and I see just shredded Bibles all over the floor.” — Ben Malcolmson about this prayer group and we were going to pray together the day before every game, and this was going to be a pretty cool way to share the light with my teammates,” Malcolmson said. “And the time comes for our first prayer group, and again no one showed up. It’s just me sitting in the room.” Defeated, discouraged and doubting his purpose, Malcolmson came across Matthew 5. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” — Matthew 5:16 “It hit me that lights just shine where they’re at, that they don’t need to go create events or go do things, but really they just need to be a light, first and foremost,” Malcolmson said. “That really hit me, and it just put me in this new place of, ‘OK, I just need to be a light among my teammates. I need to just be a good friend, just love people well.’” After a couple weeks, Malcolmson still saw zero fruit. The season was nearing its end. He had already made his celebrated appearance in a game. The team was selected for the Rose Bowl. Christmas was right around the corner. Malcolmson was struck with another passage, this time in Isaiah 55. “So is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” — Isaiah 55:11 “And so I got the idea, ‘I’m going to get a Bible for every guy on the team, and I’m going to place it in their locker, and it’s not going to come back empty. God is faithful to His promise, and let’s see what happens here,’” Malcolmson recalled. His grandfather had recently started volunteering with Gideons International, an evangelical Christian association that widely gives out Bibles for free. So “Poppy” shipped 100 Bibles to Los Angeles, and late on Christmas Eve — after inserting into each one a note on red paper that read, “The greatest present you will ever receive, Jesus Christ” — Malcolmson snuck the Bibles into the football team’s locker room. He placed one on the seat of each locker. www.sportsspectrum.com

He told no one of his mission. Malcolmson spent Christmas Day hopeful and expectant, eagerly awaiting December 26, when the team would reconvene. “I couldn’t wait to see what God had here, because this was the fulfillment of my purpose. He had brought me through all the challenges, all the heartbreak and defeat and discouragement, but I had finally found my purpose, and this was it,” Malcolmson said. “And so, I couldn’t wait to get there to the locker room that morning. I was fully expecting just like the craziest things; I was a zealous 21-year-old college student hell bent on finding my purpose. I was fully expecting the hallelujah chorus to be sung in the locker room, gold light emanating from the doors; I was so excited. “And I walk in to the locker room that morning with these great hopes and great expectations, and I see just shredded Bibles all over the floor. The carpet was completely covered with shredded pages of the Bible. It was such a huge gut punch, because I had poured my heart and soul into finding my purpose, and I had missed it all along. “So I kind of just threw in the towel and said, ‘I guess I missed my purpose. I missed why God had me on this team.’ I tried to do all these things, but every single thing had failed miserably.” aylor Odegard, one of the USC punters that 2006 season, remembers that day after Christmas vividly. “Literally Bibles everywhere,” he recalled late one recent evening. “Paper airplanes made out of the pages, covers torn off, little red things crumpled up and thrown around, the garbage can full basically all the way up to the brim, like overflowing, guys tossing Bibles. … It broke my heart.” Odegard figured a team chaplain provided the Bibles. He opened his, read the note and “kind of giggled.” Raised in a Christian household in Mercer Island, Wash., just outside of

Seattle, Odegard knew the Bible well and even helped teach it to middle school students while he was a Young Life leader in high school. “But definitely in college I had a little bit of a drift,” he says. “It wasn’t being anti-Christianity, it’s just when you don’t put yourself in the right environment, don’t surround yourself with people of faith, it’s so easy to just kind of forget.” He struggled finding a church and fellowship while attending USC, and instead was drawn toward a partying life as a fraternity member and football player. And that’s how many of his teammates knew him. But though he wasn’t actively living out his faith at the time, he understood the significance of the words — especially the red-letter ones — that floated by him on those paper airplanes. So he held on to his Bible, tossing it in the back of his locker as he hurried out to practice. Thinking he was the last guy in the locker room, he opened the door to head outside. But before he made it all the way out, he heard someone call out. “Does anyone know how to read this thing?” “I recognized the voice right away,” Odegard says. “I was like, ‘Oh that’s Mario.’” Initially, Odegard thought Mario Danelo, the record-setting USC kicker, was kidding. “What do you mean?” Odegard asked. “You’ve never seen a Bible before, man?” “Yeah, but I don’t know, what are you supposed to do?” Danelo asked. Torn between being late to practice and having to do bear crawls on the treadmill as punishment, or going back to talk with Danelo, Odegard felt something inside him say, “You should sit down with him.” So he closed the door and instinctively said a little breath prayer to himself. “God, give me words.” For the next 45 minutes, messages and lessons and sermons Odegard heard growing up came to the front of his mind. He answered Danelo’s questions, such as, “How do you read it? Is it like a book? Do you just SPORTS SPECTRUM

AND THAT IS OUR GOD

read it from front to back?” Odegard explained the Old Testament and the New Testament. Genesis talks about the beginning, Revelation talks about the end. “Well, where do I start?” Danelo asked. “I’d say start with the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” Odegard said. “Because ultimately, you read those books and they’re going to tell you how to be a better man. Those are Jesus’ boys, before and after He was dead. And there’s a lot of stories in there about faith and love and family and respect.” Odegard kind of surprised himself with the Bible knowledge he poured out. “It was all in me, it’s just unless you get it evoked out of you, sometimes you’re not offering it up. So this was a situation where it kind of flooded out of me.” “How do you know all this stuff?” Danelo asked. “It’s years and years of going to church and reading with my dad and thirsting to read,” Odegard said. Looking back, he doubts he would have sat down with Danelo had anyone else been in the locker room. He probably would have been too embarrassed to talk about God. But in that quiet moment as they sat alone, Odegard began to rediscover his own passion for Jesus. And before he left for practice — late by nearly an hour, but no coach had noticed — he prayed with his friend. “Lord, open up Mario’s heart to understand Your Word, and to understand the glory that is a relationship with You.” Hours later, as Odegard passed Danelo’s locker on his way to the showers, he caught a glimpse of the kicker sitting in his towel reading his Bible. The next day, same thing. As that week passed with the team prepping for the Rose Bowl, Odegard often saw Danelo turning pages of that Bible. And Danelo would come to Odegard with more questions. “It was an interesting thirst that he had,” Odegard recalled. “It wasn’t something that he was conveying to

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anybody else. … He just kind of kept it to himself. Which I did too.”

he 2006 USC football season culminated with the Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. Though it wasn’t the national championship they set out to win, the Trojans celebrated yet another successful season. The next day, Malcolmson and Odegard were among the many players to fly home. Four days later, on Jan. 6, 2007, they received separate but similar phone calls from teammates. “Mario died. He was found dead at the bottom of a cliff near his home in San Pedro.” Malcolmson had already returned to California and was on a fraternity retreat. He sobbed like never before. Doubts about whether he’d missed his purpose again resurfaced.

Odegard was at his family’s home in Mercer Island. He started hyperventilating. He made arrangements to fly back to L.A. the next day, but that night, he sat in his car processing the news with his father, Gary. Taylor told him how he had a chance to witness to Danelo and tell him about God and Jesus, but did he do enough? “Did I say the right things? Was I supposed to do more? All those things start to creep into your brain because someone’s eternal life is on the line right here,” Odegard says. “And it may not have been mine to save, but if I had the opportunity, could I have done more? All of this self-doubt started creeping

into my mind and it just broke me. It was in my soul; it broke my soul.” “Well Tay,” Gary said, “you know how you were a holder for Mario in all those spring games and getting ready for the season? Think about this: Many years from now when you pass and go to Heaven, you’re going to have Mario walk up to you and go, ‘Man, that was the greatest hold you ever gave me, Odegard.’ “You made a hold for him, it’s up to him whether he kicks it through. But you gave him the opportunity and that’s all you can ask for.” “Dad, I don’t know if I said the right words,” Taylor said. “It’s not you speaking, Tay. That’s not your job. Be the vessel,” Gary said. Four days later, the 100 or so members of the USC football team joined thousands of others at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Pedro, Calif. As the pallbearers carried the casket down the aisle, Danelo’s No. 19 jersey rode on top along with an elegant display of red and gold roses. There was also a book — a black book with a red piece of paper sticking out. His Bible. Odegard spotted it and immediately broke into tears. For Malcolmson, it was the first sign he’d seen of anyone actually keeping his anonymous gift. “I was just so struck by that because to me, it felt like God’s personal, intimate touch, just for me to comfort me in that time,” Malcolmson said. “It was like God had seen me and had given me this little nudge of comfort and it was so profound for me.” Said Odegard, “Knowing I was kind of the last opportunity for Mario to speak to someone about his faith before he passed away is kind of a big burden that I wore as a yoke for a while in my life. And to this day I still wonder, but I have faith that God is good and merciful. And even in his last days there, if Mario was enlightened or open to the Word and faith and committing his life to Christ, then that’s all it takes. That was the hope.”

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AND THAT IS OUR GOD anelo’s death sparked immediate life change in Odegard. He dropped out of his fraternity, opted not to play football his senior year, doubled up on school credits in order to graduate as soon as possible, and moved apartments to become “kind of a recluse.” He also started to attend church regularly, or watch online if he couldn’t make it, and he began reaching out to his dad for insight on which books of the Bible he should read. “I grew up. I became a man in 24 hours basically. I kind of put the childish things away,” Odegard says. A class project he began that year actually became the start of the real estate software company he owns today. NavigatorCRE is based in Seattle and “growing like a weed.” Now married, Odegard also rejoined Young Life and is active today with the Christian organization that focuses on adolescents. “The life changes that I saw through that time period, I think are instrumental to the man I’ve become now,” he says. Malcolmson, meanwhile, remained at USC and developed a unique relationship with Coach Carroll. Following his season on the team, Malcolmson became the football program’s director of online media, which at the time meant launching a website with exclusive behind-the-scenes content for one of the nation’s premier football programs — a brainchild of Carroll’s. Soon they ventured into the new world of Facebook and Twitter, and Malcolmson essentially became Carroll’s right-hand man. When Carroll took the Seattle Seahawks job in 2010, he asked his protégé to join him. Malcolmson had planned to stay in Southern California forever, but working with Carroll and in the NFL became an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Struggling to find friends outside of the organization in Seattle, Malcolmson eventually learned of a Christian organization called Young Life, which was looking for leaders in the area. He agreed to attend a meeting at the house of an area director. That house was located in Mercer Island and belonged to Marshall Jamieson. His wife, Emily, happened to be Taylor Odegard’s older sister. Shortly after Malcolmson arrived for the meeting, Odegard did too. “I saw Ben in the backyard and I’m like, ‘What is Ben Malcolmson doing here?’ I had no idea he knew any of these people,” Odegard said. Malcolmson was just as stunned. He recalled Odegard being a partier in college. What was he doing at a Christian function? The former teammates began to catch up on the past four years, and then Odegard said, “I don’t know why I have to tell you this story, but I have to.” He began, “Do you remember the last week we were on the team together, there were Bibles in all of our lockers?” “My heart dropped,” Malcolmson said, “because I hadn’t thought about these Bibles really since Mario’s funeral, and had just kind of forgotten about that specific moment in time. I just played dumb in the moment. I was like, ‘Yeah, I kind of remember those, I don’t know.’” Odegard proceeded to tell him everything: how he was raised in a Christian household, he drifted in college, he was heartbroken to see the

“God spoke softly into my soul, ‘Mario is with Me.’” — Ben Malcolmson

www.sportsspectrum.com

The special assistant to Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, Ben Malcolmson published his book, “Walk On: From pee wee dropout to the NFL sidelines,” in July 2018.

Odegard (left) and Malcolmson in 2018.

“I don’t know why I have to tell you this story, but do you remember the last week we were on the team together, there were Bibles in all of our lockers?” — Taylor Odegard shredded Bibles, and the entire locker room discussion with Danelo. “I literally saw him tearing up in the moment,” Odegard said, “and I was trying to figure out, ‘OK, are you cool? What’s up?’” “Taylor’s telling me this story, I’m on the verge of tears,” Malcolmson said. “He’s like, ‘Isn’t that the craziest story?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s even crazier because I was the one who put the Bibles in the lockers, and I thought I had totally failed.’” “It took my breath away, candidly,” Odegard said. “I didn’t know how to respond. I was like, ‘What do you mean it was you?’” So Malcolmson proceeded to tell him everything: how he felt there was a deeper purpose to him being on the team, the failed Bible study, the failed prayer group, the Bibles from his grandfather, the devastation of seeing them shredded across the room, and the peace he felt from seeing that one Bible atop Danelo’s casket. “This picture starts to get painted and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Odegard says. “And I go, ‘Hey man, I don’t know what the bigger picture is here, but all I know is that you putting those Bibles in the lockers, I know it was devastating, but man, if we saved one, we could save 100.” As Odegard’s story sank in, an “immeasurable peace enveloped me,” Malcolmson wrote in his book, “Walk On,” published earlier this year, “as God spoke softly into my soul, ‘Mario is with Me.’” “Only our God can do something like that,” Malcolmson says today. “Only our God can line up all those events, all those incredible, impossible events, so that he could save one person before he passes away, and then turn someone else’s life around … “Nothing’s wasted with God. God is always at work. He has an incredible calling for each one of us, and it’s real. And that is our God.” SPORTS SPECTRUM

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DAILY DEVOTIONALS Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” Like the Psalmist says, it’s important for us as Christians to know God’s Word so that we stave off sin in our lives. But the Bible also has many other vital benefits. As Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

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These devotionals come directly from The Increase, a community of athletes all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” For more first-person testimonies and stories from the lives of Christian athletes, visit TheIncrease.com. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

WEEK: 1 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Fight The Good Fight

Everything in the NFL is about gaining and accomplishing as much as you can. The average NFL athlete is only in the league for about three years. Therefore, they have a very small window of time to do anything and everything they can, to earn as much money and fame as possible, and to boast about their career in order to stand out above the crowd. In the mind of the NFL athlete, you have to make sure you look out for yourself, or no one else will. In a way, this is contradictory to what you and your team have to do in order to win: play as a team. But this profession is also about you alone. When you think about this lifestyle, it’s the exact opposite of what the Bible says we are to do. In John 3:30 it says, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (KJV). We can’t sit in the driver’s seat and allow Christ to increase in our lives. It’s either you in control or God. There are times when we think we have it all together and we can handle life on our own, but once we face trouble, we run back to God as our crutch, don’t we? It’s so hard to consistently buy into the notion of dying to yourself every day. We need to daily trust in God’s plan and the layout He has created for our lives. I want to die to myself, but I can’t do it out of my own strength or power of will. I’m leaning on God every step of the way. J.J. Watt once talked about the fact that in order to be great, you have to put in the daily work — the daily grind that is a constant battle against the flesh. It takes sacrifice. The same is true in your relationship with the Lord! It’s not something you choose to do some days; if you want to be great in your faith, you must remain intentional and consistent in your time spent with the Lord and your obedience to Him. You have to die daily and fight the constant fight against the flesh. This is what John 3:30 is all about. This is the way I want to live my life daily. Everything we do should be done out of love and our faith in Christ. Continue to fight this fight no matter what season of life you’re in. No matter the profession, battle or struggle you find yourself in today, know that God is on your side, ready to go to battle for you. It can be hard to keep an eternal perspective when everything around us points to the here and now. But in comparison to our life for eternity with Christ, our life here on earth is but a breath.

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AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

JUSTIN SIMMONS 31

• DENVER BRONCOS SAFETY

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TUESDAY Blessed

[Open with Matthew 5:3-11]

Are you sure you want to be blessed? The word “blessed” has a lot of connotations in our culture. Most of the time when someone says they are blessed, it’s tied to some sort of tangible favor they’ve received. Being blessed is getting that job you were a finalist for, achieving financial gain or experiencing physical healing. New parents say they are blessed when a baby is born, and athletes consider themselves blessed when they win a championship or award. But could it be that what God says is blessed is completely different than our earthly understanding of what it means to be blessed? What if being blessed in God’s economy means life does not go as well as you want? In His very first public sermon, Jesus’ intro centers on flipping the idea of what it means to be blessed. Like today, the people of first-century Jerusalem linked blessing with earthly favor. So before He started His ministry, Jesus knew He had to set the record straight on who exactly was blessed. We have come to know this section of the Sermon on the Mount as the “beatitudes” (Matthew 5:3-11). Take a look at these verses and notice that who Jesus considers blessed are not the same people we would typically identify as blessed. The simplest definition of blessed I can think of is someone who has God’s face turned toward them. The ancient Biblical benediction prayer, recited at the end of many religious services, reminds us that God’s blessing is tied to His presence with His people.

WEDNESDAY Making All Things New

[Open with Revelation 21:5]

We are familiar with the verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” Many Christians can also recite the comforting words recorded in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches … if you remain in Me and I remain in you, you will bear much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing.” These are some of the more popular phrases we quote when it comes to Jesus. Meanwhile, the statement He makes in Revelation 21:5 often gets overlooked, www.sportsspectrum.com

even though it has the power to radically transform how you see His presence in the world today. Unfortunately, we browse over it or ignore it completely because it is buried in an often-ignored book of the New Testament. In John’s revelation, we hear the words of Jesus: “Behold, I am making all things new.” On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a very profound statement. But if you look deeper into the context and the reality, you’ll see that Jesus is giving Christians hope because He is currently working in our lives and in our world. Even if we don’t see it, Jesus is making all things new. It’s not that He has made things new in the past, or that He will make things new in the future. He is in the business of making all things new right now, in our current circumstances.

THURSDAY Like A Lion

[Open with 1 Peter 5:8]

Until recently, I’ve always taken 1 Peter 5:8 to say that Satan is a powerful lion, who I need to run and hide from, who makes me stand frozen in petrified fear. Peter saw the work of Satan firsthand. Jesus even called Peter “Satan” when he rebuked Jesus for saying He would have to suffer (Matthew 16:23). But Peter also saw something greater than the works of Satan — the works and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter knew Jesus is greater than Satan; he realized Satan can do nothing more than try to mimic the work of God. And when he tries, he falls short. While Jesus was at His weakest, after He spent 40 days fasting and praying in the desert, Satan tried to tempt Him. Take a moment to read Luke 4:3-11.

FRIDAY

Put New Clothes On Your Brain [Open with Romans 1:28]

Our thoughts are powerful. So powerful that the Bible gives us many warnings on training our minds to focus on Godly things. Who you are is directly dependent upon what you think. When you and I engage in sin, we allow our enemy, Satan, to influence our actions. When we repeat these actions over and over, they become burned into our psyche. Inevitably, our actions become habits, our habits influence our thoughts, and our thoughts impact what we believe. The Apostle Paul understood what spiritual battle and internal struggle with sin looked like, and he taught the Corinthian people a very valuable lesson in one of his letters: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:5 We are instructed to “take captive” our thoughts, bringing them before the King for judgement. In Christ, we are able to identify our faulty thinking, capture it and bring it before God in prayer. When we do this, we strip evil thoughts from harming us and influencing us. If our evil thoughts have the ability to produce poor actions on our part, think what Godly thoughts will produce in us. Imagine the character we will display or integrity we will live by if we are able to “set our minds on things above” (Colossians 3:2).

WEEKEND

Continue reading about transforming

Satan tried to “play” God. But Jesus to be like Christ: knew exactly what Satan was trying to do Colossians 3 & Ephesians 4:22-24; and resisted each temptation by relying 1 Corinthians 15 & Philippians 4:8 on Scripture. Satan may have influence in this world, but he does not have dominion over it. Scripture tells us Satan is “like” a lion, while Jesus is the true Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is the true Lion and the King over all of creation. Satan may be roaring loudly, but all he can do is tell lies (John 8:44). You do not have to cower in fear of his lies, because in Jesus, “you know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

Reza Zadeh Denver Broncos chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 2 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY United For One Message

If we as the Church really care about the message of Christ, we will find a way to work together. No matter what side of the aisle you sit on politically, if you believe in Christ, if you believe in humanity and that the world should be a better place, if you believe that our Savior died on the cross to show grace to all of us, then you will show grace and love to others. We’re in a time where issues that have been swept under the rug for a long time are now being brought to the limelight. Social media really exposes a lot of things to the human eye, often blowing them out of proportion or changing the narrative. But at the end of the day, if you love God, find a way to work together with whoever is in your particular community. Act together on an issue you feel led to, but stop the finger pointing. If you believe something needs to be changed, pray about it and then find a way to do something about it. In the world of football, you see people coming together from a variety of backgrounds, diverse races and religions, and different socioeconomic statuses every Sunday. Differences are brushed aside when we come together during the season for a unified purpose: to win. If we can do it on the football field, I know we can do it as a society. People in the locker room have political views — views on taxation, international and foreign affairs, terrorism, racial injustice, racism. Sometimes it feels like people don’t view us as human. But we are human! We bleed. We put our socks and shoes on just like everyone in the world around us. In the locker room, though we have all types of perspectives, we come together in respect to accomplish something together. We get so busy in life that we lose focus on the main thing. Lately, God has been pressing on my heart the importance of being intimate with Him. I claim God, family and football as my priorities, but am I spending hours upon hours of time with my Heavenly Father, which I need to be doing? The Bible talks about the fact that we have to die daily to ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. This is the inner battle that has to happen. I’m always soliciting prayers that God would kill the flesh — the old me that can kill me and my marriage if I allow it to. I ask the questions, “How can I dive more into Christ?” and “How can I dive into my marriage deeper?” How can I work on those things, the things that are most important?

SPORTS SPECTRUM

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

KELVIN BEACHUM 68

Football is great, but if I play football and lose my family or lose the covenant I have with Christ, nothing else matters. For me, it’s about protecting the gift God has given me — not the gift of football, but the gift of life.

• NEW YORK JETS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN

TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

TUESDAY Do You Want To Be Great?

[Open with Mark 10:42-45]

From my youth, I remember hearing my

parents say, “Be the best that you can be,” or “Do your best.” I think what they really wanted to say was, “Be the best!” There is something instilled inside of us that desires to be the best or great at something, whether it be sports, education, music or something else. As the disciples walked with Jesus, they were continually hearing Jesus speak of His Kingdom. They were making their way to Jerusalem when Jesus pulled the 12 aside and shared with them that when they arrived, the Son of Man would be arrested, mocked, spit on, scourged, killed and later rise after three days.

In Luke 17:7-10, Jesus calls His disciples to a life of faithful servanthood. As we remain humble, there will be no need to seek for man’s validation. When we walk in a close relationship with Master Jesus, there is no need to seek man’s approval when we are accomplishing His will on earth. We should not need special recognition for consistent devotional times in His Word, prayerful intercession on behalf of others, or sharing the message Christ entrusted to us to accomplish the Great Commission. Our desire should be to please the Lord in all aspects of our lives and trust Him to bring the necessary encouragement when it is most needed. We’ve been called as His servants in this world and need to be faithful in just doing what we ought to do.

If you heard Jesus say those things, how would you react? The disciples’ reaction was to begin jockeying for position in His How Will You Be Remembered? Kingdom. James and John wanted to sit [Open with 1 Corinthians 4:1-2] on either side of Jesus’ throne. The other disciples were angry at James and John, When I was young, I didn’t often probably because they had thought of think about how others would one day asking, but didn’t have the courage. remember me. I was busy living life — playing pro baseball, getting married, Jesus sets the disciples straight by starting a family, going on mission trips letting them know that things operate much differently in His Kingdom than in the overseas, experiencing different cultures while sharing the Gospel. I was young and world. He says, “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your had many years yet ahead of me. servant, and whoever wants to be first must As I have aged and matured spiritually, be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). I now realize that how I live my life is how Jesus “did not come to be served, but to others will remember me. When Paul wrote serve” (Matthew 20:28). Do you want to be to the Church at Corinth, he — like me — had more of his life behind him than what great in His Kingdom? Follow Jesus’ lead lay ahead of him. He wanted the Corinthians and learn how to serve those around you. to know what truly mattered to him and how he desired others would view him.

THURSDAY

WEDNESDAY

“Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it [Open with Luke 17:7-10] is required of stewards that one be found How many of us like to be acknowledged trustworthy.” — 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 for a job well done? If we’re honest with ourselves, it feels good to be praised when Being a servant has never been considered a position one would strive to we have completed a task well. obtain, yet Paul wanted all to know that he was a servant of Christ. As Christ’s servant, How many of us seek the approval of he determined to be a faithful steward man for the work we’ve been asked to or overseer of the Master’s purpose and accomplish? When not sought for, praise possessions. Paul wrote at least 13 books can be received as an encouragement of the New Testament to proclaim to you and a blessing, even though we may be uncomfortable with it. When an individual and me the mysteries of God. seeks the praise of man, what many call How will we be remembered? As a “fishing for a compliment,” he makes the servant of Christ? As a faithful steward of accomplished task more about himself the mysteries of God? Like Paul, the choice and usually makes others around him feel is ours to make. uncomfortable.

Just Doing What We Ought

www.sportsspectrum.com

FRIDAY

Bondservant Of Christ

[Open with Deuteronomy 15:12-18 & 2 Timothy 2:24-26]

What is a bondservant? It’s not a term we use in everyday language, but it is an important concept for the follower of Jesus to adopt as a part of their identity in Christ. Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude all called themselves bondservants of Christ. Paul designated Epaphras, Tychicus and even Jesus as being bondservants. Where did each of these individuals get the concept? In Deuteronomy, Moses instructs the people on how they are to treat Hebrew slaves. Most often an individual became a slave because of a debt he incurred. After the slave served an individual for six years, he was to be set free in the seventh year. However, if the slave sensed the love of the master and had been treated well while in his care, he could choose to remain a slave forever. He would be given a permanent marking with an awl through his ear so that everyone would know he chose to remain as a slave under his master’s care. What is required to become a bondservant of Christ? - See the goodness of the Master - Choice of your own free will - Willingness to relinquish rights to ownership - Humility - No-turning-back mentality - Trust in the Master to provide all you need - Obedience to what you are asked to do - Take care of what belongs to the Master Would you be willing to be called a bondservant of Christ?

WEEKEND

Continue reading about being who God created you to be:

John 1 & 1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 15:1-13 & Ephesians 1:1-14

Mickey Weston Chicago White Sox chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 3 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY At His Right Hand

When Jesus was making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His disciples began to praise and cry out in worship, only to be rebuked by the unbelieving Pharisees. And Jesus’ response to those Pharisees was that if His disciples were silent, then the very rocks would cry out in praise. Either way, Jesus WILL be praised. In other words, it’s a joy and privilege to be able to worship Jesus, to be able to represent Him as a professional athlete where the Lord has me right now. But He could just as easily use the rocks to cry out, if He so desired. I often feel the “I’m the only one” belief rise up in my thoughts, thinking there are very few others that are trying to faithfully and obediently follow the Lord in the sphere of professional athletics. This can be a discouraging thought. I can feel isolated like this at times. Although this “platform” is valuable and is a big responsibility, God doesn’t need me. If I lived under a rock for the rest of my life, the Lord would continue His work, and He could even use that rock I’m hiding under to sing of His name. I don’t have to feel the weight of the platform as if the Lord can’t do it without me. Rather, I get to rest in the joy of the platform, that I can represent the Creator of Heaven and earth to as much of His creation as possible. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” — Ephesians 2:10 I want to represent Christ well. In order to not swing too far on the pendulum of “God doesn’t need me” and “He could use rocks,” I must also preach to myself the need to represent Christ well. I can too quickly fall prey to the idea that I don’t need to be using my platform, that the Lord will do His work either way. But the truth is, God has placed me specifically on this team, in this sport, in this city, and has prepared me for these good works. Therefore, I need to walk in them. There is a call on the life of the Christian to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, obedient to His law, for it brings joy and human flourishing, and desiring that the whole world would know the grace and mercy that is found only in Him. If all nations and peoples and tongues are going to hear the Gospel, then we need to keep moving, keep working, and keep being obedient.

SPORTS SPECTRUM

RYAN HOLLINGSHEAD 12

AP Photo/Brad Loper

For me, I need to continue to represent Christ well, continue to share the Gospel with teammates and colleagues, and use my platform to make much of the name of Jesus Christ. Not because I have to, but because the Lord allows me to join in His work, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.

• FC DALLAS MIDFIELDER/DEFENDER

TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

TUESDAY Authority

[Open with Colossians 1:15-16]

What would your list look like if I asked

us remains (just read the story of Jonah). We can, however, be out of His will (again, see Jonah). When we seek fulfillment from our efforts, the world, or even the things of God rather than God Himself, we move away from how He wants us to function.

you to name the most important things in your life? When I ask groups that question, it usually looks like this: Jesus, family, friends, school/work, hobbies/sports. For My hope is that whatever God’s plan is people who claim to be Christians, Jesus is for you, you also remain in His will. almost always in the top spot. But if I asked how you spend most of your time, how far down your list would Jesus be? Think this through with me. I’m not sure He wants to be on our list. We need time with Him for sure, but He is more than our priority, Jesus is our authority.

THURSDAY I Am The Vine

[Open with John 15:5]

Nebuchadnezzar promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.” — Daniel 3:28-30 Have you ever had to serve or work for anyone that didn’t have your best interest in mind? When the three guys from the Daniel passage above refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar, they faced a blazing consequence. In Matthew 20:26, Jesus tells His disciples that if any of them would lead, they must first become servants. Now, our three protagonists were already serving the king, but where they drew the line was where they placed their affection. When asked to worship a man instead of the Lord, all three were ready to die rather than cheat on their God.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “... apart from Me you can do nothing.” Really? There’s nothing? Not one thing? That’s right — you can do nothing that has Kingdom focus or Here is where it gets interesting: They Colossians 1:16 tells us that “all things impact apart from Christ. were created through Him and for Him.” are indeed thrown into the fire, and God When we prioritize Jesus into our schedule, brings them out unharmed. God could Let me illustrate with a burger. We can we become the master of our list; our list have brought them to Himself by miracle becomes about us. If we shift our thinking down that burger, the fries and a shake, or death, but He had them remain. Guess from Jesus as a priority to the One who has having been motivated by the hunger we where the three ended up? Still serving the felt in our stomach, or we can worship Jesus guy that just threw them in the fire! authority, He becomes the motivation for as we bite into and taste the very things He everything we do. created for us to enjoy. Brother Lawrence, Motivated by Master Jesus, let us a lowly cook at his priory yet historically Where there is a master, there is a “obey [our] earthly masters with fear and known for his closeness to God, said, “I servant. Guess which one we are? Jesus trembling, with a sincere heart, as [we] have had such delicious thoughts of the does not begin Matthew 28:18 with, “Go would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, therefore…” He begins with, “All authority Lord that I’m ashamed to mention them.” as people-pleasers, but as bondservants has been given to Me…” So, as we go of Christ, doing the will of God from the Yes, I am saying your burger and about our daily lives, we go submitting to heart” (Ephesians 6:5-6, ESV). Jesus as our authority, not just our priority. fries should be a worshipful, intimate experience. Enjoy it! And if He wants to be the reason for your milkshake enjoyment, how much more involved do you think He wants to be in the things that really matter Continue reading about submitting to you? His Will to God: [Open with 1 Timothy 2:3-4] Psalm 40 & Matthew 26:42; Kingdom focus has God’s glory at its Psalm 143 & John 5:30 What is God’s will for me? Look back to center, but it also has those around us in that list of priorities we made. When we mind as well. When we abide in Him, we will pray, “Lord, what is Your will for my life?” function in a way that produces fruit. That is, his answer is NOT, “My will for you is a job, we will bring life to those around us. a ‘W’ in the win column, a spouse, a house, a couple cars in the garage, or a couple Jesus said further in John 15:8-9, “By buns in the oven.” God reveals His will to this My Father is glorified, that you bear us in His Word. much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so have I As we see in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, along loved you. Abide in My love” (ESV). with being saved, He also would will (or desire) that we are set apart for Him (1 Thessalonians 4:3), serve one another (Ephesians 6:6) and even suffer for His name’s sake (Philippians 1:29). Scripture Motivated By The Master displays how we flourish in God’s will. [Open with Matthew 20:26]

WEEKEND

WEDNESDAY

FRIDAY

Have confidence in this: While He has a good and pleasing will for us, He also has a perfect plan for us. You can never be out of His plan; His plan will prevail no matter what you decide to do. Despite our obedience or disobedience, God’s plan for www.sportsspectrum.com

“‘Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth His angel and has rescued His servants who trusted in Him, ignoring the edict of the king … there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.’ Then

STEVE SISCO Baseball Chapel staff

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 4 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY He’s Got You

God has been working on my heart lately, bringing me to a place of surrender — learning to give up all control to Him — whether that’s on the field or off. But most of the time it’s on the field. Lately I’ve been working through adjustments in my delivery, but instead of dwelling on these changes and the discouragements I run into, I’m giving them over to God. Instead of trying to drive these changes home by my own ability, I’m leaning into the strength and wisdom He offers. I know God can do it. He provides for me endlessly, and through both the good and bad circumstances, He shows me an insurmountable peace, as well as a confidence in Him that cannot be stopped — one I’ve never experienced before. Why would I limit my expectations of what He can do? “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” — Matthew 7:7-8 In order to pray really big prayers, you need to believe they’re going to happen. We all always want to get better. It’s just something you need to do to stay on top in this game. There are always new up-and-comers who are looking to take your spot. The greatest lesson to learn in all of this is to trust that God has your back. You don’t have to let worry consume you. That’s been one of the hardest struggles for me, something that would have completely consumed me in the past. But recently, God’s been calling me to a new level of peace. Now, when I have an awesome day on the field, having already given it over to God, I praise the Lord! I know it’s through His power that we found victory. He answers prayers, provides abundantly and exceeds our expectations when we go to Him in faith. We simply have to do our best and trust in Him. He knows what’s going to happen next. My job is to trust in Him and relentlessly push forward, knowing He’s already created and ordained the path set before me. Baseball is a competitive game, with players on the same team fighting for positions at all times. But God calls us to put others first. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my teammates have both personal success and bring success to our team.

SPORTS SPECTRUM

AP Photo/Steve Nesius

MATTHEW BOYD 48

• DETROIT TIGERS PITCHER

If you are wrapped up in selfish ambition, not only will your own soul start to rot within you, your team isn’t going to get where it needs to be either. Don’t give the enemy a foothold. Put your eyes on Christ and let your selfishness go to the wayside. Only when we do that will He provide abundantly more for us than we could ever imagine. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

TUESDAY Submitting To Jesus

[Open with Matthew 7:21-23]

None of us like giving up control. The

words “surrendering” or “submitting” usually carry negative connotations. In his devotional, Matthew addresses the importance of submitting to God. As he relates, in no way should the competitive edge be lessened in a Christian athlete seeking to allow God to rule in their life. In reality, the freedom found in submitting to God should bring greater focus and purpose to a competitor. Matthew demonstrates this on a daily basis. A genuine relationship with Jesus is built on submitting. This principle is demonstrated in the conversion of the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:1-16). Salvation found in Jesus Christ is based on surrendering to Him (Matthew 7:21-23).

influence on our lives. John 14:16-17 states, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

[Open with Ephesians 5:21]

The “presenting” indicates the starting point of one’s relationship with God in submission to Him. The “transforming by the renewal of mind” is an ongoing affirmation through reading the Word and prayer of a person living a submitted life to Jesus in all areas.

Imagine two people meet on a narrow mountain path coming from opposite directions. To one side of the trail is a sheer stone wall, and on the other side is a deadly drop off. The two travelers are at an impasse. Neither can move onto their desired destination. How do they resolve it? Each traveler can turn around and return home, one person can throw the other over the cliff, or one person can lay down (submit), allow the other person to step over, and then get up with both individuals moving on in their journeys.

[Open with Ephesians 5:18]

As Christians, we are called to live in daily submission to the Spirit of God. In Ephesians 5:18, we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit.” The word “filled” carries the idea of being “controlled” by the Spirit. This is illustrated earlier in the same verse, where it is compared to someone being under the influence of an addictive substance. The wording also indicates that being controlled by the Spirit is a conscious decision to be made daily, even repeatedly throughout each day. So what does that look like? On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit and His www.sportsspectrum.com

[Open with Romans 13:1-7]

THURSDAY

A measure of the reality of my relationship with Jesus is how I submit to others I am in relationship with. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” While the concept of “submitting” is often misunderstood and viewed negatively, the Bible presents it positively — as a mark of spiritual maturity. Biblical submission is never to be misapplied to anything abusive, unhealthy or as wrongly taking advantage of others.

Submitting To The Holy Spirit

Submitting To Governing Authorities

Regardless of your political preferences, God holds us each responsible to submit to governing authorities. The first verse of The word “Helper” (“Paraclete” in Greek) Romans 13 states, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for means “one who walks alongside.” In the there is no authority except that which God sporting world, that could mean a coach. has established.” We are to yield to the Holy Spirit as the ultimate coach in our lives. He gets to call This submission to governing authorities the plays, determine how best to use us, encourage us, make adjustments in us, etc. plays out in our daily lives through lawful obedience (Romans 13:2-3), paying taxes Start today and allow the Spirit to coach (Matthew 22:21) and prayer (1 Timothy 2:14). Peter emphasized this submission even you as you follow Jesus in this life. during a time when the Roman governing authorities were hostile to Christians (1 Peter 2:13-17). Of course, voting, lawful demonstrations and free speech are all appropriate agents for change. Submitting To One Another

Romans 12:1-2 urges all believers to live out this yield of control daily. The Apostle Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

WEDNESDAY

FRIDAY

Submission, as depicted in the Bible, is when someone joyfully fulfills the responsibilities and privileges of his/ her role in a relationship. Some of these relationships addressed in the Bible are: husbands and wives (Ephesians 5:22-33), parents and children (Ephesians 6:1-4), church leaders and members (Hebrews 13:7, 17), and employer and employee (Ephesians 6:5-9). The greatest example of submission is Jesus in relationship to God the Father (Philippians 2:1-11), and applied to our relationships with one another.

But human legislation does not supersede God’s law. So in some cases, not submitting to man-made mandates is the correct course of action. These occurrences should be clearly defined Biblically and not subject to one’s personal preferences or desires. Three notable examples in God’s Word are: Amram and Jochebed’s refusal to cast their infant son, Moses, into the Nile River (Exodus 1:15-2:10), Daniel’s commitment to prayer even though it had been outlawed (Daniel 6), and Peter and John refusing to follow the order of the Sanhedrin to not proclaim the Gospel (Acts 4:13-22). Our citizenship is in Heaven. Part of that privilege is representing Jesus well as citizens of our country.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about submitting to Christ:

Acts 9 & Galatians 2:20; Philippians 2 & Philippians 3:20-21

Jeff Totten Detroit Tigers chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 5 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Reborn

We were in church every Sunday growing up. My siblings and I would sing in front of the church every once in a while, and we spent a lot of time memorizing verses together. But with family complications, independence and basketball taking the lead of my life, my faith increasingly became less important. It ended up just being something I referred to every now and then when life got hard and things weren’t going so well on the court. Last year, I had a moment when all of that changed for me. I attended an optional chapel service held before every game. I still had faith, and in a way going to chapel was my way of confirming that to myself. That day the chaplain started with the verse Luke 6:46, in which Jesus says, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Those words really shocked me! I didn’t even know that was in the Bible, and I couldn’t picture Jesus being so stern. “Grace” is what I’d cling to in times of disobedience, so learning about Jesus saying that really made me think. “Wow, He’s talking to me! I say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but in certain areas of my life I couldn’t care less about what Jesus had to say.” Suddenly, I found myself at a fork in the road. I couldn’t live with being an imposter; I was either going to be a Christian or not. I went through a time of just seeking the Lord, and in seeking Him (long story short) I found Him. I have seen God keep His promises. While I was asking God to show me if this was real, He kept bringing a pastor into my life. In developing a relationship with this pastor — going to church and really growing my hunger for God, and knowing this desire wasn’t a coincidence but exactly what God wanted from me — I dove in. I became all about His Word, all about His people. Soon, I felt like I came to an understanding of what I believed to be a key principle of faith in Jesus. So one morning, all fired up, I asked the pastor if I could preach at his church — and he said, “Why not?” He didn’t even ask what I wanted to speak about! It’s been encouraging to see myself step out and speak, because I’ve always battled with anxiety. If you would have asked anybody from my earlier years if I could get up and speak in front of anybody, the answer would be no. To me, the fact that I was able to do this confirms God’s power — simply because I know it was not by my own ability. As we continue to grow in our faith and understanding of God, keeping our eyes on Jesus and growing closer to Him and what He has to say, the better followers of His we become. 66

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JONATHAN ISAAC 1

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TUESDAY

The World Doesn’t Revolve Around You

[Open with Philippians 2:1-11]

My college track coach, a former U.S.

Olympic coach, told me that his greatest challenge with freshman athletes is to teach them that the world doesn’t revolve around them. All through junior high and high school, these athletes have been told by parents and friends that they are the best — they are the star. Some have gotten preferential treatment because of their athletic abilities. In high school, they started every game, never left the field, and had their name in the newspaper. Then they get to college and join a team with other athletes as talented or more talented than they are. Now they don’t start every game, they rarely see the field, and their name isn’t in the paper. For someone who thinks the world and the team revolves around them, this is a hard pill to swallow. Just look at all the college athletes that quit or transfer during or before their sophomore year. My college coach had to remind freshman athletes to put the team’s success ahead of their individual success. Paul summarizes playing second fiddle and exalting Christ in Philippians 2:1-11. As Christians, our world revolves around Jesus Christ, not us. And if we really love playing the fiddle, then we won’t mind playing second fiddle. But if we love being first, we’ll have a hard time playing second fiddle.

FRIDAY

from the church for two years. He had discovered a way to intercept, steal and Stay Connected deposit offerings that came in the mail. He stole almost $300,000. He told me that [Open with John 15:1-5] he’d sell his home and car, and work to pay Have you ever had to do something back every dime he stole. important on your cell phone or laptop, However, we discovered that he leased only to discover that the battery is almost run down? both his home and car, and had stolen from previous churches he had been employed at. He would not come clean, so we handed over our findings to the district attorney. He is currently under church discipline and felony probation.

My mom had surgery recently, and I stayed in the hospital with her overnight to make sure she was OK. I brought my laptop with me to get some work done while she slept and recovered. After a What made this terrible situation worse is I few hours, my battery indicator flashed a considered him a friend. The psalmist in Psalm warning that it was almost dead. I opened 55 says betrayal is terrible, but being betrayed my bag to find that I didn’t bring my laptop charger. Even though I desired to get by someone you considered a friend is far more work done, since my laptop wasn’t worse. You get stabbed in the front. connected to a charger, no more work could get done. When that happens, our only choice is to forgive (Ephesians 4:32) and trust God In John 15:1 we see that Jesus is the (Psalm 55:16-17, 22). vine and that Christians are the branches. Jesus Christ is the source of everything we need to become more like Him and to do what He has commanded us to do. An Opportunity To Invest It’s a very vivid illustration. I’ve never seen [Open with Acts 20:25-35] a branch on the side of the road that is I was just starting to build a relationship healthy, growing and producing fruit. I’ve never seen a laptop or cellphone that can with one of the Rockets players, and then a month later, he got traded. Yes, there are operate on its own. star players who may stay on one team for We’re told in John 15:4-5 that we must their entire careers, but most professional stay relationally connected to Him if we athletes are journeymen. are going to do anything eternal and significant for Him. If you desire to become It’s hard to build strong, trusted more like Christ and obey Him, then stay friendships when you are moving a lot. Another example is one of the Texans who relationally connected to Him throughout attends the church I pastor. He just signed the day. with another NFL team.

THURSDAY

Does your life revolve around Christ? Do you consider others before yourself? Or are But rather than seeing players moving life and sports always about you? from team to team and city to city as an obstacle to ministry, I’ve chosen to see it as an opportunity for ministry. In Acts 20:31-32 we read, “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for Stabbed In The Front [Open with Psalm 55:12-14] a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now When my family and I moved to I commend you to God and to the word Houston, this man and his wife were the of His grace, which is able to build you up first to welcome us. They seemed like and to give you the inheritance among all genuine friends. He was the worship leader those who are sanctified.” at the church I had just been called to pastor, and he became my confidant. The Apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years and invested in the leaders Fast forward one year, the church grew. of that church. He was sad that he had We added a second worship gathering. to go, but he knew that it was time for Things seemed to be going well, but there him to move on. God was sending him to was trouble below the surface. One day, another Jerusalem. our church treasurer let me know that a check was missing from the offering. So whether a person is in your life for a We soon discovered that our worship month or a lifetime, take time to see that as leader had been embezzling money an opportunity to invest God’s Word in them.

WEDNESDAY

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WEEKEND

Continue reading about staying connected to the Vine:

John 15 & Ephesians 4; Isaiah 54 & Ephesians 5

Ikki Soma Houston Rockets chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 6 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY In Moments Of Uncertainty

Someone who seeks God is a person who seeks truth. All truth is God’s truth. To seek means to genuinely wrestle with the questions of life and earnestly desire to find truth. The essence of faith in God — what He wants from us on a daily basis — is to seek Him with this purity of heart. The days that I personally am most filled with peace are the ones when I’ve sought after Him because I don’t know what’s going on or what’s going to happen next. In these uncertain moments, I’m forced to chase after truth. Breaking my hand near the end of last season was one of those times. I sought God by looking back at my life, to the moments of uncertainty when something happened, yet God carried me through. These times have been some of my most peaceful moments — moments when I find myself walking blindly. I don’t know what’s next and because of that, uncertainty has placed me in a place of seeking and understanding what real faith in God is all about. When I seek Him, I’m able to experience true peace. When God’s Word says, “Seek first His Kingdom and all these things will be added” (Matthew 6:33), I think the first thing that’s added is a sense of peace. Things may not get better in your circumstances — you may not get a promotion or the car you wanted, you may not meet the person you hoped to meet; things might just not go your way — but I do believe that when you earnestly seek the Kingdom, you’ll find a peace that can overcome any situation you’re involved in. When I’m focused on so many other things, trying to control every situation I’m in, and/or trying to manipulate circumstances (sometimes even in my prayers before God), it’s a clear sign that I’m not seeking Christ. When I start to give God a to-do list, I might as well stop praying to Him and just pray to myself. In that case, I’m the one calling the shots and ultimately I’m the one responsible for it not going well. I’m trying to be God. You’ll find that when you try to control things, it gets pretty turbulent because we don’t make very good gods. You won’t experience the peace of Christ until you let go and give the controls over to God. Only you can know, deep down in your soul, whether you have peace or not. You can tell people you’re OK until you’re blue in the face, but until you experience the rest that only God gives, you won’t know true peace. And even in these hard moments, the peace in your heart grows because you can look around and see that although circumstances may not be good, the God inside of you is.

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JOSH MCCOWN 15

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TUESDAY Seen And Unseen

[Open with 2 Corinthians 4:16-18]

from His heart. It might be the greatest quote about God’s eternal intentions: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

There is a matchup that will not make the Can the external be more important headlines of any newspaper, but it might be the greatest matchup of our entire life. It serves as the greatest shaper of how we look at life and how we see our daily circumstances, no matter what they are.

It’s the matchup between the seen and the unseen. If we are honest, what we see often dominates our lives and our perspectives (bad news, tough breaks and even amazing accomplishments). But for the Christian, there should be an additional viewpoint to life’s events. We each need to look through Scripture to enhance our sensitivity to the unseen, so we can have a higher dependence on God, who can often appear to be unseen. He became seen by making the world, and He is, if we look carefully, very much seen in all that happens — the sunrise, our heartbeats, the human eye and so on. We see things as beautiful or big, but in the end, the most important things are not measured in size or monetary value, only in how the immeasurable God is using the measurable thing in front of us. That’s where we have to evaluate our spirit and motives — what we focus on. The truth is that we can’t properly navigate the seen if we only think about what is in front of us.

than the internal to a God who is eternal? He must remind us over and over that our lives here on earth, which are consumed with external appearances, are all vapors (James 4:14). The heart behind the actions is what counts. If David was chosen as king because of it, there shouldn’t be any difference in the way Heaven operates! Let this be a challenge to us. External appearances are not our identity. Our identity, confidence and qualifications come from what we fear and trust the most, which should be God Himself.

THURSDAY The Identity Of Esther

[Open with Esther 4:14]

All of us struggle with identity. There’s no greater example highlighting the unseen identity we receive from God than Esther. Esther is elected to be queen based on what’s seen — she’s beautiful. But ultimately, she’s queen because of something that’s unseen — she’s Jewish and going to be the freedom-enhancer of all the Jews.

FRIDAY Hosea’s Wife

[Open with Hosea 1:2]

We all have unseen sins we struggle with, if we are honest. But God does not divide us based on our seen and unseen sins. His love for us drives out sin of any type. The story of Hosea is one that often makes readers uncomfortable because of the dramatic sin it involves and the power of the unseen grace it illustrates. Why would a prophet marry a prostitute? And why would this be part of God’s plan? The message is simple, even though it is unseen in its application. It is so easy for us to judge, based on other’s actions, as more or less righteous before God than others. But that determination is only seen. God asked Hosea to marry Gomer because He wanted to prove to Israel that He is a God of grace. This unseen forgiveness becomes seen when it is given and accepted. You mean Hosea had to buy his wife out of sex slavery? Yes, because God wanted us to know His purchase of us back from our own secret slavery to certain sins is the same, if not worse than the sins of Hosea’s wife. Sin is sin. We are all in unseen slavery to sin, and it is only seen when we act. However, God does not hold our unseen slavery against us, but rather He chases us down like the sheep that is running away. He breaks the shackles of our sin for us.

Esther stood up for what mattered most, not just for the temporary seen circumstances. In a crazy turn of events, God’s grace is bigger in the unseen! she becomes the one who is listened to What is God doing in the unseen that rather than the one who is looked at. Her we need to remind ourselves of, so that the wise words to King Ahasuerus were words seen is not driving our lives? that would ultimately save all the people of Israel, and those who would be the line to Continue reading about seeing the unseen: Jesus, the ultimate Savior.

WEEKEND

WEDNESDAY

That’s often very true for us as well. We may be chosen because of a gift we have or a talent we have worked on, but in the [Open with 1 Samuel 16.7] end, God has a higher purpose for us as There are few stories better than David’s we stand before the kings of this world. selection as king to show that God’s heart The seen purpose for the place we are is after our hearts and not just the external at in our lives is just the shallow end. The unseen purpose of our existence, and our things of this life. Israel had a king it elected based on looks/popularity, and he platform, is something we should always be seeking. We are here “for such a time let the people down because of his ego. So where does God go looking for His next as this” (Esther 4:14). king? Through the prophet Samuel, to the fields in Bethlehem, where He finds David No one is here by accident. Your purpose is many times unseen, but there — a king whose “outward” appearance will come a day when it will be fully and status is a disqualifier in the eyes of revealed. most around him.

2 Corinthians 4 & Isaiah 47:10; Hebrews 11 & Isaiah 29:15

David’s Selection To Be King

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Jack Easterby New England Patriots team development/character coach

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 7 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Is This It?

During my first few years in college, my life was all about softball. Softball and my boyfriend. Growing up, my dad always told me that my goal was to be an All-American. During my sophomore year — my breakout year— I reached that goal, as well as all the others I had set for myself. When I received the news, alone in my dorm room, I couldn’t have felt more empty inside. I had expected this moment to be so spectacular, but instead I was asking myself, “Is this all there is?” That summer, I had to have shoulder surgery, and at the same time, my boyfriend and I broke up. Both of the things in which I had found my security and identity were gone. Little did I know that God was clearing everything out of the way to ask me, “Who are you when you don’t have these things to give you value?” Though I had grown up going to church on Saturday nights, I hadn’t placed my identity in Christ — not yet. But the truths I had learned remained with me. A few days after receiving the news that I was named an All-American, I took up my Bible and opened it. The pages fell to 1 Peter and I started reading. When my eyes landed on 1 Peter 2:9, I instantly started weeping: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light.” God chose me. I am His simply because He chose me! He’s called us out of darkness and into His glorious light, not because of anything we’ve done. Up to that point I had spent my whole life trying to earn things, meet people’s expectations, and be who everyone wanted me to be. It was so freeing to know that God doesn’t ask me to be anything but His. I always struggled with my temper in the game. But once I gave my life to Christ, He began to change me. At first I asked myself the question, “Why am I playing softball when I could be helping people around the world? Why is softball important in the grand scheme of things?” Then I heard God’s response loud and clear: “There are broken people on your team, that’s why I have you here.” I know I’m called to be a light to those around me.

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JANIE REED 9

Upon realizing this, my attitude transformed. When I would fail, I could see it as an opportunity to be a light. I knew people were watching me, expecting me to be upset again, but I wanted to show them that my joy is not rooted in the game, but in Christ. From that point on, I started drawing a light bulb on my wrist to remind me that when things don’t go well, it’s not a total loss, but a chance to be a light in the darkness. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

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TUESDAY Chosen

[Open with Ephesians 1:4]

Researchers at the National Institute of

Health recently conducted a social media study, comparing people who report that they frequently check social media versus those who rarely check. They found that the frequency with which you check social media is highly correlated to depression. Could it be that our selfie posts are tied to an obsession with being liked?

FRIDAY

and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” Finally, Romans Special 8:16-17 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies [Open with Psalm 139:13] with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — Recently, while flying back to the heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Nation’s Capital, my coach ticket was upgraded to first class. I must say, I really If we are royalty with Christ and of felt special. The Apostle Paul closes our God, then why do we get so concerned look at 1 Peter 2:9 with our final label for with what others think about us? Why do Christ-followers: “special.” we allow ourselves to fall victim to the opinions and criticisms of others? Why are we fighting so hard to be accepted by people whom we can never fully please?

Authors Kishimi and Koga wrote a book titled, “The Courage to be Disliked.” What a great title! Do I have the courage to be disliked? Am I willing to fight against the social pressures to conform to today’s popular cultural norms?

My prayer for you today is that you let your royal position be the guide to how you measure your value and self-worth. And may you live a bold and authentic life, full of joy and love that comes from knowing and being known by the Father.

In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter provides us with four labels that identify Christ-followers. These four labels will be our focus the rest of this week, starting today with the label “chosen.”

THURSDAY

The Apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus chose us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Jesus tells us that we did not chose Him, but He chose us (John 15:16). And finally, David tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). My prayer for you today is for you to have the courage to be disliked, and the confidence to be who God made you to be. May you receive the power that comes from the Holy Spirit to live for an audience of one — Jesus Christ.

WEDNESDAY Royalty

Holy

[Open with 1 Peter 1:16]

The third of four labels for Christfollowers from 1 Peter 2:9 is “holy.” In 1 Peter 1:16, Peter encourages us to be holy because Christ is holy. Often when I think of the term “holy,” I equate it with someone thinking they are better than everyone else — “he’s holier than thou.” But when the Bible talks about being holy, it really means set apart or separate. Paul warns us to “come out from them and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Who is the “them” to whom Paul is referring? Unbelievers. Paul writes to young Timothy and says, “[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life” (2 Timothy 1:9).

God wants our lives to look different [Open with John 1:12] from those around us. He has saved us so we can be a light to the world and salt Recently, we took my daughter to the earth (Matthew 5:13-15). Romans shopping for her senior year homecoming 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern dress. As painful and time consuming as of this world, but be transformed by the the process was, at one point I remember renewing of your mind.” If we have any looking at my daughter, who was smiling hope of living a holy life, it has to start with from ear to ear, and thinking, “Wow! She is us meditating on God’s Word, receiving a gorgeous! She looks like a princess.” daily washing that comes from spending time in God’s presence to hear His voice. The second label for Christ-followers from 1 Peter 2:9 is “royalty.” My prayer for you and I is that we will find time every day to commune with the The Bible tells us that once we receive Father who loves us so much that He sent Jesus, we have the right to be called His Son to die for our sins. “children of God.” Paul reminds us about one of God’s messages to believers in 2 Corinthians 6:18: “I will be a Father to you,

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Even though there are 7 billion people on the planet, the Bible tells me that I am special because God knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). Every one of the hairs on my head is numbered (Matthew 10:30). And I am made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). In today’s society, it is easy for us to get caught up measuring our worth based on the standards of the world — money, power, possessions, relationships. If any of these things define our worth, we won’t take our special place as a child of God; rather, we will be like everyone around us. My prayer for you today is that you know Jesus paid a heavy price for your life. All He is asking of you in return is to accept His free gift and live for Him and nothing else (Luke 12:15). To close, let’s look at a reminder from the Apostle Paul, who says, “For we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV). May you know that you are special today, because Jesus paid it all for you.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about our identity in Christ: Romans 14 & 1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 15 & Jeremiah 1:5

DON DAVIS Director of Increase Football

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 8 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Christ In Me

Most days, we all have countless conversations with our friends, family members and coworkers. It could be a conversation about politics, religion or maybe a tough decision you made recently. Sometimes these conversations lead to comments or questions that are made just to see how we react or what we might say back. Maybe someone knowingly expresses an opinion or makes a statement that directly contradicts something you believe. “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 It is not easy to stay calm when someone calls into question your character or faith. Our natural instinct is to get defensive about it. But what if, instead of arguing with them, we share why it is that we live the way we do? What if we are able to keep a conversation that could easily become an argument, and make sure it is always filled with love? Jesus had many people confront Him, and even mock Him, for who He said He was, but how many times did He lose His cool in those times? His Godly instinct was loving everyone just the way they were. He let them ask the provocative questions and make the accusations, and yet He responded gracefully and lovingly every single time. Jesus did the best things for even the worst people, and anyone who looks at the life He lived cannot argue with that. During my time with the Twins, I have had a great opportunity to spend time with teammates and grow stronger in my walk with the Lord. The friendships I have developed with my teammates have been an amazing blessing, but it’s not always easy! When you have 25 guys from 25 different backgrounds on one team, you will have 25 different ways of life. But it’s important to be cohesive.

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KYLE GIBSON 44

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You can’t let others’ opinions or disagreements become a distraction for you. Instead, we are called to be part of a locker room that loves people no matter what. That’s what I aim to do with my teammates, and the best way I know how to do that is by showing them Christ through me. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971

TUESDAY Transcend Talking Points

[Open with Mark 12:13-17]

In Chapter 12 of Mark’s gospel, Mark

records some stories of Jesus being challenged by different groups of people with hard questions to see how He might respond. Those who are offended by His life and message are hoping to get Him to say something offensive or damaging to His reputation. But in each of these encounters, Jesus demonstrates great wisdom as He responds with answers that transcend all the potential traps and talking points. In one situation, the Pharisees and Herodians attempt to trap Jesus with a question on taxation. These two groups were notorious adversaries in regard to many political and religious issues, in the same way we might think of Republicans and Democrats today. Jesus seems to be a threat to both of their agendas, so they come together to try and force Jesus into a position of either supporting Roman authority or Israelite independence.

seven different times. They then ask Jesus, “In this resurrection and eternal life that you keep talking about, which one of these seven men will get to be her husband?” In their minds, they’ve just proven that belief in a resurrection and eternal life is dumb.

As disciples of Jesus, we must devote ourselves to studying Scripture and truly knowing what we believe. And then, like Jesus, we must stay ready and able to give solid answers to sincere questions.

The Sadducees believed that this life was all that mattered because this life was all there was. It was this belief that motivated their materialism and skepticism. We all know people like this today, and we are probably familiar with people who ask overstated questions in an attempt to make our beliefs look foolish or unpopular.

FRIDAY

Jesus doesn’t entertain the overstated question. Instead, He responds with a question that challenges the Sadducees’ own understanding of what they claim to believe, and then He uses what they believe to prove the validity of His own teaching. It’s another brilliant response and a reminder that sometimes a good question is the best answer.

THURSDAY

Solid Answers Today, we live in a very divisive and opinionated society where people are quick [Open with Mark 12:28-40] to pick a particular side of an argument or After some encounters with people issue. As those who belong to Jesus, we must be different and respond in ways that who opposed His message, Jesus is approached by a scribe who seems to transcend the typical talking points. be sincere in the question he wants to ask. This scribe is a teacher of the Jesus’ response doesn’t affirm or condemn either agenda. He basically says, Jewish Scriptures, and he wants to know Jesus’ honest opinion concerning what “The coins bear the image of Caesar so give them to Caesar; man bears the image commandment best sums up all the other commandments of God. of God so give yourself to God.” It’s a brilliant response that avoids the trap of Whenever we are confronted by people picking a side while also challenging the who ask overstated questions to criticize agenda of both. what we believe, we must recognize that these questions are rarely sincere, and that the person asking such questions is not really seeking any sort of answer. However, whenever we are approached by people who A Good Question ask honest questions and who seem to be [Open with Mark 12:18-27] sincere and teachable, then we need to be In another encounter that Mark records ready and able to give clear and insightful answers that confirm what we believe. in his gospel, the Sadducees attempt to trap Jesus with a question concerning Jesus gives this teachable scribe a very the resurrection. The Sadducees were direct and clear answer. Jesus tells him a group of wealthy Jewish families who that the command in Deuteronomy 6:5 controlled the Jerusalem temple and the to “love the Lord your God with all your highest religious council of Israel. They heart and with all your soul and with all were conservative in their beliefs and did your strength,” and the command in not believe in a resurrection or life after Leviticus 19:18 to “love your neighbor as death. Therefore, the teaching of Jesus yourself,” can be combined to give you was ridiculous to them. the fundamental command that best sums up all the other commandments. The The Sadducees simply come to mock scribe finds Jesus’ answer agreeable and Jesus’ belief in a resurrection by giving appreciates such a clear response. an obviously ridiculous and unrealistic illustration of a woman who was married

WEDNESDAY

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The Utlimate Question

[Open with Matthew 20:26]

After Jesus withstands the challenges of His opposition and answers some hard questions with great wisdom, Mark tells us that no one else dared to ask Him any more questions. So now, Jesus decides that it’s His turn to ask a question. Jesus asks, “If David himself calls the Christ ‘Lord’ then how could the Christ be merely His Son?” Jesus is challenging everyone’s understanding concerning the identity of the Christ and the nature of the Kingdom of God. Contrary to the people’s understanding of the Christ and the Kingdom of God, Jesus declares that the Christ cannot be reduced to just a future Son of David. He is the eternal Son of God and the promised Savior-King who reigns over the Heavenly Kingdom that will one day be fully established here on earth. Jesus exposes the misunderstandings and the false expectations many people in His society had about the Christ and the eternal Kingdom of God, and He does so by asking a question that gets to the heart of the matter. He is essentially asking, “Who am I? Am I just human or am I more?” Jesus is the most misunderstood and misrepresented figure in human history. Today, our society is full of misunderstandings and false expectations concerning Jesus and the eternal life that God gives. So as His representatives, may we boldly proclaim the truth about the Kingdom of God. And may we start by simply asking others the ultimate question, “Who is Jesus?”

WEEKEND

Continue reading about giving a Christlike answer:

Leviticus 19 & Deuteronomy 32:3; Deuteronomy 6 & 1 Peter 3:15

Terry Evans Atlanta Braves chaplain

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WEEK: 9 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY A Seed That Lasts

As professional athletes, we have so many opportunities to go out to schools, interact with fans, and sign autographs. And when I do, I always sign Matthew 10:39 — my favorite verse — under my signature: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” — Matthew 10:39 This verse first stuck out to me during my senior year in high school. I had been asked to be president of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) in high school and I said yes. I went home that day and God called me out with this verse. I realized that I had been a poser for a very long time. I was the guy who knew every worship song, had the cross necklace hanging around my neck, and could make my life look good, but I really didn’t want to win people over with Jesus. I didn’t want to get out and share my story. I didn’t want to lose my life every day so hopefully people would know who I represent. I’m not perfect; I need a perfect Savior. So I thought, “If I can lose my life each day, I know that I’ll eventually find it.” And that’s what I began doing. I started losing my life for Christ, giving it to Him to see what He had in store. That’s how I found my life. Whenever I include this verse in my autograph, I can’t help but wonder if little seeds like that will change lives, families and generations. Our family was changed by the Gospel, and now generations within our family are being changed. Kids are growing up in a house that loves the Lord. They’re seeing Mom and Dad pray for each other and pray for them. Hopefully they catch that fire and have that relationship with Christ that they get to then pass down. We get to play football for just a little bit of our lives, and then we have the rest of our lives and all of eternity. So if we can change some lives during our time playing this game, that’s what it’s all about!

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TUESDAY

Freedom To Serve The Living God

[Open with 1 Peter 2:16]

One of the greatest distinctions

between Christianity and other major faiths is that followers of Christ don’t serve God trying to find favor with Him. We serve God because we have already found favor with Him through our faith in Jesus Christ!

To serve God’s purposes in our lives, we have to always stay “woke.” That’s why Paul encourages the believers in Colossae to keep their minds focused on the realities of Heaven. We can only do this when we turn our backs on our old worldly attitudes and habits — those “earthly things” — and don’t get distracted by pleasures or disappointments.

Paul gives us two enablers that will allow us to keep this kind of mindset: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” and As an athlete, it matters not which game you play, it’s how you play the game “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” (Colossians 3:15, 16). Then Paul that matters most to God. Jesus taught in Matthew 5:14-15, “You are the light of concludes with this powerful command: the world. A town built on a hill cannot be “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord hidden. Neither do people light a lamp Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father and put it under a bowl. Instead they through Him” (Colossians 3:17). put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

THURSDAY

God has gifted you and put you on display. He has you where you are for Dying To Live For Christ a reason — His glory, not yours! That’s [Open with John 12:24] why Jesus went on to say in verse 16, “In the same way, let your light shine before When I was a young husband and others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” father, I struggled a lot with the relentless pressure and responsibility of meeting the physical and emotional needs of my family. Bring glory to the Lord on the great platform He has entrusted to you. As you Talk about a full-court press! I discovered perform, or interact with your teammates, my fight really came when I tried to insert priorities for my own needs ahead of those friends or co-workers, allow the fruit of the Lord’s indwelling Spirit — God’s love, for my wife and kids. It wasn’t working and joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, everyone was pretty miserable. faithfulness, gentleness and self-control Then I began to understand this (Galatians 5:22-23) — to flow out of your principle from Jesus Christ found in John conduct and conversation. 12:24. When I finally embraced the notion that my primary responsibility and ministry was to see that my family’s needs were fully met, the atmosphere in our home began to change. I had to “fall to the ground and Every Day Is Labor Day die” to selfishness and sacrifice my life for [Open with Philippians 1:21] the sake of my family in every way. In Philippians 1:21, Paul declared his At the beginning of the traditional zeal to serve the Lord, his singular reason Christian wedding ceremony, the groom for getting out of bed every morning. For the Christian, there is no distinction in our comes to the altar first. The original altar in Hebrew worship was a place of sacrifice, lives between the secular and sacred — where animals were put to death. Like none whatsoever! Christ, husbands must lay down their lives “Sacred” comes out of the same Greek willingly to serve their family in every way. root word that also is translated “holy, saint and sanctified.” It means “set apart.” Paul gives guidelines for family That’s why Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:10, relationships in Colossians 3:18-24. In the last couple verses he reminds of us of our “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God motivation: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, prepared in advance for us to do.” You have been declared set apart or sanctified not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from by God not only to experience His salvation and grace, but to serve Him only the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (verses 23-24). at all times.

WEDNESDAY

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FRIDAY

It’s All About Execution

[Open with James 1:22]

Great coaches can draw up great plays, you can practice them endlessly, and you can watch all the film you want, but at the end of the day, it’s all about execution — making the right play at the right time in the face of extreme adversity. The same principle applies to your Christian faith. Many people call themselves Christians, many say they believe in Christ, but what does their life look like “on the field of play,” where it really counts? These are folks who claim to be listening to God, but don’t know His plays (instruction from God’s Word) and cannot run them in the clutch. They are fooling themselves! These are cultural Christians. Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And His Father’s will “is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day” (John 6:40). If you really believe in your coach’s plays, you will run them with all your heart. If you really don’t, you really won’t. It’s that simple. If you really believe in God’s Word, you will work hard to learn it, understand it and do what it says. That’s the evidence of real faith. It is in the execution, not the discussion!

WEEKEND

Continue reading about living for Christ: Colossians 3 & Matthew 7:21; Galatians 2 & John 3:30

Jerry Birch Cleveland Cavaliers chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 10 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY His Way

In middle school and high school, I started struggling internally with thoughts of sin and other faith issues. Having grown up in a Christian household, I thought, “Maybe I’ll ask God for help. Maybe I’ll try this God thing.” God saved me during that time and my relationship with Him grew from there. When I started college at the University of Florida, I was tested with the whole leaving-home-andmaking-my-own-decisions thing. I had to make the choice of who I wanted to be. As a college athlete, you have to put everything into your sport and I struggled with how to stay rooted in the Lord. But the Lord brought revelation to me and He brought people alongside me to mentor me. This is where I first learned that I could use my sport as part of my walk with the Lord; I could actually minister to others through softball! That was the jumpstart to how I live my life today. “... everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.” — Isaiah 43:7 When I was a freshman at Florida, I kept asking myself the question, “What is my purpose?” I clung to this verse and the fact that we are created for His glory. From that point on, I’ve always tried to find ways to be a light to others in softball. This has nothing to do with my success as a player, but it does have to do with what kind of a teammate and person I am. In softball, like baseball, we all get to choose a walk-up song. Since I want to be true to who I am, I choose an upbeat Christian worship song, one that I would listen to before a game. It’s not typical, but it’s true to who I am. I’ve had people come up to me and say that this meant a lot to them. This is only one of the many small ways we can choose to glorify God in our lives and sport. Without Christ in my life, I wouldn’t be on the national team. There have been so many things throughout my softball career that are unexplainable apart from God. I was never recruited to play in college and I never pushed myself hard enough to think about playing for the USA team. It was the hand of God pushing me along to put me exactly where He wanted me to be. If I didn’t have Him in my life today, I think I would be so overwhelmed with the pressures and constant comparisons that you face as a professional softball player. Mentally, that can be hard to deal with, but I am able to find freedom from this in Christ. So instead of worrying about people’s comparisons, my finances, or how others expect an elite athlete to live, the Lord gives me peace and freedom because I know He’ll always make a way — His way. 76

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TUESDAY What’s Your Goal?

[Open with 2 Corinthians 5:9-17]

What should our goal be? To live a life pleasing to God.

“So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” — 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 In this passage, Paul gives us the reminder that we are to make it our goal to please Him (Jesus). This is the call on our lives as believers. It is no small task and may seem impossible. However, we have the Word of God, which gives us His statues and commands. And within us we have the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power and strength to obey God’s Word. Just like playing a sport, learning an instrument, or studying for class at school, it takes discipline in our daily lives. How can we delight Him if we don’t have a clue as to what pleases Him? This is proof that we must be in the Word daily. When in the Word, we don’t just read it, we obey it. This pleases the Lord.

- You are a part of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). - You are unique and have specific gifts God has given you within the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). - You are special to God (Luke 12:7, Psalm 139:13-18).

FRIDAY

So, the next time you feel down and out or discouraged in any way, look back on these truths from God’s Word and be reminded of how God thinks about you. His true thoughts about you are much more important than what anyone else thinks.

As Christ-followers and believers of His truth, we stand on the truth of the Bible — God’s Word. Our entire foundation of faith and life is rooted in His Word. If it’s not true, then we are hopeless! There is so much external evidence that proves the truth of the Bible. For instance: historical evidence and archeological discoveries, eyewitness accounts of hundreds of people, and many fulfilled prophecies.

Live in the truth of who God says you are today!

THURSDAY Fan The Flame

[Open with 2 Timothy 1:6]

In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul encourages Timothy, his younger brother in the faith, to stay fired up in his daily ministry of preaching, teaching and leading. Paul knew Timothy was getting beat up by the culture. There was much opposition to the Gospel and he was concerned that Timothy might grow weary.

This can happen to us at times too. Then there are also times when we are really fired As you read God’s Word today, is there up and encouraged; we are in the Word a specific truth you need to obey? Find out and growing, we have a boldness, we are praying for people and sharing our faith. what pleases the Lord!

WEDNESDAY What God Says About You

[Open with Galatians 3:26]

Who are you? There are so many voices out there trying to tell you who you are. It is so critical that we understand what God’s Word says about us. If you are in Christ, then here are just a few things His Word says:

It’s like the moment when we first met Jesus and were on fire. We had this new, vibrant relationship and couldn’t get enough of the Word, the fellowship and the ministry. But if we are honest with ourselves, as time goes on, we drift from those early days and are a little more cautious and less bold in our faith.

Make It A Priority

[Open with 2 Timothy 3:16-17]

The Bible is true and should be a priority in our lives.

I hope you will take some time to dig a little deeper so you will be able to give an educated answer as to why you believe the Bible to be true, accurate and relevant. It’s so true it should be the most important voice in our lives; we should value the Word of God above all other opinions. It should be the most influential voice in our lives; it should be our ultimate authority. It should also be the most listened to voice in our lives; we should be spending time in God’s Word daily so we can drown out the lies of the world. God’s Word gives us direction, hope, peace, wisdom, counsel, encouragement, answers, victory over temptation, power, comfort, joy … and a whole lot more.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about fanning the flame of your faith: 2 Timothy 1 & Ephesians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2 & Galatians 1:10

That’s why Paul challenged Timothy: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, - You are a child of God; you can call Him but gives us power, love and self-discipline. “Father” (Romans 8:14-15, Galatians 3:26). So do not be ashamed of the testimony - You are chosen by God, holy and dearly about our Lord or of me His prisoner. loved (Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4). Rather, join with me in suffering for the - You are a new person, your past is Gospel, by the power of God” (2 Timothy forgiven, everything is new (1 Corinthians 1:6-8). 5:17). - You have a home in Heaven (John 14:3). Rekindle that fire and passion for Jesus today. Get fired up! - You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14). Chris Lane Miami Marlins chaplain

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SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 11 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Dealing With Up And Downs

Heading into the 2018 season, I was really excited for the year in Tampa. I was told I wasn’t going to be traded — but then I was. I felt lied to; it was really hard to leave. I think the hardest part about it is that you don’t fully realize the impact Jesus is having in the locker room until you have to leave. The relationships I had built and the emotions I felt when leaving was difficult, but it was cool to see the ways in which God was and is working within the Rays’ community. The day before I was traded, my grandfather had a heart attack. I flew from Seattle back to Florida and then almost immediately had to fly to Arizona. When I got to Arizona, I was super excited to join such an awesome organization. The Diamondbacks really have built a crazy cool culture with great teammates and leaders here. I arrived and didn’t play for a week, but when I did, it wasn’t more than five days into spring training that I dove for a catch and tore my pec. Obviously, that is not how I planned to start the season with my new team. A few days after I tore my pec, my grandfather passed away. It was a really difficult time. I didn’t think my injury was that bad so I tried rushing it, but discovered I wasn’t ready. I ended up missing three months of the season and was so frustrated. Through it all, my wife and I kept saying, “God is still good.” Even through the really hard times, when it seems like nothing is going to work out and your emotions tell you they won’t, we clung to His promises. We held tightly to the verse, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Just entering a new organization, trying to build relationships with your teammates, and being injured is not a great combination. It was a real test of my faith and the Lord showed me a lot during this time. Baseball is just a vessel and it can be taken away at any moment. I could have ended my entire career with that one dive, but thankfully the Lord had a different plan for me. This past season, and all its ups and downs, has made me that much more grateful for the gift of this game. I know my hope doesn’t come through baseball; my energy, source and strength comes from the One who breathes life in me, and that’s Jesus Christ. With confidence in Christ, there’s peace. As I kept pushing through, I was surrounded by a lot of encouragement, including from my manager, Torey Lovullo, who kept reminding me that he believes in me and brought me here for a reason. So I remain focused and trust in the Lord. 78

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TUESDAY Changing The Culture

outside of your family, school or work place?

[Open with Romans 12:2]

Our culture isn’t built well to survive moments of pain or crisis, so when that How do you change a culture? happens, we don’t know how to cope. I Before we can answer that, we must first believe this is one of the reasons why the understand what the culture is doing to us. suicide rate is rapidly climbing. We have developed an artificial culture/society. “But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of When is the last time you reached out Asa was wholly true all his days.” — 2 to someone just to talk and connect? We Chronicles 15:17 don’t let people in, and so we hide in our phones or TV programs — and all the What are the high places that are being while we are dying a slow, complacent spoken of here? High places were literally death. How do we get out and help others places that were geographically high and get out? they were used as a place of worship. The problem was, instead of worshipping “Let us consider how to stimulate others the Lord at those places, they were towards love and good deeds.” worshipping pagan shrines and idols. — Hebrews 10:24 That got me thinking the other day when I was I praying. I asked the Lord, ‘Are there any high places in my life?’ That was a dangerous question to ask the Lord, but a necessary one. So the first thing that came to my mind was TV. I was like, “Come on Jesus. I love watching sports and it’s Sunday. I like to sit on my couch and watch.” What do we allow into our minds on a regular basis? What we watch will affect our souls. Not just with TV, but with social media, iPhones and everything else. I am not saying trash all that stuff, but I am asking you to think about the impact these are having on your life and the lives of those around you.

THURSDAY Where’s Your Worship?

[Open with Psalm 16:1]

“Because modern society has almost completely eliminated trauma and violence from everyday life, anyone who does suffer those things is deemed to be extraordinarily unfortunate. This gives people access to sympathy and resources but also creates an identity of victimhood that can delay recovery” (“Tribe” by Sebastian Junger, pg. 98).

David had a lot of trauma and pain in his life, but it was in the midst of pain that he What takes the highest place in your life? was able to draw near to God. When we have problems or struggles, we use that as our looking glass on our way to see God. So all our prayers and tears funnel through our pain, in hopes Draw Near To Jesus [Open with James 4:8] that Jesus will fix our problems and give us happiness. What’s the problem with “Our society is alienating, technical, that? When our worship is off, then that cold, and mystifying. Our fundamental sets off a chain reaction that will ultimately desire, as human beings, is to be close to affect every choice we make. When my others, and our society does not allow for worship is right and the high places are that” (“Tribe” by Sebastian Junger, pg. 49). removed, and my prayers are not about Jesus fixing my problems but about me If we are going to change the culture we learning to trust Him and do His will live in, it has to start with us drawing near above my own, then my choices will be to Jesus. And once we do, we will start to impacted in such a way that I begin to see the value of life and relationships. affect everyone around me.

WEDNESDAY

Think about it: It’s only been recently that we have rooms for each child in the house. It’s only been recently that we can stream media on multiple devices within seconds. It’s only been recently that we can contact almost anyone at the snap of the finger. But how often do you have interaction face to face with humans www.sportsspectrum.com

My cruddy choices reflect my flawed character, my flawed character reflects that my heart and affections are off, and my heart reflects that my worship is wrong. The result is stress, anger, frustration, etc. However, if my worship is right, then joy and peace will reign supreme, irregardless of my current trauma or struggle.

FRIDAY

Our Mission, Should We Accept It [Open with Matthew 6:34]

I began this series of devotionals with the question, “How do you change a culture?” There’s only one answer. We have a flag or stake we want to put in the ground and build our mission around that, but if we put that stake anywhere other than with Jesus, we will be in trouble. Even good things — like social justice, human slavery and clean water — should be addressed but not central in our lives. If those good things become central, we will view God through that lens and come to Him with an agenda, instead of first seeking His Kingdom. The overflow of that should be helping others. Changing the culture is something only Jesus can do. He changes us from the inside out, and as a result we introduce Him to those we come in contact with. Worshipping Jesus is about spending time with Him, in Word and in prayer daily. When David was living in caves while getting chased by King Saul, he would cry out to the Lord for direction, and the Lord would tell him which way to go. How often do we cry out for direction? Most of us cry out to be delivered from something rather than to just be near the King of Glory. Why is that? We haven’t taken down the high places, and as a result, we are not living out the mission Jesus established for us to follow.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about changing the culture: 2 Peter 2 & Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Peter 3 & Philippians 4:4-5

Brian Hommel Arizona Diamondbacks chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 12 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY A Continual Hunger

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’” — Matthew 4:4 Recently, God has been showing me the importance of having a continual hunger for His Word so that I’m constantly feeding myself on His truths. In Deuteronomy 11:19, it says we should constantly be meditating on God’s Word, day and night: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” The Lord has put in me a deep desire to not only know His Word, but daily feed on it. It is important to read the Bible every day and I strive to do that, but recently I’ve been challenging myself to go deeper and truly fill myself with the Word in large portions. When I do this, I typically see a difference. I usually dive deeper in the Word when I’m getting ready to speak publicly, but by doing this every day, I notice a difference in my life. When I’m filled up on God’s Word, it’s only natural that His truths come up in every conversation I have. While talking with others, I’m reminded of a certain passage, verse, theme or story I’ve just read that applies to the conversation. That’s God speaking to me; that’s Him filling my spirit with His Spirit. When I’m so full of spiritual food, it’s easy to share the abundance with others. The other day I was on the phone with my friend and we were talking about how thankful we are for our strong friendship. It reminded me of the relationship David had with Jonathan in the Old Testament. Even though Jonathan’s father, Saul, was pursuing David to kill him, Jonathan stuck by his friend, even to the point of Jonathan helping David escape from his father’s pursuit! Then when Jonathan and Saul died in battle, David had the utmost respect for their family. This is just one example of how to see an earthly situation and equate it to a Biblical one. You never know how far a small conversation with someone might go. Just one phone call or conversation can really bless someone in a time of need. When I think of all the conversations Jesus had with others during His ministry, I’m reminded of the talk He had with Nicodemus. At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, when it was time for Him to be brought down from the cross, guess who was there? Nicodemus had been so impacted by his conversation with Jesus that he was by His side at the worst of moments. By remaining in God’s Word, with a deep hunger for His truth to impact both my life and others, God has been showing up in amazing and powerful ways. 80

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TUESDAY Speed Of Trust

[Open with Genesis 12:1]

Abraham’s trust in God and obedience

to the call of leaving his country, family and father’s house seemed like a tall order. Abram (his name wasn’t changed to Abraham until Genesis 17) was on a journey of trusting and obeying God in those three spaces, but that wasn’t the end of the call. The last instruction God gave him was to go “to a land I will show you.” God did not tell him where the land was.

imagine. God took Abram on a journey to become the father, leader and example for the Jewish people, but Abram did not know it initially. Abram went on a quest of trusting the One who called him. Like Abram, we are called to trust God blindly, knowing the future that He holds for us is bigger and better than we could ever dream of or imagine. Trusting God is essential to the call of God on our lives. We are to trust Him because He holds the call in His hands.

Fully trusting God means obeying what He calls us to do. If He says to leave your Blind obedience pleases God because it father’s teachings, legacy, thoughts and causes us to rely completely on Him. As we beliefs, then trust Him. look through Scripture, we see that this has been the pattern for all those who walked with God. He reveals one step at a time and as we obey and trust Him, He reveals Leave It Behind the next step.

THURSDAY

Jesus the Son of God followed one instruction at a time from His Father. As He obeyed, He then was given more responsibility in the Kingdom. Jesus obeyed even to the point of death (Philippians 2:8). This is still the pattern God uses with us today. We are called to lean not on our own understanding; we are called to trust and obey. God’s greatest pleasure is to be believed and His greatest pain is to be doubted. We are called to trust the Lord with all of our heart — not some of it, but all of it. The pace in which we trust and obey will be the speed in which He responds with the next instruction.

WEDNESDAY Legacy

[Open with Genesis 12:2-3]

In the Bible, Abram is mentioned first among his brothers, giving insight that he is the first-born male. In Biblical Jewish culture, in which Abram is being called to be the first patriarch, God is beginning with Abram as the example — the first to start a legacy of men being the leaders of their homes.

[Open with Genesis 12:4-5]

The family unit is the backbone for a productive society. Family is security. Family is comfort. Family is safe. And God called Abram to leave it all. I can’t imagine the face Abram made when God told him to leave his family. I am convinced that God called Abram to leave these spaces in his life so he could embrace greater promises on the other side of trust. God could see what Abram couldn’t see. God needed Abram to leave so he could see what God already saw. That’s exactly what trust does for us. It puts us in a unique position to see what God sees and go where God already is.

Proof

[Open with Genesis 12:6-7]

The proof of trust is obedience. God called Abram to leave what was safe and familiar to him. How would you respond if God spoke to you to leave this beautiful country and go serve another country? Would you trust Him and leave? Or would the temptation of comfort keep you still? I had the honor of going to serve this offseason in Haiti. We went to a place that is clothed in poverty and a lack of resources. It wasn’t easy leaving my four children, our home and my family, but God called us to go serve for a week. It was very hot, the traffic was horrible, and the work was tiring. But we knew God called us to go. Lives were changed because we trusted that God would fulfill His will and plan. We trusted that our kids would be safe back in the States. We trusted that all the supplies and materials would be provided for the school and community. If God calls you to trust Him, He has a reason for you to do so. He will take care of the calling on your life. When we believe what God says and act on that belief, we show God that we trust Him. Abraham was asked to leave his family and country and go to a place that “I will show you.” I can only imagine what Abraham was initially thinking. But he went beyond thinking and put his faith to action by obedience.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about trusting God: If we fast-forward Abram’s journey, we Genesis 12-13 & 2 Samuel 7:28; see that his obedience to God leads him Genesis 14-15 & Joshua 1:9 on top of a hill. On this hill, God asks Abraham — God had changed his name by this point — to sacrifice his only son. God called him to leave his family, then blesses him with a family and now asks Abraham to sacrifice his family. The ultimate proof of trust is to obey when it makes no sense! Many times, God’s instructions to us don’t make sense, but to Him, He is mapping something out. The very spot where Abraham was willing to give up his only son was the exact spot where God did give up His only Son.

The call to trust God in our lives is a purposeful call. He does not want us wandering aimlessly around in our callings. Our trust and obedience to God open “Abram” means exalted father, but “Abraham” means father of many nations. up His hands to do something supernatural for us. What God had in store for Abram was bigger than he could ever dream or

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FRIDAY

LaMorris Crawford Cincinnati Bengals chaplain

SPORTS SPECTRUM

WEEK: 13 • DAILY DEVOTIONALS

MONDAY Just Waiting

As a young kid, I dreamed about playing soccer at the pro level. When I got to Oklahoma State, I had to go through quite an adjustment to the new level of play and responsibilities; I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to continue playing the game I loved. Like every other student, I was trying to figure out what I was called to do. But my junior and senior years proved to be really successful on the field, and I found my love for the game again. I decided at that point to be all in. But I didn’t want to put myself up for a draft, with the chance of being subjected to a practice squad. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and take a leap of faith. I wanted to make a big impact wherever I went — on a bigger stage. This led me to look for teams I could play for abroad. I didn’t have a ton of luck at first, which was frustrating. I thought this was what I was supposed to do! I felt like a sitting duck, just waiting. This whole last year was one big question mark. I think every college senior goes through that, whether they’re deciding about a job, where to live, relationships or something else. I didn’t understand why I had no answers. I’ve always been a natural worrier. This process of waiting and trusting was really good for me. It changed the way I chose to lean on the Lord and His plan for me. When I finally did get a call, I found myself with the opportunity to have a trial in France the very next week. Like any athlete, I had to decide what sacrifices I was willing to make. The next week, I was headed to the airport, with all my family and close friends in tow. At the airport, my best friend, Claire — someone who really helps me lean on the Lord and focus on what’s important — prayed over me. Surrounded by my family and friends, it was the first time I had been prayed for in public like that. Suddenly, my fear and worry were gone. Instead, I felt excited. I knew that this is where I was meant to be, that God has a plan for this. As I walked on that plane, I never felt more ready. Yes, there were still a lot of things up in the air. Making the adjustment to living in a new country, with a new language I don’t speak, and a new community with people from different backgrounds and beliefs, is not easy. But I feel so confident that I’m in the middle of God’s will for me. My faith and confidence in the Lord took a huge jump this year. But I wouldn’t have experienced that unless I decided to give everything up, laying it at His feet so He could do a work in my life.

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ANNA BEFFER 56

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• PRO SOCCER PLAYER, AS PIERROTS VAUBAN IN FRANCE

TUESDAY

it, or I just do something else.

When It’s Your Turn

With God’s instructions for us in Scripture, my prayer is that instead of staying put when God wants us to go, we For an athlete, it’s never easy to follow in can say we got up and did _____________ the footsteps of a great player. You’ll always (fill in the blank). When God says, we do! be compared to that person. It’s hard to keep that momentum going when you have big shoes to fill. This may have been what Joshua felt some 3,500 years ago when Moses (the greatest man of God at the No Place, Without A Purpose time) had passed away and God informed [Open with Genesis 45:1-9] Joshua that he would finish what God had In Genesis 45, Joseph (the son of Jacob) started with Moses (Joshua 1:1-2). understood the circumstances of his life, knowing that God allowed it to happen. He God told Joshua to “be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6-7, 9), but the most clearly states many times that “God sent me ahead of you … God sent me ahead of import thing Joshua needed to do was revealed in Joshua 1:8: “Keep this Book of you to preserve … to save your lives … God the Law always on your lips; meditate on it has made me lord of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:5-9). day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will Joseph knew God had allowed him to be prosperous and successful.” go from his brothers, be brought to prison, Looking deeply into this passage, we see then rise to the right hand of Pharaoh, and finally see his brothers return to Egypt. This that we need to think of God’s Word day and night. We need to live out God’s Word is what made the moment so incredible day and night. And we have the benefit of for Joseph that he wept out of control for doing what God’s Word says day and night! his brothers (Genesis 45:1-2). He knew God had orchestrated the moment and he Joshua is an amazing example of a man wanted to let his brothers know that. who continued what God had started in Joseph was placed in Egypt by God, faith. If we want to personally experience and his family was brought to Egypt by God’s work in our lives, we need to be God through Joseph. It was all part of intentional to think and do all of what God’s story. God’s story is still being played Scripture says. Then when our way is out today, and we need to be faithful and prosperous, it’s really God’s way. be used by God wherever we are. God knows the circumstances we are in, but the question is: Wherever you are and whatever situation you might be in, will you God Says, We Do [Open with Matthew 2:14-21] allow God to make you to be whatever He needs you to be for His purpose? In Matthew 2, Joseph is brought into this crazy and wonderful piece of God’s My prayer for us is that we would be redemptive story and he is placed as used in a mighty way by God, like he used the protector and parent of Jesus Christ. Joseph in all his circumstances. Do you He doesn’t get the game plan of how believe God has you on a certain path? everything is supposed to happen; he Can you faithfully follow Him knowing God has to wait for the instructions that are to sent you? come from an angel of the Lord speaking to him in a dream. What we learn is that when God spoke, “Joseph got up” and took Jesus and Mary, and went where he needed to go. God said, Joseph did. King Or Caddie? [Open with Joshua 1:6-9]

THURSDAY

club to use, but ultimately the pro makes the decision. We tend to treat Christ like a caddie. We have Christ in our lives a few steps back from us, and once in awhile, we will ask for His opinion, then choose what to do ourselves. Christ needs to control our lives, not give us suggestions that we might do if we feel like it. Life is hard, so how do we start to go about listening to the instruction Christ has for us? Proverbs 1:1-7 is a good place to start. Verse 2 challenges us to be teachable, willing to change, and it informs us that this takes time. But fools are not teachable, willing to change or willing to put the time in. How do we start to know God? As verse 7 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Don’t let Christ walk behind you. Have a healthy respect and fear of who He is. Let Him be your King and not a caddie to be used only when needed.

WEEKEND

Continue reading about letting God take the lead: Psalm 25 & James 1:5; Psalm 23 & Exodus 33:12-16

WEDNESDAY

FRIDAY

I think we can learn a lot from Joseph. He’s an excellent example of a man who continued to listen to God and do the right thing. He didn’t even think to question what God had told him to see if it was the right thing to do, or even if it was safe. He immediately did what God wanted and believed in what God said. I want to be more like Joseph. When God speaks to me, I tend to do one of two things: I ignore www.sportsspectrum.com

[Open with Proverbs 1:1-7]

Many times during the year, I like to sit down and watch the golf majors. I’m always amazed at how they navigate through some of those tough holes, knowing exactly how far they need to hit the ball to be in the correct spot to hit the next one. A good caddie knows everything about the course and all the dangers it has. The caddie will give his opinion on what

Eddie Taubensee Director of Increase Baseball

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You CAN know

PERSONALLY

Our Problem, God’s Solution

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By Randy Alcorn

“God created mankind in His own image … God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31). God made human beings with personal and relational qualities like His own (Genesis 1:26) and desired to have a delightful relationship with them. But something went terribly wrong. When Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s advice in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), sin poisoned the world and now we are all born with the desire to do things our own way, not God’s.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Our sins against a good and holy God have distanced us from Him (Isaiah 59:2). God “cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:12). Through sin we forfeit a relationship with God, and along with it our happiness. The result of all this is death. Spiritual death is separation from God in a very real place called Hell. Physical death marks the end of our opportunity to enter into a relationship with God and avoid eternal condemnation (Hebrews 9:27).

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). There is absolutely nothing we can do to restore ourselves to God. He is holy, we are not. In fact, He says even our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). But God loved us so much He sent us His Son Jesus, fully God and fully man, to deliver us from death and give us life (John 3:16). "God demonstrates His own love toward us … while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. When Jesus died for us, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” was written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “paid in full.” Jesus then rose from the grave, conquering sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

If these words reflect your heart and you would like to receive salvation through Jesus Christ, say this prayer to God. It's as simple as A-B-C: Admit, Believe, Confess. SPORTS SPECTRUM

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"There is no greater decision in life than that which affects our eternity. A holy, just God in His infinite mercy provided a way for our sins to be forgiven and our relationship with Him to be reconciled through the finished work of His Son. Salvation comes through Christ alone. For a sinful separated man, this is indeed good news!"

NEW COPY BELOW Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God’s greatest gift is a restored relationship with Himself, delivering us from Hell and granting us entry into Heaven (John 3:36). This gift depends not on our merit but solely on Christ’s work of grace for us on the cross (Titus 3:5). He is the one and only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

“Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

To be right with God, we must admit our sinful hearts and actions, and ask God’s forgiveness. If we do, He graciously promises full forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Then we are to affirm to others that the resurrected Jesus is our Lord.

The life we long for is freely offered to us in Christ. We can believe His promise and call on Him to save us, humbly accepting His gift of eternal life: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him (2 Timothy 1:14).

“Dear God, I ADMIT that I’m a sinner and the penalty of my sin is death. I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that He died and rose from the dead for my sin. And I CONFESS Jesus as my Savior. Please forgive me. I repent of my sin and surrender my life to You. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen." — Miles McPherson, senior pastor & former NFL player 3

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