A Pastor’s Perspective

“Hope Presses into Hoops” by Mike Hill, pastor of Calvary Chapel Aberdeen (mjhill@ida.net) Listen to CALVARY RADIO 90.3 FM

Second in State!  This year’s boy’s basketball season has been quite a ride.  When Aberdeen was defeated by Westside it felt like a collective kick in the gut for the team, coaches, and fans.  Was hope lost? No.  Hope pressed in.  The Tigers not only gained entrance into the state tournament, but the boys also conquered Westside in a spectacular way to press into the State Championship game.  I’m proud of our boys, their parents, the coaches, and everyone who supported the team.  Hope pressed into hoops for our team indeed.

Hope pressed into the life of a coach with a 37-year career record of 737 victories, 20 NCAA tournament bids, 11 Sweet Sixteen appearances, and a Final Four in 1998.  Kay Yow, the women’s college basketball coach of North Carolina State, even had the glorious opportunity to coach the 1988 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Seoul, Korea.  Hope in her life shined as an Olympic torch.  However, hope pressed in most when she encountered Christ through a persistent Christian who pressed into her life.  World magazine describes:

 “Yow recounted the story of her religious conversion in 1975, when a persistent Campus Crusade staff member elbowed her way into a 15-minute audience with Yow’s players, during which she presented the message of Jesus and charged the team to repent.  One person responded.  It was Yow.  Christianity took root quickly in the young coach, her lifelong commitments to kindness and hard work folding into her new faith.  She often spoke openly of her personal relationship with Jesus and penned poetry to further communicate it.”

She fought a courageous battle against breast cancer for two decades and died at age 66 in January.  In a video recorded prior to her passing, she shared a 21-minute gospel message, encouraging the viewers to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior by faith.  The Bible says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).  The video was presented at her funeral with the pressing hope “that all who watched might come to Christian faith,” as described by World.

In the video, Yow included a quote from a simple poem, “There’s just something about sports that touches every part of me.  More like Jesus let it make me.  Let it make me more like Thee.”  In another part of the video she asserts, “I’d rather have Jesus than a gold medal.”

Paul the Apostle presents Jesus Christ as our hope (1Timothy 1:1). With Christ, there is hope for forgiveness of sins, hope of genuine change, hope of everlasting life, and hope of heaven.  The testimony of Scripture is that hope is not found in a religion or even a sport but only in one person.  “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1John 5:11, 12).  Without Jesus, all hope is lost.  Has hope pressed into your life?  Do you have Jesus?