Basketball Church

I used to play basketball regularly on Sunday mornings.  At that time I didn’t go to church at all.   The gym where I played was 17 miles away from my home.  A nice little distance.  One particular Sunday morning I was out on my porch at home and from there I could see a half-court basketball court.  I was thinking to myself, “Rather than go to that gym 17 miles away, it would be nice to get a game right here in my backyard.  I would settle for a good half-court competition to eliminate the long haul up and back in exchange for my normal full court workout.”  

The half-court where the church came to Dorian

After fantasizing for a moment, I thought, “Yeah, Right, there is never anyone playing on that court Sunday morning.”  So I proceeded to go back inside to get ready to go.

I looked at my girlfriend and said, “You know, maybe we ought to go to church.”  The thought just crossed my mind.  It came out of nowhere.  “I mean on Sundays instead of me playing basketball.”  And she said, “Well, I’d be agreeable to that, yea.”  So I said, “Good”, and then I proceeded to continue getting ready to play basketball. 

Well something drove me back out on the porch before I left.  I really wasn’t sure why at the time, but now I know why.  Anyway so I look over to the court and I see some guys on it.  I thought wow, OK.  But then I immediately dismissed them as probably being scrubs.  That’s slang terminology for guys who would not measure up to my competitive standards.  I like a good hard competitive game and I thought, “No way am I going to get so lucky that a good game was about to materialize in front of my eyes.” 

(Read the rest at WTNESS.ORG)

Dorian

Troy, Michigan

This story happened around 2001.

Godly Coincidence reinforces Jim's belief

(this blog has grown up and is now a full website.  Please go instead to www.wtness.org.)
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My friend Jim Deahl-Coy of Ferndale, Michigan was driving to meet me to car pool last week, early in the morning.  It was just about sunrise.  He told me that he was driving north on Woodward towards 11 Mile Road, and was saying out loud to Jesus, "Lord, thank you so much for this amazingly beautiful sunrise that you painted for us, to start our day!  It is wonderful!"  Just at that moment, Jim drove past a church that had a large custom-message sign out front (you've seen them).  The sign was an electronic sign that rotated between four messages.  At the exact moment Jim looked at it, the message changed to say, "You are welcome!"

It sent shivers up and down Jim's back because of the coincidence in timing, he said, and the perfectly appropriate double-meaning, and made him believe even more deeply in the reality of Jesus living today and caring about even the little things in our lives.

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)