Basketball at what time?

If it hadn't have been written out in a text message, I don't think I would've believed it. But when me and Chris Mullins decided to meet two Turks to play basketball, they told us to be ready to go at 8:30! Yes, 8:30 in the morning. That was a hard pill to swallow for two reasons. First of all, it was a Saturday. No one, for any reason other than fly fishing or duck hunting, should be awake at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Since Saturday morning cartoons lost their widespread appeal roughly 15 years ago, I don't think I've been up before 9 on a Saturday for anything. The second reason it was hard to hear is because this past week I have had to wake up at or before 7:30 everyday. I don't like it, but I can handle it when it is work related. But when you start talking about playing basketball with a couple of Turks, it's hard. But, I told myself, I'll regret it if I don't go. And I was right.

We played at a nice indoor court at the local university. Mullins is by far the best player around and I just look silly shooting at the same basket as him. But I will take solace in the fact that I was better than the two Turks. We ended up playing some four on four with some other guys that were there. They play by a whole new set of rules here and at times it was frustrating. But we had fun and headed into town to grab a milkshake (I know, pretty random for a post basketball snack in Feb.) and some lunch. It was on the way home from lunch that things got interesting.

The fact that my church meets in the basement of a rundown mall brought it up, and somewhere between lunch and my house we started talking about God. We covered everything you can imagine over the next two hours. Like Mullins would say later, life doesn't get much better than sitting down with two Muslims, drinking tea, and laying out the plan of salvation directly across the street from a very large Mosque. We hammered on the love of God, the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and our need to put our faith in that in order to be saved. The guy who seemed most interested made the claim that this idea was "the Great Unfairness." Men should be held responsible for their own sins. You are correct my friend. There is nothing fair about it. But God still chose, out of his great love for us, to bear our sins on our behalf. It's not fair and really, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that's the truth. That's the Gospel.

I think it will take time, but this man seems open. He seems hopeless and sad. He has a very downcast air about him. He needs joy, he needs life, he needs Christ. Whether or not he will ever accept is out of my hands, but I know that he will hear the story again. That is in my control. And, luckily, he wants to get together for basketball again next week.