The outside "J"

Along with I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Crazy Love for small group and school, I am reading Game Day For the Glory of God by Stephen Altrogge.  If you don't know who Stephen Altrogge is, he is one of many Sovereign Grace's songwriter and well known songwriter, Mark Altrogge's son. I follow Stephen on Twitter, and really enjoy reading his daily tweets. Anytime I want a good laugh, I can count on Stephen Altrogge! Such as today this is what he said: @stephenaltrogge - For a moment today I thought I was beholding the glory of an angel. Then I realized that it was the brilliance of my dad's white legs.
I could go on and on about the things he tweets... but I'm sure you are wondering what this has to do with the title of this post. So, if you have a Twitter, you should follow Stephen Altrogge, or if not... get one to follow him. He's the best!
Now, on to the book.
In chapter two he was talking about where we get our talent. He uses MJ a lot (which I am not to fond of) as an example. "Michael Jordan's astonishing abilities were given to him by the Maker of all things. He didn't earn them, nor did he do anything to deserve them. They were generous gifts from a generous God. Similarly, any athleticism that you possess has been given to you by God as a gift." And how true that is! Yet, we don't seem to think about it at all. At least I didn't when I played basketball or soccer. The fact that I was able to bend my knees, lock onto the goal, and use my arms to shoot and make the basket, was not me! Nor was running at a rapid speed, toward a goal and goalie, and kicking my feet to make a goal. It was God giving me the gift of talent! What a gift I wish I had been thankful for!
Later he says; "Consider the simple act of shooting a basketball. Have you ever considered all that occurs in that second it takes to shoot the ball? First, the body must be positioned so that it's facing the basketball hoop. Then the brain must make a split-second judgment to determine trajectory needed to get the ball into the hoop. The brain then determines how much arm strength and hand movement are needed to get the ball moving toward the basket. Things become increasingly complex as more variables, such as a leaping defender, are thrown into the mix. All this takes place in the blink of an eye. A fadeaway jump-shot is truly amazing." There is a form to the perfect shot, I learned it on one of the many DVD's I would watch during my non-practice times. And even now, I can pick up a ball, and know exactly how to "fix" my shot if I'm off. But the way he describes this... is amazing! I have never heard it put that way, and I think knowing already what goes into a jump-shot, on top of this, is amazing! This is not something that was formed by goo, or from monkeys, or from a big bang. It's to much detail, it can only be from God! And what a gift such as sports, he has given us!
"If we receive such intense pleasure from sports, what must the One who invented all sports be like? If we receive such joy from watching Michael Jordan play basketball, what must the God who gave Michael his incredible talents be like?" I'm not a MJ fan (at all!!!), but I think about watching Peyton Manning, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Cam Newton, Blake Griffin, Dwight Freeney, Tim Tebow... those guys that my heart starts to pound every time they do something amazing, what must God be like? He gave Peyton Manning the arm to throw a ball across 100 years, what must He be like? He gave Blake Griffin the strength to dunk over three defenders and make the basket, what must He be like? He gave Cam Newton the ability to run and break through 11 guys and make a touchdown time and time again, what must He be like? He gave Lebron James the power to pull a fadeaway feet behind the 3 point and get the ball into a whole that is no bigger than 2 feet wide, what must He be like? I can only imagine! How great is our God!!!