The Power of the Towel

A story was recently printed in the Beaver County (PA) Times about a young man who chose not to play in the state championship game his high school basketball team was playing in so that he could attend a weekend church retreat. Many are saying that it is about time "church/religion comes before sports." I'm not sure I'm quite as quick to agree.

First, lets take a look at the pro's of his decision. He probably was able to gain encouragement from the Word and from other men that weekend. He probably grew in his knowledge of God by going to the camp. These are very important things; very good things. But, do they outweigh the cons?

If I'm his teammate, I'm upset. First of all, though he's not a starter, his team was without three key players, which means the bench players could play a crucial role in the championship game, especially if an injury to another player occurs during the course of the game. He made a commitment to this team, and now he's broken that commitment, and not only broken it, but broken it when his team needs him most. In addition, someone was probably cut from the team to make a spot for him. They could have been vying for the championship trophy while he was at his retreat. And now, if this young man tries to introduce his teammates to Jesus, what will their reaction to him be? "You want me to commit my life to Jesus? Who are you to tell me about commitment?" "I used to respect you, but you let us down, so now I don't know what to think about you or your Jesus."

Why are we so concerned with what we culturally deem to be "church?" We applaud people for going to church or doing church programs, instead of being the church. Those teammates probably need Jesus far more than He needed that weekend at the church retreat, and if playing in a basketball game helped his teammates see Jesus that much better, or at least didn't tarnish His name, then I choose the game over the retreat any day of the week.

Let it be understood that I appreciate this young man's desire to make God first in his life and the willingness to sacrifice personal accolades in order to make it so. That much is admirable and praiseworthy. I just hope he, along with the rest of us, comes to realize that 'going to church' doesn't necessarily equal godliness, but that 'being the church' does.