Jeremy Lin: Professional Christian Playing Professional Basketball

By Fr. James Farfaglia
2/20/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Everyone is talking about him and he is a devout Christian.

Jeremy Lin credits his parents with teaching him to play "godly basketball," which measures success by sportsmanship, not by statistics. Teammates come first and showing respect to opponents and referees are essential. Lin's rise from obscurity and his outspoken evangelical faith have many sports writers calling him the "Taiwan Tebow."

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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - I am not one to watch professional sports on television. I simply do not have the time. However, the other evening I was traveling for a meeting and the sports section of the television news caught my eye.

A young and dynamic basketball player for the New York Nicks was darting from one end of the court to another and making spectacular plays. Aside from his incredible speed, what really got my attention was the fact that his arms were not covered with tattoos and his face bore a huge smile.

An immediate thought came to my mind, "This guy must be a Christian." When I did a Google search, I found out that my hunch was right.

An unknown Asian American from California and a Harvard graduate has become an overnight
sensation. Everyone is talking about him and he is a devout Christian.

A recent Religion News Service article quoted him saying, "I'm just thankful to God for everything. Like the Bible says, 'God works in all things for the good of those who love Him.'"

Lin's parents, Gie-Ming and Shirley came over to the United States from Taiwan in the mid-1970's. No matter what was going on with basketball, they taught their son Jeremy that he had to be in church on Sunday.

Stephen Chen is the pastor of Redeemer Bible Fellowship located in Mountain View, California. "Very early in his life he decided to pay heed to the call of Christ to take up the cross daily and follow after him," Chen said.

Jeremy Lin credits his parents with teaching him to play "godly basketball," which measures success by sportsmanship, not by statistics. Teammates come first and showing respect to opponents and referees are essential.

Lin's rise from obscurity and his outspoken evangelical faith have many sports writers calling him the "Taiwan Tebow."

"We could probably count on one hand the number of Asian-Americans who speak out as prominent Christians," said Melanie Mar Chow of the Asian American Christian Fellowship, a campus ministry. "It's great to have a role model like him."

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Father James Farfaglia is the Pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, TX. Click here and listen to Father's Sunday homilies. Visit Father on the web and check out his book Get Serious - A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics, an inspirational and easy to follow guide for living a deeper spiritual life. Father's new book is an excellent Lenten companion.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Jeremy Lin, professional Basketball, New York Knicks, LA Lakers, Asian, Taiwan Tebow, Fr James Farfaglia

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1 - 1 of 1 Comments

Jess Simpson
6 months ago
I appreciated the list of current Christian basketball players. I recently read another article likening some people’s approach to Christianity as the “buzzer beaters” we sometimes see at the end of games at http://www.alivewithchrist.com/buzzerbeaters/

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