From Brent and Dina
The Lord has kept us busy this last year. In 2002 Hoops
of Hope was involved in sixty-eight ball-handling shows,
nineteen basketball clinics, played fourteen exhibition basketball
games, directed seven weeks of basketball camp and influenced
over 14,000 people for Jesus! 2003 looks to be busy as you can
tell by the schedule below, and there are already eight weeks
of basketball camp scheduled for the summer in Florida, California
and Colorado.
I went to Lubbock, Texas two days ago and read Seven
Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible by Erwin Lutzer (Senior
Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago). It was an awesome book and
I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for the
facts behind their faith in Christ.
One thing that jumped out at me was what an
amazing book the Bible is. The Bible is a library of sixty-six
books with about forty human authors, written over fifteen hundred
years, in three languages on three continents. Yet, it is woven
together with one theme, to tell about God’s love and mercy for
us and how He sent us a Savior. II Timothy 3:16 tells us that
the Bible is God-breathed. In other words it is inspired by God
and infallible in its original manuscripts.
Lutzer uses historical, scientific, archeological
and logical evidence as proof for the accuracy of the Bible and
therefore our faith. He looks to nature and tells us that the size
of the known universe is unbelievably large and ever expanding. Our
Milky Way Galaxy has 100 billion stars and is 100,000 light years
in diameter. One light year is the distance light can travel in
one year at 186,000 per second. That’s pretty big but only the
beginning. Since there are at least 10 million galaxies, each with
millions of stars, this shows the awesomeness of God’s creation.
The Bible says that God holds all of this in His hand, that He
created all of it by speaking it into existence and holds it all
together by the power of His being. Now if that doesn’t get your
attention, then I don’t know what will!
Another reason that the Bible is so important,
Lutzer states, is because the Bible sheds light on our self-delusion.
Many people often think I’m not so bad compared to say Hitler;.
Our goal is not to compare to others but rather to the Word of
God. When we do that, we all come up short. If God left us in that
state then we would be in terrible trouble but Praise God!, He
doesn’t. He points us to his grace through nature, the message
of the Bible and other Christians. If you’ve not accepted His grace
and forgiveness in your life, then do it today. Settle that
question for all eternity right now by accepting the Lord into
your heart.
Remember, the Bible is unique because it can
be mysterious to the most learned person yet can be understood
by a child.
Kevin's Korner
The truth shall set you free!
Over the past two months we have been in and out of prisons across the
state and I have picked up on one common desire of these men. That
desire is to be free. The main prayer request that we receive is
to pray that the parole board will set these prisoners free. To the
prisoner freedom is defined by release from their sentence.
The unfortunate part is that many of these men
have ended up returning to prison again and again for the same
offense. The parole board let them out of jail, but these men did
not really have freedom. True freedom can only come from God.
God is the only One who can free us from the sins that control
our lives.
The message that Hoops of Hope brings to
them is that with God’s help they can actually change the habits
and sins that have imprisoned their lives. Jesus said, "Then
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John
8:32 (NIV) The ‘truth’ is the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
Whether we are in prison or not we can still be held captive by
sin in our lives. Allow the truth of Jesus to set you free!
Prayer Requests
- Kevin and Rachel Boaz as they continue to raise
their support and develop new contacts
- For the health of Dina and our new baby coming
in late April
- Praise the Lord, Debbie Wadle’s appeal was approved
and she is free on bond
- Please continue to pray for her and Arnold as
they face the possibility of a third trial
- Pray for all the upcoming events listed below,
for safe travel and the Gospel to go forth
- For the prison team as they play games in March
and April
- Finances to continue to improve
May the Lord Bless and keep you all!!!