Who are You Playing For?

By-and-large college athletics maintains a degree of purity that professional sports has lost. If you are not a sports fan, stick with me as this is not a story about sports per se.

Especially during the college football bowl season and the NCAA basketball tournament there are a number of human interest stories that transcend the athletic competition.

I’ve been moved by stories of athletes escaping war-ravaged homelands to achieve academic and athletic success along with much valued freedom; or of young men who have lost both parents due to drugs and gang violence and have successfully taken on the responsibility of raising their younger siblings while attending college and excelling in sports.

This past week, another inspiring story has risen above the excitement of athletic wins and losses.

Stephen Curry is a 20-year-old sophomore basketball player for Davidson College. Davidson is a 1,700 student liberal arts college near Charlotte, North Carolina. Curry played remarkably well and led his team to unprecedented success in the 2008 NCAA Basketball Tournament. While his accomplishments are record-worthy, what has gained significant notice are his feet—or what is on them.

On Curry’s NIKE basketball shoes, is a handwritten quote, “I can do all things…” Often this type of writing would be a sure sign of bravado or cockiness. That frequently happens in sports. Curry is different. He has exhibited a humility that's perfectly at odds with the statement he penned on his shoes.

"It's easy to give a lot of glory to yourself when you have a lot of success," Curry said in an ESPN.com interview. "And I could get into the mind-set that everything I'm doing is because of me. But I just can't think like that."

So it seems the writing on his shoes is not the product of a me-first mentality or an overblown ego lurking beneath a shell of false modesty. There just wasn't enough room to finish the quote.

"Oh, that," Curry said. "It's Philippians 4:13: 'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.' It's always been one of my favorite Bible verses. … I realize that what I do on the basketball court isn't a measure of my own strength. Having that there keeps me focused on the game, a constant reminder of Who I'm playing for."

Stephen Curry is an accomplished athlete. He is also an outstanding spokesman for Jesus in his own unique way.

It is helpful to realize that you too can be an outstanding spokesman for Jesus, and you don’t need to be an accomplished athlete. Curry used the opportunities and tools available to him to share his faith. You can too.

What is "your game?" What are you doing in the arena in which God has placed you that points to Him?