Review: The Reason For Sports by Ted Kluck


The Reason For Sports: A Christian FanifestoThe Reason For Sports: A Christian Fanifesto by Ted Kluck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up while walking through a Christian book store (back when those existed). The timing in my life could not have been more critical. I was just coming to the point in life where my relationship with God started to seem really central and I was diving hard into "discipleship." Which was good. But as in most good things, excess was near at hand.

I was questioning whether Christians who were "serious" about their faith should waste time on make believe. Fiction books and sports being the two most pertinent examples in my own life. Ted took my hand and walked me off the ledge, by skillfully showing

1) fun is actually a God-given gift. The enjoyment of athletics is a gift from above. Or to borrow from Dr. Suess, sports are fun and fun is good.

2) More importantly, through his portraits of people, especially Tyson and Williams, Kluck helped me to see what my own sports experience should have: sports are about people. And God values people. So insofar as sports are an avenue to connecting with other human beings and learning about them, sports have a value even beyond the fun.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Subscribe to the Stopping to Think newsletter:

Popular posts from this blog

Why We're Moving

I hate when people say that their motivation behind something is, "God told me to do it." Or that they "had a peace" or they "felt God wanted them too." Not because there is anything wrong with those statements so much as most people using them come off as completely disingenuous. I want to do something and don't want you to question my actions or motives, thus I will claim God's leading. Who are you to question God? Now that I that out there, I want to tell you why we're moving. Because God said to. Not written in a book, or in an audible voice. But there is no doubt in my mind that God wants us to move to Iowa. The question you may ask is, why is that important? It is important if for no other reason than that people don't think my wife is dragging me away from Idaho. Three years ago, when we were in that long-distance dating, trying to figure out where this thing is going stage, I had full intent to move to Iowa. It was prett obvio...
Read more

Posers

Last night over in Harrison, I had the privilege of listening to Wayne Eve speak on Christian "posers." That is to say, those people who are so called "nominal Christians." He went over what a poser looks like, and contasted that with what God has actually called us to.  And as I lay in bed last night afterward, I couldn't get the topic out of my mind, and my thoughts were churning relelntlesy.  I had to get up and open the Word, and God pointed me to Hebrews 10, and what I saw there is what I'm going to write. You see, in Scripture there isn't anyone who could be called a "nominal" Christian. The term really is an oxymoron. Claiming the name of Christ without a willingness to lay aside all earthly things is of no lasting value. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved. It sounds so incredibly easy. But then if you turn back to John 3:36 you will see the unmistakable link between belief ...
Read more

A quick thought on Christian thought.

Okay, so it's late, so I'm gonna keep this short.  But I'm gonna ask you a few questions and ask you to think through them critically, because I believe your answers to them will radically affect your beliefs...let me rephrase, they do  radically affect your beliefs, this will simply aid us in identifying this circumstance.  When we read the Bible we often come up with questions.  This is good, and healthy.  Questions encourage thought and when we question and subsequently find answers our thoughts are more firmly established, faith is built, etc.  But there are times when we come to Scripture and are troubled by what we find.  Times when God exercises speedy justice and we question His fairness.  Times when we see something go unpunished and question His justice.  Times when we come up against a doctrine (eg, predestination) that seems to contradict our view of who God is and/or how He operates.  In times like these ...
Read more