I may be a huge fan of the Detroit Tigers, but I also love reading about what other players and clubs are doing. And after reading an emotional article about Clayton Kershaw, the Cy Young winning pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, I may have a favorite player in the National League.
The article, entitled “Kershaw’s mission work allows pitcher to offer Hope” brought tears to my eyes. After the second sentence, I realized I had something in common with Kershaw besides baseball. I’ve spent a total of four weeks in Zambia, Africa, the place the Kershaws went on a mission trip. I even wrote about my time there when I was a senior in high school. Check out my portfolio to read about my experience.
I cannot wait to read their book Arise: Live Out Your Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself. I’ve downloaded the sample for my Kindle, read the foreward and introduction and now am debating on spending the $9.99 to buy it or ask someone to gift it to me – I am a broke college student after all.
I haven’t stopped thinking about this article. About the impact it has had on me as a person, about what it means for Christians in the professional sports world, about the effect that the Kershaws’ story can have on the world. The article mentions Tim Tebow, the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, that gets down on a knee and says a prayer after each of his victories.
Christians are popping out of the woodworks in the world of professional sports. I can’t wait to see how many more athletes share their stories. I’ll be waiting, ready to read them and hopefully I find them as encouraging as the story of the Kershaws.
This article is one that I will never forget. I’m going to print it out and read it often. Thank you, Clayton and Ellen, for being the Christians you are and for being an inspiration to me – an amateur sports writer with a dream of writing professionally that started when I wrote about my first experience to Africa.