Holding Serve

I just finished reading Michael Chang's biography today. I'm not a very good reader so it has taken me a couple of weeks. I've been trying to read more Christian books lately, this book I guess was just meant to be a lighter read.

I'll go back to the beginning. I must admit that I was never a big fan... maybe it was an asian thing. Cos he's asian, everybody i knew seemed to go for him. I must admit that he wasnt amongst my list of favourite tennis players... until... I found out that he is a Christian and I met him.

Think it was 2000 or 2001 when he came to Sydney. I was working at the tennis and drove him back to the hotel after a match. What struck me was his politeness and genuineness. A lot of the time when you're driving players around, they dont really talk to you or they can be quite rude (except for Andy Roddick!). I had Michael, his brother Carl and his dad in the car and they were just so incredibly nice and even included me in their conversation as we talked about Chinese Christian churches in Australia.

Anyway, going back to his book... i hope i'm not breaching major copyright laws but here are a couple of exerpts that really encouraged me:

"As I have thought about why I became a successful tennis player, I have come to the realisation that I cant answer that question because none of us can know the mind of God. Yet I have always held a strong feeling that God granted me a measure of on-court success because that allowed me the chance to tell others about Jesus Christ. That's why I have seen myself as an evangelist with a tennis racket ever since I won the French Open"

"It is often said that God cant do anything with you until He has broken you to the point where He can rebuild you. That's what He did with me. I had be holding on for so long. Trying too hard. And now I was going to relinquish it all to Him."

"If I have been able to draw people to the Lord through my tennis, then the fame and the money and the rankings wont compare to touching people's lives and encouraging them in the Lord, because that's someting that lasts a lifetime and beyond."

I guess in a world where we idolise pop, filmstars and sports people... I dont want to sound like that... but I must admit that I really admire Michael. I admire his honesty in everything he wrote about success, money, singleness, and his heart for Jesus' ministry. So I end with another quote...

"Be ye fishers of men, You catch 'em - he'll clean 'em."