Sports Devotional Bible-NIV: Daily Inspirations for Sports Enthusiasts [Hardcover]

No wonder the Bible uses sports to illustrate its principles—the sports world is filled with stunning, powerful metaphors for Biblical truths! The Sports Devotional Bible will open your eyes to the spiritual lessons contained in the sports you love. From the stamina and speed of Olympic racing, to the raw combat of pro football, to the beauty and grace of figure skating, this Bible brings God’s Word to life with dramatic insights from the lives of professional athletes, coaches, and announcers.

Drawing from Sports Spectrum magazine’s vast storehouse of information on Christian athletes, editor Dave Branon presents a devotional best-of-the-best from the exploits and testimonies of popular sports figures. The Sports Devotional Bible includes:

A year’s-worth of daily insights and weekend readings designed to drive home the lessons of Scripture with inspiring stories from all corners of the world of sports Special feature articles showing how virtues such as character, trust, perspective, discipline, and faith make both great athletes and strong Christians "Time Out" articles that illustrate Biblical principles or explain verses "Power Verses" listing athletes’ favorite verses "Power Verse Plus" featuring thoughts from famous athletes on passages of Scripture Full-color inserts with photos and biographies of sports stars Book introductions, topical index, and reading plans . . . and more!

The riveting stories of hundreds of great Christian athletes and sports figures unlock the Bible’s teachings on faith in God and life on earth.

It’s easy to see how athletes can get down and depressed. They live with failure every day. Take for example the troubles that plagued professional golfer Jackie Gallagher-Smith in 1997. She had worked hard in 1996 to get her Tour card, which would have enabled her to compete on the LPGA Tour in 1997. She finished 13th in qualifying school, which was good enough to put her on the Tour in 1997.

So what happened to her when the 1997 season opened? While playing the first hole of the first event of the season, she tried to extricate her ball from a bunker. Her club head slammed into the lip of the bunker, and she injured her hand.

As a Christian, she had a choice. She could get angry at God, blame him for her troubles and sink into despair. Or she could continue to lean on him—which is what she did. Later, she told a Sports Spectrum magazine writer about that decision, saying, "God builds your character through troubled times, and he wants you to draw closer to him when you have difficulties. People tend to push God away because they think he doesn’t care, but those are the times God really wants you to cling to him."

With Jackie’s story in mind, let’s look back at the difficulties the psalmist faced in Psalm 88: "My soul is full of trouble." (verse 3) "My life draws near the grave." (verse 3) "I am like a [person] without strength." (verse 4) "You have taken from me my closest friends." (verse 8)

It seems that, like Jackie, the psalmist faced what seemed to be unfair circumstances. And although there is a continuing sadness in the psalmist’s story of affliction, there is an important similarity to Jackie’s story. Both continued to lean on God and depend on him. Jackie talked about clinging to God, and the psalmist, by his writing, shows that he was continuing to pray to God. He knew that cutting off communication with God while in a crisis was disastrous, and he continued to hold on to the only one who could see him through.—From the "Weekend: Extra Points" for Psalm 88

Includes full-color inserts featuring Michelle Akers on Troubles/Trials (Romans 8:28) Jean Driscoll on Life at Its Fullest (2 Corinthians 1:8–9) Dave Szott on Fatherhood (Psalms 127, 128) Frank Tanana on Salvation (John 3) Wendy Ward on Joy (Psalm 81:1) Kurt Warner on Giving (2 Corinthians 8:14–15) Danny Wuerffel on Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13)

Plus: Leah Amico, Rico Brogna, Bobby Clampett, Josh Davis, Sal Fasano, LaVonna Martin-Floreal, Chris Godfrey, Tracy Hanson, Kedra Holland-Corn, Ken Hutcherson, Scott Mendes, Mike Moye, Frank Pastore, Frank Reich, Jay Riemersma, Bobby Richardson, Charlotte Smith