Living Dream My Life Basketball

As the New Year draws near, I find myself thinking more and more regarding purpose. I mean I want to be clear, I want to be focalized and in 2010 I want to deliver. The excitement of it all causes me at night to dream for the out of the question for my family, for my ministry and for my business. I keeping reviewing the things that I am doing at the same time attempting to be consistent in my each and everyday tasks. I decisive that amongst all the projects that I have to of course start out to invent a lot of new habits. These new habits are the catalysts that will keep me on course and focalized on my assignments.

Like most women I find it easy to slip into habits that are not beneficial to us. Like the habit of drinking to much coffee and not sufficient water. The habit of eating a lot of sweet desserts and not exercising like we should. The habit of spending too much time on the phone in conversations that brings no sustenance to our lives. I have declared that I want out of this downward spiral of mediocrity and I want MORE for my life in 2010. I have made a decision to begin to formulate habits that are contributing and benefitting my purpose.

My intention is to empower women in transition and I am going to do just that. I grasp that it will, like anything that you are attempting to do, is going to cause me to exert a lot of energy. So I am planning to develop a lot of energy in my mind, and in my body. I will develop mental energy by reading everything I may in my field. I will formulate mental energy by listening to everything I may in regards to my purpose. Then in my body, I will begin to put in those things that will provide energy for me to exercise, to play basketball with my son (I shoot like a girl of course). And to be an energetic and active wife to my husband.

Ladies, today I am going to percentage with you what it is going to take for us to deliver in 2010.

#1 We have to make a solid decision to make it happen.

Past experiences have shown me that if I make up mind to do something I competent to do the impossible.

#2 We have to be disciplined.

Discipline is what I am finding is the key factor that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.

#3 Rest and Believe

I am going to rid myself of any doubt when it comes to what I am competent to accomplish in 2010. I am going to rid myself of any conversations that speak versus the intent and or vision. I am going to surround my self with persons who are just as ambitious and even more powerful then I am when it comes to reaching their destinies.

I am going to believe IT! God is my source and my strength in each thing I do. I am going to believe him at his word no matter what. I am going to rest in the fact that Jesus has my back!

From BooklistA time-traveling Puritan would have gaped in disbelief at the Giants who joined in sparetime activity prayer for the duration of the 1991 Super Bowl. But sports historian Baker understands how American religion has come to hug athletic games in surprising ways. Richly elaborate and insightful, this narrative illuminates the circumstances that fused sports with the muscular Christianity of liberal Protestants worried that city life was making boys weak and worldly. And when World War I plunged the entire nation into a fiery trial, patriotism melded with sport and faith to form a new trinity that transcended denominational limits. Thus, Catholics joined liberal Protestants in baptizing sport and elevated Knute Rockne to cultural sainthood. Baker acknowledges that conservative Protestants, Jews, Mormons, and Moslems have neared sports in ways that have from time to time separated them from other devout fans. And he confronts the tawdry realities (gambling scandals, steroid abuse, sexual assaults) that have dismayed the pious. But this compelling mosaic leaves no doubt as to the durability of the American marriage of devotion and sport. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

ReviewThat old quarterback Bill Baker, once the passing preacher, plays with the old question, Is sports America’s unfeigned religion?, then scores with this readable and arousing and attention holding study of their interlocking history.
–Robert Lipsyte, former New York Times sports columnist (20071101)

William Baker’s Playing with God is a natural. Baker reveals the innumerable ways that religious ideas infuse sports, and the complex ways that sports resemble religion. Along the way he tells great stories, and unearths a range of beliefs and exercises all over time and faiths. This is a arousing and attention holding history.
–Elliott Gorn, author of A Brief History of American Sports (20080115)

Playing with God is sprightly, humorous, fast-paced, and judicious. No other book on modern religion and sport is as expansive, well-researched, or satisfying. Yet another touchdown by a former college quarterback!
–Benjamin G. Rader, author of American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports

Playing with God surveys the complex and dynamic kinship amid sport and religion allround American history, with a keen eye for the shifting dynamics amongst these two staples of American life. This is a superb book that invites us to consider even more cautiously the kinship among play and piety.
–Randall Balmer, Barnard College, Columbia University

In his conservatively researched, beautifully written Playing with God, Bill Baker demonstrates that athletes and ministers have long worked together, and that the idea of sport as a civic religion is far from being an accident or a turn of phrase.
–Randy Roberts, author of The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub: A Random History of Boston Sports

Baker has long specialized in sports. In this worthy addition to his works, he again considers sports in America, this time studying the mutual influence of sports and religion…Well written and highly informative.
–James F. DeRoche (Library Journal )

Baker takes the reader on a arousing and attention holding and informative trek through the history of the intimacy among religion and sports in America, and he even includes a chapter on Athletes for Allah.
–Mitch Finley (Catholic News Service )

It is the best visual representation of this interplay [between sports and religion] published to date…This book is ought to reading for anybody mesmerized in sports and religion.
–G. H. Shriver (Choice )

A valuable story with regards to the engagement of religion with sports. [Baker] focuses on U.S. history from the time of the Puritans to the present day, pausing at times to delve deeply into the stories of a few prominent figures, such as Knute Rockne, the tough-as-nails football coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and a convert to Catholicism. As a historian and researcher, Baker is exceptional, and his writing is liquid and energetic.
–David Nantais (Christian Century )

About the AuthorWilliam J. Baker is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Maine.

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Most helpful client reviews

1 of 2 humans found the following review helpful.
A must read for each Coach and Local Pastor
By A
The author does great exploration on the history of sports and how it has been interwoven within the structure of religion. I read each word. As a retired minister and pastoral counselor I was amazed as to how much sports and religion are competitory yet are parallel and both are interwoven into our progressed faith and faith systems. I have a son who is an Offensive Coordinator in a local high school and I give it to him for his birthday. It’s a great gift. I commended it last Christmas to a friend to give to their father who enjoys sports and has everything. I likewise commended it to my attorney to give to his law partner.

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