This book will take you on an awesome spiritual, as well as a physical excursion. It will challenge the reader to examine the core essence of true spiritual power within; using basketball as a visual and tangible tool. It is a user-friendly book that harmoniously illustrates succinct comparisons between the act of fundamentally shooting a free throw in the game of basketball and the simular ability to simply believe and accept the free gift of salvation given from God (Our Creator) through His supreme sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ who died a substitutional death for our sins.  Explore an insightful study of the Holy Bible through basketball.  We will examine issues pertaining to leadership, fellowship, and stewardship. Other topics include, but or not limited to Christian Discipline, The Renovation of the Heart and Mind, Hope & Imagination.  Also, we discuss the physical human body and how these topics  portray biblical parallels with shooting the basketball with accuracy, proficiency, and God’s covenant to man of blessed assurance. This book takes a glimpse from the eyes of a young man who unlike most of the basketball players on my high school team had played the game in little league and were more advance.  On the other hand, I was first  introduced to the game when I was an eleventh grader. Our author, Johnny Jefferson has selected an excellently descriptive title: “Faith and Free Throws: Seven Days To Improve Your Game and Your Life”.  It is the literal doctrine that presents an outstanding array of both basketball and biblical truths.

To begin, as a young boy growing up in the city of Dallas, Texas in the early 60’s and 70’s, Jefferson grew up in the inner city where there were minimal accessible basketball courts, recreation centers, or YMCA’s located in our neighborhood. In fact, there was only a few kids in the neighborhood that had basketball goals in the yard.  However, there was one option in my neighborhood when we played basketball. We used the dirt from the ground as our court. It may sound humorous, but as I reflect, I discovered how there were actually some positive benefits to learning how to play the game in the dirt first.  For instance, you are forced to learn how to dribble the ball with control on an uneven surface. Since the basketball goal is oftentimes hanging on a tree, or the side of your house.  It was more than likely not set at the regulated 10ft as the official height should be. This means you will have to learn how to adjust your game and shoot the ball to hit the precise angle of the rim so it would bounce from that angle, and focus to target and hit the inner side of the net.  However, with the good, there has to be some bad or negative aspects to playing the game in the dirt.  For instance, there was no half court, no full court, no calls, no out of bounds, and absolutely no free throws.  That’s right if you really wanted to play basketball where I grew up… (And I did), you would play in the dirt and like it!)  With this descriptive introduction to the game, there is no wonder that I didn’t really learn how to play organized basketball on the court until high school. Once I discovered the game on the official level with rules, structure, and running plays; needless too say, like Adam the first man; I was completely lost.  From a religious perspective, it was like the Creation period of our world.

Originally, Adam was in the Garden of Eden, He was litrally confined to adapt to his environment in Paradise, or what he understood as Paradise.  Although,  he really had nothing else to compare it to. Why was it Paradise? I think it was because he understood it, this was his normal. Just like playing in the dirt was my normal. Like Adam’s world, I was free to walk around in the dirt without rules,  and without regulations. If I needed a free throw line, we simply got a stick and drew one in the dirt. Meanwhile, back to the garden;  there was only one rule that was implimented. There were many trees that God provided for fruit to eat, but there was one tree that God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from or they would surely die.  As you know, they would  later challenge His authority,  and siultaneously introduced sin and death into both their own and our perfect world.  As we carefully examine the attributes of both worlds; the world without bounds and limits,  and the world with laws, rules, and regulations.  There are various common denominators that we can observe which would introduce a myriad of spiritual parallels. Consider the magnificent precision, the intricate detail, and spiritual self-control manifested from a “world without form and void.” According to Scripture, this was our world from the beginning. Simultaneously, in the beginning, that is, during Creation; then the word of God was spoken. Certainly, we know the word was with us from the beginning because the word was God in Spirit. Enjoy!