The best college basketball player in the country in 1993 was Indiana University’s Calbert Cheaney—and I was a HUGE fan. Little did I know God would use Calbert to give me a glimpse of glory at an impressionable age.
I was fifteen-years-old and in love with the game of basketball. My sister Julie was a senior at Indiana, where Calbert was breaking scoring records. Because Julie and Calbert were classmates, I assumed she would introduce us the next time I visited. I knew everyone in my class at school, so surely she knew everyone in hers, right? It didn’t occur to me that her class had over 7,000 students—and that her “classmate” was the most famous person on campus.
One Friday, my parents and I made the four-hour drive to Bloomington to see Julie. Correction: they were going to see Julie. I was going to meet Calbert Cheaney.
As soon as we arrived, I gave Julie a hug and said, “When are we going to meet him? We need to do it either tonight or tomorrow—we leave early Sunday morning!”
But Friday night slipped by—no Calbert.
Saturday morning arrived—no Calbert.
By Saturday afternoon, I was losing hope.
Saturday evening came . . . still no Calbert.
By late Saturday night, I was deflated. It had finally hit me that I wasn’t going to meet him. Back in our hotel room, I said my prayers before bed. I’d been taught as a boy that prayer meant sharing my heart with God, the one who knows me best and loves me most. So, I asked God to make it possible for me to meet Calbert Cheaney. I remember feeling embarrassed by the request. I knew there were greater problems in the world, but I couldn’t help it—that was my heart. Afterwards, I fell asleep.
The next morning at 6 a.m. I heard my dad whisper, “Zach . . . wake up . . . Calbert’s here.”
Standing at the end of my bed was 6’7″ Calbert Cheaney. I shot out of bed, got his autograph, and took a photo with him, still in my boxer shorts. It turns out Calbert’s parents were visiting him and staying in the same hotel. My dad ran into him in the elevator, recognized him, and asked if he would come wake me up. Calbert graciously agreed.
Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
Coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe God wanted to remind me, at fifteen years old, that he sees me. Maybe he wanted my imagination captivated by his goodness as I entered my high school years. Maybe he wanted me to learn to pray big prayers.
Sometimes when I share this story, people respond with the old adage, “faith like a child.” I agree. I learned faith as a child—and doubt as an adult. Not every prayer is answered the way we hope, not even close. Seasons of pain, waiting, and disappointment have a way of shaking your faith. At least, they’ve shaken mine.
But then I remember that my faith isn’t built on answered prayers; it’s built on the gospel, the good news that God loves me, proven by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So, amid unanswered prayers or difficult circumstances, I can always point to the cross and declare with childlike faith, “The God who created the universe loves me.”
Because God loves me, I will continue to pray big prayers—even bigger than the one I prayed about Calbert Cheaney. I want to model this for my kids and encourage them to pray big prayers too. I want their imaginations captured by the God who loves them and who is active in their everyday lives.
As I pray big prayers with and for my kids, I will remind them that, whether those prayers are answered or not, our faith rests in a God who loves us deeply. We can look back to the cross as evidence that this is true and look forward to the future with hope, no matter what. And along the way, as we look to the One who knows us best and loves us the most, He will give us wonderful glimpses of glory.
Calbert woke me up to this.
Tambika and the Shield of Wisdom
As long as she’s been alive, Tambika’s tribe, the Hehe, has lived in conflict. She longs to be a leader who stands up for her people, but her desire for vengeance endangers her destiny. When Tambika and her friends break into the German armory to take back their tribe’s silver, she attacks a young soldier and flees the scene. As she escapes into the bush, Tambika sees a cosmic light that fills the sky and transports her to another realm, the land of Glideon.
