I love basketball. It is the sport I played the most as a kid. I enjoy following the NBA on the internet – probably making up for the fact that Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls two months after I left Chicago!
With people who do not know the game well, the assumption which rules is that you have to be tall to play basketball. With people who do know the game well, the assumption which rules is that having your shot blocked, or rejected, is the most embarassing thing that can happen to you (and probably why it is the #1 goal when this ol’ fella plays basketball with his sons now!).
Well … take a look at this clip which my son Martin showed me. How did I miss this when it happened? The shortest player in the NBA – Nate Robinson at 5′ 6″ – blocks the shot of the tallest player in the NBA – Yao Ming at 7′ 5″. It has to be the most remarkable thing I have ever seen on a basketball court.
nice chatting
Paul
About Me

the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…
Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…
Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…