Our unsettled world could use more reminders of God’s ability to bring light from darkness.
On Saturday on the social media platform Instagram, power forward and devout Christian Jonathan Judah Isaac of the NBA’s Orlando Magic posted a heartwarming video that showed a group of fatherless boys cheering with excitement upon learning that they would receive a free pair of Isaac’s signature Judah 1 basketball shoes.
Better yet, each shoe features a Bible verse. And the video captured the moment when one boy searched and then read from Exodus 3:14 on his phone.
“I AM that I AM,” the smiling boy said while holding his phone and reading the verse.
The boy had just received a pair of the Judah 1 Exodus. Isaac’s Judah collection also includes four other styles of basketball shoes, all Bible-themed.
“Thank you, Jonathan Isaac. Thank you for helping us,” an older boy said in the ensuing clip.
The 26-year-old NBA player had help in distributing the shoes.
“Big s/o to @idolsaside for the kingdom work they do with fatherless youth in Orlando! Checkout @weareunitus for the Judah 1,” he wrote on Instagram.
Idols Aside Ministries has brought attention to the nationwide epidemic of fatherlessness.
Operating in Central Florida for the last 15 years, IAM has established a mission to “introduce Fatherless youth to Christ through the avenues God has called us to use and to see the body of Christ rise up and do the same!”
Those “avenues” include education, hunting retreats and, of course, sports camps.
At the beginning of the Instagram video, an adult male — presumably an IAM representative — read to the boys from Proverbs 28:1.
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as lions,” the man said while holding his phone, thereby modeling the behavior that prompted the excited young boy to read Exodus 3:14 from his own phone.
Boys certainly need to hear messages of righteousness and boldness from men who can serve as role models.
Isaac joined the Magic in 2017. Despite a major knee injury that derailed his ascension to stardom and cost him more than two full seasons, he has established himself as a defensive stalwart and valuable bench player.
During the Black Lives Matter madness of 2020, Isaac made headlines by refusing to kneel before games.
Are you a fan of Jonathan Isaac?
“We all make mistakes, but I think that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us, and that Jesus came and died for our sins, and that we all will come to an understanding of that, and understand that God wants to have a relationship with us, that we can get past skin color, we can … get past all the things in our world that are messed up, jacked up,” he said as part of a lengthy and inspiring explanation of why he refused to kneel for BLM or wear a BLM T-shirt.
In 2023, having recovered from his injury, Isaac introduced his Bible-themed basketball shoes.
The nationwide epidemic of fatherlessness undoubtedly ranks among modern society’s most devastating developments.
But that epidemic also gave Isaac and IAM an opportunity to demonstrate how God can bring light from darkness.
