The great beyond

We have already mentioned PETE MARAVICH, one of the best scorers in the NBA and, indeed, all the college leagues.

Pete was outstanding because of his unique ability to do the most incredible things. It was said that no one could throw or dribble like him.

He made his way in professional basketball with training, discipline and sacrifice.

When he was a child he trained with several balls at the same time and practised dribbling on curbs or railway lines, in order to learn to control the ball. He wanted to be the best.

And he was. For ten years he was one of the most admired professional players. He earned all the money he wanted and won individual and team fame, but when he retired his life was empty and meaningless. He was desperate to find some happiness.

Soon after retiring, Pete Maravich gave his life to Jesus, who brought to his life the meaning he'd been searching for.

It was interesting to hear Pete talk about God's love, and how Jesus is the only one who can bring happiness and meaning to life.

He'd achieved all you can in this life, but he had come to realise that God was all he needed: "With him, life is completely different," he said.

A few years later, Peter died. He was only 40, and he had a great future helping others in basketball, but God took him.

All of us have faced tough questions in life. Sometimes we can't understand God's will for a specific time in our life.

The answers are never easy, for the simple reason that we're used to seeing life within the perspectives of space and time.

Do you remember Job? Everyone mentions him when something bad happens, but few have been so thoroughly tested by evil. Job learned a lot!

Perhaps we need to learn some of the same things in situations that we don't understand.

Job learned that he could be honest with God, no matter what. He learned to strengthen his trust in God, and that life is lived on two levels: the physical level of suffering, and the spiritual level, on which a terribly important battle was taking place; one that he could only win through faith in God.

We, too, must learn to see things with spiritual eyes. Our earthly life means very little in comparison with "the great beyond ", which is real, in spite of our present suffering and lack of understanding.