The Portal

A Series on Spiritual Turning Points: A Watershed moment
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Acts 1:1-11 and Acts 2:1-13 

[God is always at work in our life – drawing us to him, helping us to become the person he created us to be and leading us to opportunities to serve him. In this series we will look at spiritual turning points in the lives of real people, and words that help us to understand how God works in us and through us. Sometimes this happens suddenly, sometimes gradually, but always with purpose.]

 

Since 2018, the NCAA transfer portal has transformed college sports into the wild west where almost anything goes. In fact, it’s not unusual for an athlete to have played for 4 or 5 different schools. In my opinion, it’s ruining the college game!

 

However, from a player’s perspective, it gives them a new opportunity to make more money, gain more playing time or to just have more control over their career. In some cases, it has changed their lives dramatically!

 

For instance, in 2025 Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana University. As their starting quarterback, he led them to winning the 2026 national championship. In addition, he won the Heisman Trophy Award and was the first pick in the NFL draft. His decision to enter the portal was a watershed moment.

 

The disciples also experienced a watershed moment. For three years they had faithfully followed Jesus throughout Galilee as he ministered to thousands of people. It was a very public ministry, and they participated in it without fear.

 

But, when Jesus was arrested, all but John deserted him. And Peter, his most vocal follower, disowned him three times. Even after Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, the disciples still feared the religious leaders as they hid behind locked doors.

 

But then on the day of Pentecost, when they were all together, something phenomenal happened that changed their lives forever.

 

² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  NIV    Acts 2

 

Because of the pilgrimage for Pentecost, there was a huge number of devout Jews in Jerusalem from all over the world. When they heard the sound, a crowd gathered to see what was happening. They were amazed because each of them heard their own language being spoken despite all the disciples being from Galilee.

 

Then Peter and the disciples stood, and Peter spoke boldly to the crowd. He clearly explained that the crowd was responsible for the death of Jesus. This is the same Peter who had deserted and disowned Jesus and hidden behind locked doors.

 

On that day, 3000 people believed and were baptized. What made the difference in the disciples? It was the following promise that Jesus had previously made to them.

 

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”            NIV    Acts 1

 

Jesus’ promise to receive the Holy Spirit is still true for us today. All we need to do is enter the portal. Thankfully, the portal is defined in the Gospel of John. Jesus spoke about it in the context of being the good shepherd.

 

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.                                                     ESV    John 10

 

This is our watershed moment.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

One Shining Moment

A Series on Spiritual Turning Points: A Defining moment
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 32:22-32 

[God is always at work in our life – drawing us to him, helping us to become the person he created us to be and leading us to opportunities to serve him. In this series we will look at spiritual turning points in the lives of real people, and words that help us to understand how God works in us and through us. Sometimes this happens suddenly, sometimes gradually, but always with purpose.]

 

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament, better known as March Madness, recently finished. Since 1987, after the clock of the championship game has hit 0:00, CBS has played the song titled “One Shining Moment”.

 

As the song plays, video clips are shown from throughout the three-week tournament highlighting game-changing plays. For many, this song is the climactic finish where you can see the raw emotion of the players, coaches and fans.

 

But, out of the 68 teams that start the single elimination tournament, only one team wins. For that team and for those players, it is a defining moment. Because for the rest of their lives… they will be national champions!

 

Jacob was constantly struggling with others to get what he wanted. Even at birth he grabbed the heal of his older twin brother Esau – a sign of things to come. Later, as a young man, Jacob made a “deal” with Esau for his birthright. Finally, he stole Esau’s blessing by deceiving their father, Isaac.

 

Because of this, Esau planned to kill Jacob once their father died. When Jacob learned about this, he fled to go live with his uncle Laban. After a month Jacob arranged with Laban to work for him for seven years. In return, Laban was to give Jacob his younger daughter Rachel in marriage.

 

However, when the time came, Laban tricked Jacob and gave him his older daughter, Leah. As a result, Jacob worked for another seven years – this time to marry Rachel. But Jacob’s struggles continued when Leah, whom Jacob didn’t want, gave birth to many sons while Rachel, whom Jacob loved, had none.

 

After twenty years, the Lord told Jacob to return to his family in Canaan to fulfill the covenant that he had made with Abraham. Therefore, Jacob gathered his wives, sons, servants and all of his livestock and possessions and left.

 

However, he was worried about how Esau would receive him. And when he learned that Esau was coming to meet him with an army of 400 men, Jacob proceeded to send gifts of livestock to precede their meeting. He also sent his wives and sons to a safe place while he stayed for the night by himself.

 

All that night Jacob wrestled with a man. But Jacob wouldn’t let him go until the man blessed him. So, the man blessed him and then changed his name from Jacob, which means “deceiver”, to Israel, which means “struggles with God”.

 

Jacob had struggled his entire life, but he finally realized that his real struggle was with God. The result was that Jacob was a changed man for “I saw God face to face”. It was his “one shining moment” that defined the rest of his life.

 

If we’re honest, we struggle with God just like Jacob. Paul wrote about this struggle in his letter to the Romans.

 

²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ^25a Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  NIV            Romans 7

 

Jacob struggled. Paul struggled. We struggle. How are you seeking Jesus? How has he redefined you?

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

A Damascus Road Experience

A Series on Spiritual Turning Points: Transformative moment
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Acts 9:1-31 

[God is always at work in our life – drawing us to him, helping us to become the person he created us to be and leading us to opportunities to serve him. In this series we will look at spiritual turning points in the lives of real people, and words that help us to understand how God works in us and through us. Sometimes this happens suddenly, sometimes gradually, but always with purpose.]

  

During the spring term of my sophomore year at Michigan Tech, my fiancé broke up with me for another guy. It turned my life upside down. 

Feeling depressed one night, I remember leaving my dorm room and going for a walk. Eventually, I laid down in the snow, looked up at the stars and cried out… “Why God”!

 

He didn’t answer me right then. But the following summer he brought Ken Baker into my life who shared with me about a personal relationship with Jesus. It’s not an overstatement to say that, as a result, my life took a whole new direction.

 

Saul, who later became Paul, was a Pharisee who meticulously obeyed the law. For Christians, he was a force to be reckoned with. In fact, following Stephen’s stoning, “a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem”. Saul was at the forefront.

 

³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.         NIV    Acts 8

 

However, Saul was obsessed in his hatred for Christians.

 

Damascus was the nearest important city to Jerusalem with a large Jewish population. It was a commercial center with caravans transporting merchandise from around the world traveling through it. Saul reasoned that if Christianity caught hold there, it would spread throughout the world. He had to stop it.

 

Therefore, he asked the high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus. These letters requested their cooperation, as well as gave Saul the authority to arrest any followers of Jesus that he discovered. Then he would take them as prisoners back to Jerusalem to be tried. This included both men and women.

 

But, as he approached the city, a “bright light from heaven flashed around him”. Then a voice spoke, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me”? It was Jesus. When Saul stood up, he was blind. Jesus told him to wait in Damascus.

 

In Damascus there was a believer named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision telling him to find Saul and lay his hands on him to restore his sight. But Saul’s reputation and the purpose of his trip had preceded him. Ananias protested.

 

¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  NIV

 

It’s ironic that the Lord chose the man who was trying to destroy his church, to instead use him to grow it. Saul stayed in Damascus for several days where “he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God”.

 

Saul’s life was transformed on the road to Damascus. In a way, I had my own Damascus Road experience in college. For God is always at work in our life, in big and small ways, to transform us into the person he created us to be.

 

² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.   NLT   Romans 12

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Yogi-isms

A Lenten Series on the number 40
Jesus’ 40 days after the resurrection
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 21 

[Historically, Lent is a 40‑day period of preparation leading up to Easter. It involves reflection and repentance with the ultimate goal of transformation. The number 40 is significant in the Bible as it is associated with multiple stories of preparation and testing. In this Lenten series, we will be looking at various Biblical stories that include the number 40, and how it applies to us.]

  

Although I’ve never been a fan of the New York Yankees, you couldn’t ignore them when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. They had so many great players like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris and Bobby Richardson. One of the most famous was Yogi Berra.

 

Although Yogi was a great player, he was also well known for his Yogi-isms. These were nonsensical sayings that he uttered during interviews. My personal favorite is "It's Déjà vu all over again".

 

We’ve all experienced that feeling where it seems like we’ve done something before but can’t quite put our finger on it. I imagine that Peter may have felt that way on the Sea of Galilee following the resurrection of Jesus.

 

Three years before that, when Jesus called his first disciples to follow him, he asked Peter to take him out on a boat to speak to the large crowd. When he was done, he asked Peter to go out further and throw out his nets. Despite the fact that Peter, a seasoned fisherman, had fished all night without catching anything… he still did it.

 

He was probably glad that he did because he caught so many fish that his partners had to bring out another boat to haul the fish to shore. When Peter saw this, he said to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

 

^10b Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!" ¹¹ And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.                       NLT   Luke 5

 

Fast forward to the 40 days following Jesus’ resurrection. Seven of his disciples had returned to the Sea of Galilee. While there, Peter decided to go fishing and as usual, the others followed. Even though they fished all night, they didn’t catch anything.

 

At dawn Jesus was standing on the shore and called out asking if they had any fish. After they answered no, he told them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat. When they did, there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul them in.

 

Sound familiar? Peter would have been reminded of his first fishing miracle with Jesus. But there was more to his Déjà vu experience.

 

John recognized Jesus and told Peter who it was. Without thinking, Peter jumped into the water and went to shore. Jesus had prepared a breakfast of bread and fish for them. When they were done, he asked Peter a pointed question. “Peter, do you love me”. In fact, he asked the same question three times.

 

¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.  NLT

 

Is it possible that Peter may have been reeling from the guilt and shame of rejecting Jesus the night he was arrested? He hadn’t reconciled with his rabbi and constant friend. So, when Jesus asked him three times if he loved him, it easily could have brought those memories and feelings crashing back. Déjà vu all over again.

 

This Easter, the risen Christ has the same question for you and me as he had for Peter – “Do you love me”. If our answer is yes, he has already told us what to do.

 

^19b Then Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.”             NLT

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com