Jeremy Lin, the first Asian-American to play in the NBA, returned to Taiwan for a ten day visit at the beginning of August. In addition, Lin talked about his life, faith, and dream to his fans at the event “Harvard Kid~Jeremy Lin Basketball Life Sharing” that was held at the Taipei Gymnasium on August 13th.
Celebrities and former basketball players were invited to the event, and they’ve divided into teams “Return to the Lord” team and “celebrity” team for a friendly basketball match. Although Lin did not play, he did show off his half-court shooting skills and led the audiences to pray after the match.
Not only is Lin good at basketball, he is also a graduate of Harvard University. He is the first player from Harvard basketball team to play in NBA in the last 50 years.
Like many sports celebrities, Lin’s basketball journey has its ups and downs. However, he said, “Faith is my greatest source of joy and courage in face of difficulties, which helps me to walk out of depression and once again find back the faith in basketball.” Many things are incontrollable, he said, so his responsibility is to exert the greatest efforts and entrust the results in God.
While his travel itinerary in Taiwan was packed with event, Lin made a special trip to his hometown Changhua from August 5-7, teaching the disadvantaged students from Eden Foundation basic basketball skills.
These students are from the “salt-enriching whole person caring centers” that Eden supports; they ended up in learning in the community’s pro-school courses because of inadequacy in family finances and education. When the kids saw the international basketball star Jeremy Lin, they started screaming and expressions of excitement overflowed as seen from their expressions and chatters.
In the event, Lin shared with the students his heart-felt experience of diligent practices, overcoming numerous difficulties, and finally being able to stand on the NBA courts; the kids from the basketball team did not let go of any opportunity, for they immediately asked Lin to teach them some basketball skills.
To encourage the kids to not let go of their dreams, Lin specially prepared a hundred basketballs to give to the disadvantaged community of Eden Foundation, hoping that students from the remote country side won’t lose determination no matter the difficulties, and have faith in oneself to persevere.
The hero of the youths in Taiwan has returned to United States on August 14th. He promised to return to Taiwan every summer, but the first thing that he needs to do is to recover from his knee injury, and his goal in the new playoff season is to obtain a stable on-court time in every game.
