On July 21, 2017, Jeremy Lin led a rally in Taichung Tunghai University, marking the seventh consecutive year he has returned to Taiwan.
More than 4,000 attended the meeting from over 50 churches in Taiwan, according to Taiwan Kingdom Revival Times. The rally was co-hosted by Taiwan Taichung Churches Alliance, Tunghai University, and Good TV, a television station in Taipei mainly providing Christian and evangelistic messages.
The Taiwanese-American NBA player shared his frustrations and criticism he experienced in the NBA in his speech titled "Never Stop Chasing Your Dream," encouraging participants to chase their own dreams. However, the Brooklyn Nets guard stressed that it was more important to place the Lord's love and God's kingdom before your dreams, so chasing your dream would not be empty and you would receive real peace and joy.
In talking about the experience of chasing his dream, Lin said that he loved playing basketball and was also a big dreamer as a kid. He told his family he would be the first Asian player in the NBA and make ten million dollars; one million for God and another for his parents and brother each. Apart from his parents though, his family friends and basketball players thought that it was impossible to realize his dream due to his height. However, he experienced a miracle and entered the NBA. His dreams come true, and even created "Linsanity," but what about later?
"Linsanity taught me probably the most important two things in my life: dreams without an identity in Jesus Christ will leave you empty...So we are gonna have a goal and accomplish a goal and then make another one. " He said that even though we were admitted to a prestigious university, we would feel empty, feeling that life is full of an endless pursuit of something.
Citing Matthew 6:33, the Christian celebrity claimed that we must first seek God's kingdom and His righteousness and then chase our dreams. Knowing our identity as God's children is even more important than chasing our dreams. When you understand God's love and love him back, you experience a different level of purpose.
-Translated by Karen Luo
