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2005 may go down as one of “those” years in sports. A major sports figure currently playing may be indicted by a federal grand jury. Barry Bonds is under investigation by a federal grand jury and his former trainer, Greg Williams, refuses to testify to the grand jury. Maurice Clarett, just four years removed from a NCAA national football championship, is now in jail facing multiple charges from robbery to consorting with known gangsters. Hugh Landis has been stripped of his Tour de France title due to doping charges.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

There are some good things, too. Just last night the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Royals did something that had never been done in a professional baseball game. In the first two innings of the game the player hitting first for each team in the inning hit a homerun. Never been done before and likely will never be done again. However, let’s leave this year and look at one year in sports which has given us a lot of unusual statistics. Some of you may not have been born yet, but what do you remember about sports in 1963.

In 1963Sandy Koufax and Elston Howard won the Most Valuable Player awards for the National and American Leagues respectively. In professional football Jim Brown and Cookie Gilchrist won the MVP for the National and American Football Leagues respectively. You don’t see the oddity in that? Sandy Koufax wore number 32. Elston Howard wore number 32. Jim Brown wore number 32. Guess what number Cookie Gilchrist wore? 32 It’s the only time MVP in the two sports all wore the same number.

But my favorite has to do with homeruns. All-time homerun king, Henry “Hank” Aaron figures into this story, as he should. Aaron was one of those homerun hitters who didn’t really hit the big bombs but he hit a lot of homers. In 1963, “Hammerin’ Hank” tied for the National League homerun crown with the slugging first baseman of the San Francisco Giants, Willie McCovey (yes, the one “McCovey’s Cove” is named after), with 44 homers. So what? Do you remember what number both Aaron and McCovey wore on their uniforms? 44 That’s two remarkable coincidences in the same year. Absolutely remarkable and likely unrepeatable. What about an intentional coincidence?

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4,5 Jesus was not born when He was born by a mere accident. God did not just randomly choose a time for Jesus to be born. Whatever criteria for having His Son born God had, everything fell into place perfectly for Jesus to be born when He was born. Had Jesus been born at the wrong time, the gospel could have been thwarted, the church silenced and I wouldn’t be writing this article for your eyes right now. The time God chose was right.

"Point of Reference" from Fred Price

Counting the Cost and Bearing the Cross