Hoops and Hopes

Story by TAP Partner, Caleb Shocklie (serving in Scotland with his family)

A big part of what we do here in Meadowbank is run a weekly basketball group. Every Thursday night at 7pm we gather to play pick-up basketball for an hour. I (Caleb) started this group about a year ago now with the intention of meeting some people in the community and making friends.

There is not a huge basketball scene in Edinburgh or Scotland for that matter but there is a small community of players looking for a place to play. We started the group in the hopes of making friends and building some community and a year later we have really accomplished that goal. It has been slow but it has also been steady. After basketball I would invite anyone who was interested to head over to a local restaurant for grub and to foster comradery. Now these get togethers we’ve chatted about our favorite NBA teams to upbringings to faith and everything in between. From there we’ve been able to have several of the players and their families in our homes for meals, play dates, NFL game nights, hang outs, etc.

My wife, Summer, has befriended many of the wives of the players and I find they get together much more often than I do with the lads. From one hour of basketball a week we’ve been able to foster deeper friendships and deeper community here in Meadowbank. We continue to deepen these friendships and to learn more about their beliefs and share our faith with them as well. We are hopeful as they “taste and see” the goodness of Jesus in our lives they will be drawn into the abundant life Christ has to offer.