Shooting for Fame

A member of Finland’s national basketball team finds that he cannot escape his Christian heritage.

By Olavi Kinnari

It is a very uncomfortable thing to have one foot in Christianity and one foot in the world, but that is exactly the position I found myself in some years ago. It shouldn’t have been that way. I was brought up in a Christian family. In my home we always had family devotions together every day. I was saved when I was very young, perhaps about ten years of age or even younger. But, little by little, my connection with God just went away.

I started to play basketball, and it became a very serious business for me. At the age of fifteen I began playing on a basketball team, and within two years I was so good that I could enter the first team. I still prayed and read my Bible every day, and I tried to tell myself that I was a very good Christian.

Fame came my way

I became more and more well-known in Finland, and when your name and picture is in the newspaper and so on, you start to think highly of yourself. It happened like that with me. Before long there was a kind of fire in my bones driving me to practice every day, or as often as was physically practical. I played in the top level in our country, and I was the top scorer. I played for our national team too, and it just continued that way.

At the same time that I was playing basketball, I was studying at the University. I didn’t get the best results at first because of all the time I spent practicing basketball. But I thank the Lord that even though I wasn’t serving Him as I should have been, He helped me with my studies, and I was able to graduate from the University.

A brush with death

At the end of my time at the University, I received a scholarship to go to France to continue my studies. There, too, I played basketball, and through that I made many friends. One day I decided to visit my country, Finland, with a few of my friends from France. It was Easter time and we took my car and drove from France to Finland. At first everything went well on our trip, but one night as I was driving and my friends were sleeping, a big lorry hit us. There, up in the air with the lights spinning around me, I knew I was on my way to Hell. There was nobody to tell me this. It was just something inside of me that knew. Everything happened very fast. You have no time to think of eternity when you are in a car flying through the air. I just cried out in my heart, “O Jesus, help me!” And He did. Miraculously, I walked away from that accident without any harm, and none of my friends were hurt either. The car, however, was totally wrecked. I remember very well that afterward I was trembling inside for about two or three weeks as I thought about that night. I could not forget how God spared my life and helped me walk away from that accident without any harm. But I was still a very hard man.

When I was in France, I decided I could finally escape from all the advice about God and how I should behave myself. But I couldn’t get away from the Scriptures and the teachings of my parents. The prayers of my parents followed me every day. Even though I thought I was free, God’s eye was on me all the time, so I couldn’t go deep into sin. Still, the devil was always speaking in my ear saying, “Well, now you can really taste life. Now you can do everything you wanted to do back in Finland.”

Ran out of money

While I was in France, my father passed away. It was quite a shock to me because I realized he had died without seeing me saved. But I knew that his prayers were bottled in Heaven, and one day they got results. When I had no more money to continue my studies in France, I had the opportunity to continue there as a coach or a student player. But for some reason, I returned to Finland. I don’t really know why I made that decision, but I feel it must have been the prayers of my mother and my brothers that brought me back home.

Once back in Finland, I had a difficult time finding a job, but finally I got a teaching position at the University. It was a miracle. About that time, my younger brother got into contact with the Apostolic Faith Church in Norway and they invited our family to their camp meeting held annually in Stavanger. We had very little money, but my family prayed and we got as much as we needed for the trip to Norway. We had a small car, and eight of us drove to the camp meeting. We had never been there before, but God was leading us, because there God worked a wonderful miracle for me. At that Stavanger camp meeting, I was saved once more.

Prayed through

It wasn’t an easy battle. The devil was right there saying that I had lots of time yet. He told me that I hadn’t tasted enough of this world, but just a very little bit. He said that if I got saved I would lose all my friends. However, I thank the Lord that there were a lot of people around me, praying for me and encouraging me to pray through. And, thank God, I did that. I prayed through and was saved that day, and afterward I could feel that song we were singing, “It’s Burning in My Soul.” It was real in my soul, and I felt how sweet it was. Of course, I had to go back to Finland after the camp meeting, and the devil was still there when I had to make some restitutions. He said I could never do it, but I did, by the grace of God.

The next year we went again to the camp meeting in Norway, and there someone mentioned that maybe our family could move there. We had never thought about such a thing, but from that day on we started to pray about it. My mother put a fleece before God, saying if it was fulfilled, we would move. And one day it was fulfilled. We knew God was directing us, and we decided to move without even knowing anything about the possibilities of getting work in Norway. It was quite hard for me to give up my job at the University, because I knew it would not be easy to find a teaching job in a foreign country. However, I gave it up, and since that day we have lived in Norway.

God was beside us

So many wonderful things happened. First my brother Keijo got a job, and then I found work at a service station. We could live that way. Later I got a teaching position at the local college for a few hours a week, and then a teaching job at the high school. Norwegian and Finnish languages are quite different, and it wasn’t an easy time for us because of the language and work problems, but we had God beside us and He helped us all the time.

When our mother passed away, I learned that I could not lean on our parents’ experiences. I remember well that when I was younger I would always depend upon our father, who was a preacher. He was the pastor in our hometown, and he was always praying for us. We trusted in him, and in his prayers. But when both of my parents passed from here to the Glory Land, I realized that I had to pray for myself.

I received my sanctification in Norway, and when I visited the Portland camp meeting in 1986, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These spiritual landmarks have been very important in my life. I have been tempted in many ways and have had problems many times, but God has helped me. He has given me power to fight against the devil and his attacks, and has blessed me in many ways.

Later I married a good Christian girl, and now I have my own family. Again in this part of my life, I have seen how important it is to trust God in every way. I am so thankful that I am learning to pray and to keep on praying, to read my Bible, and I see that my faith is increasing every day. When my wife and I face problems, we can get an answer.

Victory in Jesus!

I am so thankful that this man, who was once a basketball player trying to become famous, has found the Lord. I was trying to get something from this world, thinking I could control what happened to me, but in fact, the devil was kicking me around and doing what he wanted with me. But today I have victory in Jesus, and I want to follow Him to the end. I want to see people saved so that one day I can stand before God with something in my hands. How terrible it would be if I, who have received so much from God, should come before Him empty-handed! I thank the Lord that I have been born again, and have a part in the Gospel that is more valuable than all the money and all the riches in this world.

Olavi Kinnari is a minister of the Apostolic Faith Church in Stavanger, Norway.