Page 15 of Faking the Shot

Today’s study was led by Luc. Zac still hadn’t figured out the man, despite knowing him around NHL life for years. He was Winnipeg’s new captain, and had always been tough and scowly, in the same way that Chris liked to think himself. But his recent appearance onDance Off Canadahad mellowed him to the point that Luc had happily worn a pink suit because Zac dared him, thus forcing Zac to donate ten grand to charity, because the original bet of five had looked too measly.

He didn’t understand them all, but he liked the sense of brotherhood they shared. He’d always been a loner, and never had a brother; teammates were as close as he’d come. But even then there had long been a wall between himself and most. It might sound arrogant but it remained a fact: competitive guys didn’t always appreciate someone who was better.

Luc was joking around, as was Ryan, the two of them sharing a similar tease to that bouncing between Mike and Franklin. It was weird, because he’d always thought Christians were super serious, and these guys liked to joke, just like Chris did. And the fact that Zac had spent his entire life thinking God was a mean old man with a big stick, and now he was starting to think of Him more as someone who was a God of love also seemed really weird.

He didn’t say much, just kept in the background, as the others talked about the early disciples who Jesus sent out to share the good news. Then came back and shared about all the miracles they’d seen.

“And it makes me wonder,” Luc said, “how often do we keep the good news locked up inside.”

There came various murmurs of agreement.

“Which got me curious,” Luc continued, “about you, Zac. I mean, I know you’ve mentioned this before, but I thought it would be a good reminder for us about how you came to faith in God.”

“Put me under the spotlight, huh?” he griped.

“It’s not like you’ve never been there before,” Ryan teased.

True. “What do you want to know?”

“You. Your journey to faith. What was it about?”

“Um, okay.” He shot a look at Chris, seated beside him in front of the laptop on the Thomas’s dining table.

“Just tell them what you first told me.”

He shrugged. “Okay.” He tugged his baseball cap lower. “Growing up, weekends were always about sports, so I didn’t go to church much. And then these past years I’ve been pretty lucky—no, blessed”—was the approved word around here—“but it still didn’t seem to satisfy. So I noticed Chris here,” he jerked a thumb at his host, “was often inviting people to his place for dinner. I thought the dude was lonely, so I came a time or two.”

The others snorted, as Chris said, “Really?”

Zac nodded. “Then the more I spent time with him I started to notice he had this peace, and I started asking questions about it, and he answered in a way that didn’t seem too freaky.”

“What would you regard as freaky?” Mike asked.

He shrugged. “Too religious sounding, I guess. I don’t know. I’m still learning the lingo, and there’s a lot of lingo to get my head around.”

“For sure.”

“Christianese some call it,” Jai said.

That made sense. “Anyway, Chris explained we all fall short, and nobody is perfect, which I knew”—because competitive as he was, he was never as good as he wanted—“and then he explained that if there was no God then our life is meaningless anyway. And I guess it made sense. Like, I can have a Cup and a gold medal but it’s all kind of pointless unless there’s a bigger picture, right?”

“You mean heaven?” Ryan asked.

Zac nodded.

“Hate to break it to you, but I don’t think you’re taking those things to heaven with you.”

“What? Are you serious?”

He held his expression for a beat, two, until their concerned looks drew his laugh, and the guys relaxed as they recognized his tease.

“Wow. For a moment there I really thought—”

“That I was that shallow?” he interrupted Luc. “I guess it’s fair to say I have been pretty shallow, but I’m figuring a few things out now.”

In the echo of those words he remembered something he’d wanted to talk about tonight. Not that he knew how to bring up the subject easily. Maybe there’d be an opening soon.

“So what you’re saying is that you noticed Chris had something different about him and then he wasn’t shy to talk about his faith,” Luc said.