Nothing lasts forever, and NBA star Jeremy Lin knows his basketball career will soon come to a close - especially given his fight against injury.
Because of this, Lin is already pondering what kind of legacy he wants to leave. The Christian athlete told David Meltzer of Sports 1 Marketing during The Playbook podcast that it is important for him to be remembered as someone who was a good soldier for Jesus Christ despite life's many challenges.
"My legacy with the world would be, I would want them to know that I lived for God, I was faithful in my life," the 29-year-old Brooklyn Nets point guard said. "I wasn't perfect, but I always did my best and I tried to fix and right my wrongs and just do things the right way."
"The second thing I'd like people to see is that I had a lot of fun and I really tried to create change, legitimate change, in people's lives," he added. "That could be my teammates, that could be the fans that met me, that could be fans who never met me, or just people who just love my story. Being a source of inspiration or motivation to them would be pretty cool."
His 2017-18 NBA season ended prematurely after he suffered a torn patellar tendon in his right knee. It was a difficult blow for Lin, but he said "faith in God's divine plan" is what keeps him going amidst uncertainty.
"I remember when I made it to the NBA... I physically wrote down a list one day, and I was like 'if any of these one things didn't happen, I wouldn't be here today,'" he said. "It was a long list of 13-15 things, and I made sure everything on that list was out of my control... I need to not take credit for outside things."
Lin's brother said that his story has "God's fingerprints all over it," and he cannot help but agree. During the "Linsanity" stage of his basketball fame, when his career was in an upswing, it was "really really up," said Lin. However, overall his career has been "90-95 percent downs and very few ups."
"There is a lot of continually delving into God's promises that there is a perfect plan, that I need to continue to be faithful and worry about what I can control," he said.
"I do feel like I'm in God's favor."
