A New Game

Jakub Ostrowski did not come to basketball camp with the same expectations as most of the participants. For one, he’s a volleyball player and basketball is not his first love in sports. This is his first year at basketball camp.

“I’m taller and bigger than the rest of my team,” he said. “For me the rules are strange. But it’s good. There are a lot of people who believe in God and His plan for their lives. So I like it here.”

But for Jakub, the “whole new game” means more than switching from volleyball to basketball. In the past couple of years, he’s gone from a life of struggle and mistakes to a life trying to follow Christ and demonstrating grace to others.

He was involved with alcohol and drugs. His life was going downhill fast. He spent a lot of time with his great-grandparents, because his parents were busy at work and he found himself straying from the right path too often. Two years ago, his great-grandmother died. That night, Jakub dreamed that she told him that he needed to change his life and start following Jesus.

“You see me and I’m just a smiling Polish guy,” he said, “but my life hasn’t always been like this. I had big problems, and I nearly died. People from church prayed for me, asking Him to give me the strength to stay around for another day.

“When my great-grandmother died, she came to me in my sleep and told me that this was my last chance to change my life. I said, ‘Okay.’ I decided to try to find God, and I did.”

Still only 17, Jakub has a lot of life left to make an impression for Christ, something he desires to do very much. That will start with his great-grandfather, who doesn’t think he needs a relationship with Jesus. Jakub wants to change that.

“Two weeks ago, I found out that he is sick in the hospital,” he said. “I think he has prostate cancer, and maybe it has spread to another part of his body. I prayed that God would make Himself known to him, but I know that I have to tell him about God.”

Jakub got to the national level in his sport by being blessed with athletic gifts and the willingness and desire to work hard. He recognizes that God has also blessed him with the gift of love, the ability to share his own story, and, once again, the willingness and desire to work hard.

“God gave me a second chance,” he said. “Before, I did not believe in God. Most of my family does not believe in God. But I believe. I looked at Hinduism, Catholicism and many other religions. But the Christian God is for me. That’s it. He is my God.

“Now, I help in Zakosciele and Tomaszow. I help with ‘The Road To Bethlehem.’ I volunteer at camps. I help at Kontact in Lodz. I help guys who are struggling with drugs.

“I’ve changed my life. I’m ready for when that place in Heaven is prepared for me. I’m ready to give my place in this life to somebody else.”

It’s a whole new game for Jakub.