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Key Bible Verse: Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose (Philippians 2:2). Bonus Reading: Philippians 2:1-11

When I was 13, I'd sneak into Wake Forest University's gym to play. There I met Denny, the short, blue-eyed, blond son of the athletic director. He introduced me to his basketball buddies. Back then if you were black, you didn't go into white settings without a black friend. So I introduced them to Russell. We went to basketball camps together.

One summer, former Harlem Globetrotter Joe Cunningham formed a league at the black YMCA. Denny heard Russell and me talking about making up a team. He asked why we hadn't invited them. "You guys are white," I said, "and it's a black 'Y.'"

But they insisted on playing. As our scared team walked into the gym, silence and stares said "What are you doing here?" When any white guys attempted to shoot or rebound, they'd be knocked down hard—and it wouldn't be called.

Our team made it to the championship game despite our lack of height. By the end of the season, if those "crazy" rich white boys were fouled, the refs even called some of them. One white player made the All-League team. We were thrilled!

—Clarence Shuler in Winning the Race to Unity

• What's the first step in lowering the barrier between you and other ethnic groups?

Thought to Apply: All the people like us are we, and everyone else is they.

— RUDYARD KIPLING (author, early 20th century)

Credits: Adapted from— Wednesday: Winning the Race to Unity (Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute, 1998)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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