God's Coaching #272

God's Coaching #272

Few women go from discussing carpets and curtains to jabs and uppercuts. But that’s exactly what Eva Shain did. As a young adult, Eva worked as an interior decorator in New Jersey. But in the late 1960s, she reluctantly accompanied her husband, Frank, a boxing-ring announcer, to a fight at Madison Square Garden. She fell in love with the sport. Soon Eva began judging amateur bouts. The New York State Athletic Commission awarded a professional boxing judge license to Eva in 1975.

On September 29, 1977, she became the first woman to judge a heavyweight championship match when she worked the Muhammad Ali versus Earnie Shavers showdown at Madison Square Garden. Eva awarded Ali a unanimous-decision win after 15 rounds, which turned out to be the second-to-last victory of the great champion’s career. Although that was her biggest fight, Eva remained an active judge until nine months before her death in 1999 at the age of 81. “It wasn’t the idea of being a trailblazer,” Eva once said of her second career. “It was something I wanted to do. It was a challenge.”

What’s the Score?

Although she didn’t plan to do so, Eva became a female pioneer—someone who accomplishes unprecedented feats. That’s similar to Esther in the Bible.

Esther was a Jewish exile who lived in the Persian Empire in the fifth century BC, roughly 100 years after Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Judah and deported thousands of Jews. Like Eva, Esther’s life took an unexpected turn. Thanks to her beauty, she went from being an unknown exile to being a queen of Persian King Xerxes. Later, she discovered a murderous plot by a Persian official named Haman to annihilate the Jews. But with God’s power and the help of her cousin, Mordecai, Esther thwarted the conspiracy, saved the Jews, and kept alive God’s promise of providing a coming Savior for all mankind through his chosen people.

Even today, some 2,500 years later, Jews still celebrate this great deliverance with the annual festival of Purim. As Esther’s life proved, God has a unique plan for each of us. It might not always be what we think or hope for, but God’s plan is always best. Since God is holy, all-knowing, and all-powerful, we can trust him and go wherever he leads.

On the Ball

Read the book of Esther. What are your favorite parts? How did Esther show courage and do what God wanted her to do? Write down some ways that you’d like to follow Esther’s example:

Coach’s Comment

Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this? Esther 4:14