Welcome back to my interview with author and speaker Randy Alcorn. You can read the first three portions of my interview here, here, and here.

Randy, do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I bicycle two or three times a week, outdoors in good weather, or on a stationary bike in my office. I also play tennis two to three times a week, usually singles because it’s better exercise than doubles. In the spring I coach high school tennis so am out hitting with the guys four or five days a week. I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic and the exercise is therapy. If I go two days without exercise, I feel lousy.

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

We watch NBA and MLB when it comes to playoffs, but not regularly. We try to watch the tennis majors when we can, especially Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

The one sport we watch regularly from beginning to end is the NFL. Nanci is a major pro football fan. She has our kids and grandkids and our kids’ friends and their children over for Sunday night football every week, fixing up a great meal for the 15 or so who show up. When I’m asked to speak in NFL chapels, Nanci’s my main reason for saying “yes,” since tickets come with it and she loves to meet the players. We don’t generally follow college football, until last year when Bob and Pam Tebow invited us to go to Florida and stay with them and watch their son Timmy quarterback the Gators. Suddenly we were wearing blue and orange. We had a blast.

What do you do for leisure?

Tennis, biking, watching a good movie with Nanci. And I read and read and read. Every Monday night we go to our friends’ house where twelve of us, including two pastors and a church elder, gather to watch 24. We are praying that Jack Bauer will come to Jesus.

In December, my leisure consists of daily going to the mailbox hoping for the annual arrival of chocolates from my friend C.J. Mahaney. While I know it would be better by far for C.J. to depart and be with Christ, I pray God will keep him around for Carolyn and his family, and the Sovereign Grace churches; and also to keep those chocolates coming.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

When I was in the eighth grade, a few years before I’d heard the gospel, I filled out a survey asking what I wanted to be. I said an astronomer, philosopher, or teacher. Now, if I couldn’t be a writer, I would just say a teacher, maybe at a Bible college or seminary.

Randy, thank you for your friendship and thanks for investing your time in answering these questions!