Ronda Rousey, You Are Not “Nothing”

“What am I anymore if I’m not this?”

That is the question from UFC superstar Ronda Rousey that she admitted this week to talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres asking herself in the hospital after her recent (and only) loss to fellow fighter Holly Holm, explaining that for a moment she contemplated suicide after everything she felt she had worked her whole life for had been taken away in just a few minutes.

“What am I anymore if I’m not this? . . . I’m nothing.”

Some may be tempted to tell Ronda to wipe her tears and get some perspective. After all, she is one of the most well-known and recognizable athletes in all the world today, and arguably the most popular UFC fighter ever. So you lost a fight, some might say. Get over it.

Others might hurt for Ronda but be screaming at their TVs for her to simply get back in the gym, train harder, and win back her title. Become the champion again, they tell her. Take back what was once yours!

But me, I don’t stand in either of those corners. I simply hurt for her and hate that she has become yet another victim of the “father of lies” (John 8:44) who was successful in convincing her that her identity rested in being an undefeated champion. And no doubt he’s prowling around her still, “like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8) ready to devour her once again after she falls for another lie that her new identity rests in revenge.

“What am I anymore if I’m not this?”

Ronda, your undefeated champion status was taken away. And guess what? If you win back the title, it can be taken away from you just as quickly. Just like the movie roles you get offered every week will be taken away once Hollywood finds their “next big thing.” But that’s okay, because neither of those define who you are.

Tiger Woods was well on his way to breaking all the PGA records, and with some texts and a car crash it was all taken away.

Reggie Bush won a Heisman trophy after one of the most exciting offensive years ever by a college football player. You can’t take that away, right? Wrong. His trophy has been vacated.

Too many to count athletes, in their prime, were well on their way to Hall of Fame careers. But one hit or bad landing took it all away in an instant.

Before he could say “I’m going to Disney World,” Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning went from being one of the most well respected and squeaky clean football players of all time to having his name attached to a story involving his college days that could end up hurting his sponsorships or his chances at taking a TV job post-retirement.

Everything can be taken away in an instant, Ronda. Even the children you spoke of wanting to have with your boyfriend. But we are not defined as “champion” or “mother” or “teacher” or “doctor.” That is merely the lie the devil has been so successful at convincing people of. Instead, we are defined in relationship to Someone else.

Created uniquely by God, in his image, so that we may have fellowship with him in eternity.

That is who we are, and it cannot be ever taken away.

I truly hurt for Ronda and others who may not have had people in their lives while growing up speaking that truth in to them. Shame on parents, coaches, and other adult mentors who, whether advertently or inadvertently, convince a child that their success, titles, and money will define who they are and that nothing less than the “best” is acceptable. We cannot take lightly our responsibility to teach our children who they truly are, as well as Whose they are.

“What am I anymore if I’m not this?”

Who you are has never changed, Ronda. You were created uniquely by God, in his image, so that you could have fellowship with him in eternity.

You are not now and never have been “nothing.”

Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, including the 2015 HarperCollins release All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture, available at Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Amazon. You can also find him keeping up with the latest goings-on in pop culture on Twitter: @PopCultureKevin

 

 

God Could Never Be Part of the Sports Media

Some recent stories in the sports world have had me thinking lately about how grateful I am to be so dependent on the grace and forgiveness of God, and God only. And not on that of the media, sports fans, or basically any human at all. When I see silly debates going on all over ESPN like those this week about Oklahoma City Thunder all-star Kevin Durant, it blows my mind that some people can feel so strongly about someone like Kevin, who in his own words, simply “had a moment” last week when he got upset with the media and used language not normally found in his vocabulary.

On a bigger scale, we also have New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who after missing the entire 2014 season due to breaking the league’s PED policy, will finally return to baseball this spring. But again, debates remain about whether or not the Yankees should welcome him back. Whether or not the Yankees fans should embrace him. Whether or not the writers will vote him into the Hall of Fame when he retires. Whether or not his formal letter of apology released this week should be enough. Did he truly admit to lying and taking PEDs? What does he mean by “the mistakes that led to my suspension”?

And then there’s Pete Rose. Good ol’ Charlie Hustle. Kicked out of the game he loved for breaking baseball’s number one rule: gambling on his own games when he was a player/manager for the Cincinnati Reds at the end of his career. New baseball commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to hint on ESPN’s Mike & Mike last week that he is going to consider meeting with Rose and overturning the lifetime ban, enabling Rose to finally be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Adding more fuel to the debate that has gone on longer than most of today’s baseball players have even been alive: Can we forgive Pete Rose enough to let him into the Hall?

Add to these three countless other examples: Sammy Sosa’s corked bat. Barry Bond’s “cream.” More recently, Jameis Winston’s obscenity in the cafeteria. All with one thing in common: People can’t let things go.

How thankful I am that God’s not “people.”

In 1 John 1:9, the apostle John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” And not only does he forgive us of our sins, but he chooses to remember them no more, as he shared with the Israelites in both Jeremiah 31:34 and Isaiah 43:25. He remembers our sins against him no more!

Put in sports terms, God is a baseball fan who loves A-Rod for his 654 home runs and doesn’t recall any of the connections he has to a variety of PED scandals. Or he’s a Hall of Fame voter who remembers fondly each of Pete Rose’s 4,256 hits, but not any of the Las Vegas betting tickets found that were connected to Rose.

And what about me? What in my life would the media ever want to get a hold of and use in my face at any given moment? (Well, maybe not me, but someone they actually know.) I shudder to think what that may be. But I know that it is all forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which took the punishment for all of my sins. Mine and everyone else who surrenders their life to trying to follow Jesus.

And then he does what many in the sports world do not seem capable of even attempting to do: he remembers our sins no more. And the result is not just a marble bust of my head in Cooperstown for strangers to come view and remember me by, but a seat at the Lord’s table in heaven, as co-heirs with Christ of the kingdom of heaven.

Thank you, God, for choosing to forget all my sins and imperfections.

Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, his latest entitled All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture. It is available for pre-order now on Amazon, or hard copies can be found at Wal-Mart and other bookstores on March 24, 2015.

Today’s Cheaters Leads to Tomorrow’s (Bad) Role Models

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

This proverb given to us by King Solomon has echoed in my mind all day, as ESPN and other news outlets have been reporting that the 2014 Little League World Series North American champions, the Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West team, have had all their wins vacated, including the one in the championship game, because of bringing in players from outside its designated region. Basically, the team coaches reached outside their district to claim new players and build up a “superteam” for the World Series.

Grown men cheated in a kids’ game in order to gain personal glory on the backs of 12-year-olds.

If it wasn’t so sad, it might be tempting to laugh at this. But as a father of a future man, I find nothing about this humorous. Hence the echo in my mind today: “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

If the wisdom of Solomon tells us that raising up our children correctly will lead to the positive outcomes we hope for when they grow up, then wouldn’t the inverse of that also be true? If we teach them that cheating is okay if it helps us, that integrity is nice and all but not as important in the confines of competition, how will they end up playing the game of life as adults? The same way we taught them. “Train up a child in the way he shouldn’t go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Why did the New England Patriots deflate their footballs for their quarterback and record their opponents’ practices and half-time conversations? Why did Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and countless other baseball players (purportedly) take illegal performance-enhancing drugs? Why are Olympic athletes constantly being stripped of their medals due to some kind of rules infraction? Because someone, somewhere, taught them when they were young that cheating is okay if the result is that they win.

And that doesn’t mean that coaches or parents actually had conversations with kids teaching them that cheating is okay. As many parents would admit, their children don’t always listen to what they say, but they always pay attention to what they are doing. In my first book, I shared a story about when I was ironing a shirt in the same room that my 4-year-old son was in. He asked me if I could teach him how to iron. After I put aside the tempting idea of having him start doing all the ironing I dread doing each week, I told him that when he is old enough I would be glad to teach him.

“But you’re teaching me now, Dad,” he replied without missing a beat. Indeed I was teaching him, based simply on the fact that he was watching me.

How can we clean up professional sports? How can we get rid of steroids use, deflated balls, video-recorded practices, and all other illegal actions that are taking away from the integrity of the game? It begins and ends with the parents and coaches of today’s young athletes. Will they teach them to win at all cost, or will they lead by example that our integrity above all else is what must prevail in the end, even if that means losing? “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, his latest entitled All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture. It is available for pre-order now on Amazon, or hard copies can be found at Wal-Mart and other bookstores on March 24, 2015.

God Was on ESPN This Week

 

One of the best things about having worked at home for the past 12 years is that I get to watch way more ESPN than the typical person. I oftentimes have it on low volume in my office, simply to add a little background noise to my way-too-quiet work environment. And one of my favorite shows on the network has become First Take, a sports debate show starring Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith as two sports enthusiasts who refuse to agree on athletes such as Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, Tim Tebow, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. Having watched these two friends argue on this show for so long, I also have come to know that there is one thing they do have in common–their belief in Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life. This past week they tackled the topic of whether or not God was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks during the NFC championship game, as Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson appeared to have implied in a post-game interview. I strongly encourage you to watch the above 12-minute clip during a lunch break, but in case that’s not a possibility, here are some bullet points from the video:

-Skip Bayless: “I believe in God. I believe in prayer. I believe in going to church.”

-Stephen A. Smith: “I love the Lord. I restored my faith. Got saved a few years ago.”

-Skip Bayless: “God works in mysterious ways. . . . God’s bigger than all of us.”

-Stephen A. Smith: “I don’t believe God is with me only when things are going well. I believe God is with me also when things are going bad.” (In expressing his hope that players saying God was with them in their wins know that he is also with them in their losses too)

-Both Skip and Stephen discuss their concerns of players touting God’s will in victories but question if the players were concerned with God’s will while they were taking part in some pretty “ungodly things” on Saturday.

 

I bring this up here not to add my two cents to the conversation, because as Skip said, “I just don’t know. God works in mysterious ways.” It doesn’t matter what I think about God’s role in the outcomes of sports games. Or what Skip or Stephen A. thinks. Or what anyone does, for that matter. What matters is that I bet everyone does actually think something about the matter, and it should make for great conversation, just like the one in the above video. And what got me most excited about this dialogue was simply that it actually took place . . . on ESPN . . . and as of this writing has been viewed an additional 15,000 times on YouTube.

In my book coming out on March 24 of this year, I make the argument that God is still quite prevalent in pop culture today, much more so than what is believed by many naysayers who have relinquished any possibility of Christians making a difference in this world and are just waiting for Jesus to return and burn up the remains. And the above dialogue being shared by two extremely popular ESPN personalities is further proof of that. And all it took was for them to be willing to discuss their faith on national television.

I don’t believe for one moment that God is dead in pop culture today. Rather his followers are simply being spoken over way too often by the minority committed to a Godless society. If only more Christians in the national spotlight, as well as people like you and me in our everyday routines, would speak boldly like Skip and Stephen A. did on ESPN this past week. They still have their jobs. They are not being shred apart on Twitter. They are not having to apologize for their beliefs. Instead they gave opportunity for millions of viewers on television and YouTube to view their discussion and perhaps share it as I did with my family and have an incredible dialogue about it with my sports-crazy 9-year-old son.

There are some pretty amazing things going on in pop culture today as it pertains to faith–sports included. Christianity didn’t leave the NFL when Tim Tebow fizzled out of the league. And it certainly didn’t leave the rest of the world when Jesus returned to his throne 2,000 years ago. In fact, Jesus told his disciples it would be better when he was gone, because then the Holy Spirit would come and dwell inside all of Jesus’ followers. Christians (or “little Christs,” as the term actually means) like Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith have the opportunity to broadcast their faith across the largest sports network in the world, and they do so regularly when opportunities arise.

God was on ESPN this week. And millions of people saw him.