Tuesday, July 28, 2009

M. Vick and What It All Means

This post was very impromptu and my thoughts were very scattered. But this is how I really feel about the Michael Vick situation.

Michael Vick - a talented, maybe the MOST talented individual to play football in the NFL. He brought crowds to ATL (myself being one of them), sold tickets, jerseys and was a marketing machine for many companies. He was a threat in the air almost as much as on the ground, and defenses had no answer for him as he was progressing thru his career. I was truly a huge fan of Vick (minus him flippin' off the fans on occasion and the ALL TOO OFTEN SEEN attitude throughout the ENTIRE NFL). M. Vick was on top of the NFL world. And he knew it.

But Michael Vick made a mistake. Michael Vick got involved with the wrong crowd. Michael Vick had people around him who weren't looking out for his best interests and were simply "mooching" off him due to his available funds and stardom. And Michael Vick was a grown man who made grown man decisions and paid grown man consequences.

As earlier posts have read, I'm a huge dog-lover. Mr. Vick's involvement in dog-fighting and animal cruelty repulses me. It makes me sick. To think someone could be so cruel to helpless animals to the point of using them for profit AND for entertainment is sickening. But Michael Vick was caught. And Michael Vick paid the price that the judge imposed on him.

But there's something interesting about this story that can be used in my spiritual life.

Daniel Smith is Michael Vick. Daniel Smith at one point in his life was on top of the world, living what he thought was a dream. Like Vick, I too hung out with people who weren't looking out for my best interests, but were using me as a tool for peer pressure and fitting in with the crowd. I was a young man, making boyish decisions.

My sin involved in those decisions was repulsive to God, as Michael Vick's "sin" was repulsive to me as well as millions of others. God couldn't look at my sin. It disgusted Him. But He forgave me. Just like He can/has/will forgive(n) Michael Vick. No matter what he has done, men still sin, and God is still God with a just, yet forgiving heart.

God is still the God of justice and wrath. But He is also the God of forgiveness, second-chances, and love. And they all come in due time. What's to say this won't change Michael Vick's life forever and he goes on to be a great story of redemption. Josh Hamilton did it.

So, instead of worrying about how soon Michael Vick (the football player) will return to the NFL, let's make sure Michael Vick (the man) is ready for eternity. Isn't that what matters?