Tony Dungy, Michael Vick, and the Grace of God
It’s hard not to like Tony Dungy. Maybe your student attended one of the satellite “Tony Dungy’s Red Zone” high school football kickoff events this last week. The former Indianapolis Colts coach continues to be both a likable, highly respected guy—and an unashamedly outspoken witness for Jesus.
He’s taken a little heat, maybe, in the last few weeks for publicly supporting Michael Vick in his NFL comeback, which has included lots of talk about the NFL quarterback’s supposedly changed character and faith in Jesus a few years after being convicted of running a dog fighting ring.
But Dungy’s willingness to represent both Jesus and Vick in the media could be a challenging encouragement to us as parents. It’s too easy for us to dismiss Vick and other fallen celebrities and athletes to our kids, to warn them away from such failures of character. But Dungy is apparently encouraging Vick—and us—to ask “where was the Lord in all of this?”
This article from Opposing Views tells the story of Dungy’s meeting with Vick in prison at the request of Vick’s attorney:
Dungy said Vick told him about going to church almost every week with his mother in Virginia and knowing there was a God. He said Vick talked to God while growing up and continued to pray during college at Virginia Tech.
But when he finally made it to the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, his faith and his life took a turn for the worse.
“Michael said he felt God had answered his prayers by getting into the NFL and maybe he didn’t really need Him anymore.”
During his two years in prison for his role in operating a dog fighting ring, Vick had a chance to rediscover his prayers and his faith in God, Dungy said.
“Now he knows he does need God and that’s going to help him make right decisions.”
Who knows if Vick will get on the straight and narrow and become a powerful testimony of God’s grace, as Dungy hopes. The question for us is, do we hope so? Do our kids hear us hoping that God’s grace and mercy will show up in unexpected ways in the national news stories we follow?
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elywaldoya on Sep 02, 2010 said...
Hi,
Hope this question makes sense. LOL. I would just like to do more running and would feel safer if I had one of the dogs with me. Plus it would be good for them to run too. 
I have 3 dogs and no one to run with. I’d like to work with one of our dogs and train one to run with. Is there some kind of magic chart available that says what dogs run the best or what needs the dog may have?
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