a faithful and righteous man
Now that all of the NFL training camps are in full swing, and the exhibition games have started, ESPN and NFL Network are showing the official 2005 highlight films for each of the NFL teams. Today I watched the Indianapolis Colts 2005 highlights, and was reminded of what an emotional roller coaster sports is. The Colts won their first 13 games, and then lost 3 of their next 4 games, including the stunning playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As disappointing as those losses were to the Colts and their fans, they don't compare to the devastating loss suffered by Head Coach Tony Dungy and his family. The week before Christmas, Dungy's oldest son, James, committed suicide in his Tampa apartment. Unless you have actually experienced the death of a child, it is impossible to fully comprehend the unspeakable pain the Dungy family must have endured. I have 3 kids, and I know that if something happened to one of them it would be like having my soul torn out of my body.
From this horrible tragedy, however, emerged an amazing story. Dungy had left the team and was in Florida with his whole family grieving and making funeral arrangements. Obviously, he wasn't in constant touch with the media during that time, but he was communicating with the Colts management and players, as well as former players, coaching collegues, and family friends. Many of those people did talk to the media, and they all told the same story. They had talked to Dungy, hoping to offer him some small words of comfort during this excruciating ordeal. Without exception, they all said that Dungy comforted them. Colts Fuhrer Bill Polian (locals will understand that reference) held a press conference where he talked about how amazingly strong and upbeat Dungy was, and how Dungy had actually been a comfort to him. Polian commented that Dungy was strengthened through his Christian faith and that he (Dungy) was holding up better than anyone could possibly imagine. Dungy resumed his full workload with the team the week after the funeral and finished out the season coaching the Colts.
On the morning before Super Bowl XL, Tony Dungy was the featured speaker at the Athletes in Action breakfast at the Marriott Renaissance in Detroit. When he told the crowd that he was going to talk about the lessons he had learned from his three sons, the crowd fell silent. It had only been 5 weeks since James' funeral. You can read much more about Dungy's comments at www.suffering.net but I would like to "spotlight" one particular quote here.
"People ask me, 'How did you recover so quickly.' I'm not fully recovered. I don't know that I ever will be. It's still very, very painful, but I was able to come back because of something one of my good Christian friends said to me after the funeral. He said, 'You know James accepted Christ into his heart, so you know he's in heaven, right?' I said, 'Right, I know that.' He said, 'So, with all you know about heaven, if you had the power to bring him back right now, would you?' When I thought about it, I said, 'No I wouldn't. I would not want him back with what I know about heaven.' That's what helped me through the grieving process. Because of Christ's Spirit in me, I had that confidence that James is there, at peace with the Lord, and I have the peace of mind in the midst of something that's very, very painful. That's my prayer today, that everyone in this room would know the same thing."
When I read Hebrews 11, I don't see Tony Dungy's name listed as one of the great heroes of faith, but he certainly qualifies as a modern day hero of faith.
From this horrible tragedy, however, emerged an amazing story. Dungy had left the team and was in Florida with his whole family grieving and making funeral arrangements. Obviously, he wasn't in constant touch with the media during that time, but he was communicating with the Colts management and players, as well as former players, coaching collegues, and family friends. Many of those people did talk to the media, and they all told the same story. They had talked to Dungy, hoping to offer him some small words of comfort during this excruciating ordeal. Without exception, they all said that Dungy comforted them. Colts Fuhrer Bill Polian (locals will understand that reference) held a press conference where he talked about how amazingly strong and upbeat Dungy was, and how Dungy had actually been a comfort to him. Polian commented that Dungy was strengthened through his Christian faith and that he (Dungy) was holding up better than anyone could possibly imagine. Dungy resumed his full workload with the team the week after the funeral and finished out the season coaching the Colts.
On the morning before Super Bowl XL, Tony Dungy was the featured speaker at the Athletes in Action breakfast at the Marriott Renaissance in Detroit. When he told the crowd that he was going to talk about the lessons he had learned from his three sons, the crowd fell silent. It had only been 5 weeks since James' funeral. You can read much more about Dungy's comments at www.suffering.net but I would like to "spotlight" one particular quote here.
"People ask me, 'How did you recover so quickly.' I'm not fully recovered. I don't know that I ever will be. It's still very, very painful, but I was able to come back because of something one of my good Christian friends said to me after the funeral. He said, 'You know James accepted Christ into his heart, so you know he's in heaven, right?' I said, 'Right, I know that.' He said, 'So, with all you know about heaven, if you had the power to bring him back right now, would you?' When I thought about it, I said, 'No I wouldn't. I would not want him back with what I know about heaven.' That's what helped me through the grieving process. Because of Christ's Spirit in me, I had that confidence that James is there, at peace with the Lord, and I have the peace of mind in the midst of something that's very, very painful. That's my prayer today, that everyone in this room would know the same thing."
When I read Hebrews 11, I don't see Tony Dungy's name listed as one of the great heroes of faith, but he certainly qualifies as a modern day hero of faith.
posted by hondo at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
I ran across the article on Tony Dungy today, the day after his team won the Super Bowl. I think it is so fitting for a man of his character to win. I am disappointed, though, that the liberal media has chosen, not surprisingly, to omit his clear and unapologetic references to God and his own Christian faith during the post game press conference. The media is once again held unaccountable to their convenient omissions as they all the while claim to portray truth and fair journalism.
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