On January 2, 2023, a Marvelous Thing happened on ESPNs Monday Night Football. It was the result of a tackle made by Damar Hamlin which left the defensive safety lying dead on the football turf at the Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Marvelous Thing was not the fact that he was resuscitated by the medical staff, although we give great credit to them for their prompt attention that brought Damar back to life. The Marvelous Thing was not the fact that CPR was administered to keep Damar’s heart pumping. The Marvelous Thing was not the fact that his heart was restarted with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), although the use of such equipment has saved countless lives since they were first introduced. The Marvelous Thing was not the fact that an ambulance was there on hand and was able to transport Damar to a Level 1 trauma care center at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The Marvelous Thing was not the fact that he was attended to promptly by the staff at the hospital. All of the above were marvelous each in its own way, but let’s take a slightly different look at what made last Monday Night’s Football event such a Marvelous Thing. First, let’s take a short look back at some recent history.
Let’s go back to August 2008. It begins with a new high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who started quietly praying on the field at the 50-yard line, giving thanks, following football games. Years later, in 2015, the school district’s athletic director noted his actions, and the coach was told by the district’s superintendent of a possible violation of the Establishment Clause. Coach Kennedy continued to pray after each game, as was his custom, and was placed on administrative leave in 2016. Coach Kennedy filed a lawsuit that his First Amendment speech and religious rights were violated. After several lower courts dismissed his legal challenge, it finally came to the United States Supreme Court where the justices ruled 6 to 3 that his firing was unconstitutional, and that he was to be reinstated on or before March 15, 2023. So, why was Coach Kennedy seemingly targeted for practicing his First Amendment right, seeing that this action is a common occurrence at levels of the sport much higher than his.
We have all witnessed NFL players, from both opposing teams, gathering in the center of the field to pray following football games. We have seen all those players pointing to heaven after they have been able to make a great play. We have all heard in the aftergame interviews players giving thanks to God for their talent and ability to do what they can do. It has not always been so easy to display your appreciation to a higher power. In 2014, a player Husain Abdullah, a devout Muslim, was penalized for prostrating himself, kneeling on both knees, after scoring a touchdown, apparently in violation of Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (d) of the NFL rulebook where it says, “players are prohibited from engaging in any celebration or demonstrations while on the ground.” Tim Tebow, one of sports most overt Christian athletes, would often take a knee in prayer. One writer once stated, “One knee is okay, but two is not!” The NFL did apologize for their initial ruling, but one has to wonder why such a tiff was made over one player doing it once in a while. The NFL in its conflicted policies, and their controlled leagues and teams, routinely turned their collective heads away when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem, taking a knee, and so began a string of games where most players chose to kneel in objection to our great Nation as some sort of social justice pariah. The NFL and broadcast networks went so far as to stop showing the playing of the National Anthem during their live broadcasts and the NFL allowed some teams and players to avoid taking the field until the National Anthem was completed. The NFL, teams, coaches and players all knew this is the same great Nation that provided them the FREEDOM and LIBERTY to even play the game of football, all the while making huge sums of money. Well, let’s get quickly back to the point of our blog today.
What we witnessed last Monday night was truly a Marvelous Thing. We witnessed all these powerful football players, icons in their day, displaying a path and action to be emulated by those younger seeking their same fame. We saw these players and coaches kneeling in prayer, not to the god of chance, but to the Supreme Creator, the One who has the ultimate control over everything, even life and death itself, Jehovah God. They held hands in prayer, hugged each other and wept openly. These were powerful, dominating men, not a bunch of weak-willed souls. This reminds us that compassion and care are traits to be admired and emulated, not shunned or looked down upon, and that this is something that can be demonstrated by any gender. This occurred not only with those who were players and coaches on both sides, but we were also able to witness, on live TV, sports analysts and commentators bowing their heads in verbal prayer in supplication to our Creator. The Marvelous Thing was also continuing yesterday when analysts and commentators were openly attributing the remarkable recovery of Hamlin to prayers. What a Marvelous Thing it was indeed! Last Monday evening we also were reminded that the life of one person far outweighs frivolity and extracurricular activities. We were reminded that life is bigger than sports. We were reminded that big business, the NFL in this case, must bow its head to the life of one person. We were reminded that people are more valuable than money. We learned that a group of powerless people can just say “NO!” to big business and bring about a change in direction and policy. “NO!”, we will not re-start the game! Coaches stood up for their players, and the crowd of fans seated as witnesses to the events all left without complaint and regret, but only in humble recognition that we are all mortal beings, that the end to our existence on this earth is unknowable and that we must all be better in life while we have the opportunity to live it.
Yes, we all witnessed a Marvelous Thing last Monday night. Let us not forget the lessons we have learned. Let us redouble our efforts to retain and to expand awareness within our great Nation that we have been richly blessed with life in this Country. Let us live in a manor worthy of our Founding Fathers, and in a manor to be honored by those who follow us in life. Live like FREEDOM and LIBERTY mean something to you. Humbly accept the fact that we are not always in control of our own lives, but that we live on borrowed time, in borrowed space, loaned to us for a short time by the Creator of all things.