CBN Sports Director, Shawn Brown, recently spoke with Michael Vick. Here is his report.
“I didn’t cry because I lost money. I didn’t cry because I lost the cars and I lost fame and fortune. I cried because I lost my family.:
Michael Vick, one of the most exhilarating athletes on any playing field. In his first 6 seasons in the NFL, he became a nightmare for defenses. He could either pick them apart through the air, or on the ground. The 4 time Pro Bowler established himself as the fastest quarterback to ever play the game. But just before the 2007 season, Michael came to a chapter in his life that forced him to lean on the childhood faith he’d been running from for years.
“I grew up in downtown Newport News and that was the roughest part. The East end area and it was rough out there, a lot of turmoil, a lot of violence. It kind of shaped and molded me into the person I have become.”
Mike lived in the Ridley Circle housing projects where for a kid, gangs, drugs, and pit bulls were just white noise.
“I think it was the summer of like 1991-92. I heard a gunshot every night, every single night throughout the summer.”
Shawn Brown: “How did stay away from all of that?”
“I set a goal when I was younger and my goal was to make it to the NFL. And I didn’t know what it was going to take to get there. But I knew being gang affiliated wasn’t going to do it.”
Even though Michael was focused on football, it was hard to avoid being tempted by the consistent call of the streets. So he leaned on a Bible verse his grandmother gave him.
“In Jeremiah 29 ‘I know the plans that I have for you, you know, plans for you to grow, you know, prosper…’ That was the one that I always felt like was my life; regardless of what level I was on. Whether I was in elementary school, high school, or in college that’s what I always referred back to. My grandmother always took us to church. She always had a Bible on the table, always got spiritual on us whenever we got out of line. And the more I seen her praying, shouting, ‘Thank the Lord,’ the more I started to thank the Lord and believe that was the right thing to do. So, that’s when my faith started. That’s when I started to develop that belief in God that you had to have some type of belief and faith deep down. And you had to have some sort of commitment to the Lord.”
So that God’s Word would stay on his mind, he took it to bed with him.
“I was sleeping with the Bible under my pillow because I felt like I needed an edge in whatever way that I could get it. You always heard about the black quarterbacks not being qualified enough to play in the NFL. And I believed it because I heard it so much. And in watching, the NFL you see it was predominantly white. I just said to myself, ‘That it can’t be true. I’m going to need some extra help. I’m going to need a certain belief, a certain type of trust. In nobody -no man only God and the Spirit to get me there.’ I felt that way at a young age.”
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article courtesy of BNCC1.com
