Terrell Owens (NFL star): “God is using me”
NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens, whose football-catching talents are only exceeded by his propensity to ensure that everyone knows about them, once again put himself in the headlines this weekend, not by appearing in a contraversial Monday Night Football ad or self-aggrandizing end-zone shenanigans, but but remarking on God’s will for his life:
“I think God put me on this stage for a certain reason,” Owens said. “I got hurt for a reason. I understand that. A lot of people don’t. A lot of people are questioning my ability and probably the risk that I take playing this game 6½ weeks after surgery. But it doesn’t really matter what people say about me, I know what I can do. I know how my ankle feels and that’s all that matters.”
When asked the reasoning behind his injury, Owens went on to say: “I think God is using me [and] put me on a platform to really show the world how great he is. God has put me in the position, and I’m welcoming that challenge. Just by the timing of me getting hurt, he had to sit me down and put things into perspective for me. And that’s what he’s done. He put me on the biggest stage of my life to show people how great he is.”
As intriguing as Owens’ comments are, I was struck more by how the media have jumped on — piled on — them in their own self-righteous and sanctimonious columns, none of which I’ve read demonstrate more than a superficial or conventional understanding of Christianity:
Surely, Owens is off-base when he makes claims like “God made me controversial,” as are these columnists when they sarcastically say, “God stepped in and made everything better … Do I hear, ‘Amen?'” Perhaps God is using Owens, all right: to push into the public sphere the discussion of God’s purpose and inscrutable ways and decisions, including healing of everyone from Tsunami victims to obnoxious professional athletes.
Just call me G said,
February 8, 2005 @ 10:14 pm
If God can use a reluctant traveler in Jonah to save an entire city, then why not an obnoxious, millionaire football player to get a fedora-wearing sportswriter to open his Bible and quote Scripture in his weekly article.