straight talk

Dungy- Servent- Coach- Father- Man



Posted: Sunday, January 01, 2006

by straight talk

What can one say about this man. In my opinion he transcends all barriers. He is a mans, man. A role model all should strive to emulate. Here he is grieving at the loss of his son but as a true believer he rejoices in faith in the Lord. Even though his loss is beyond words he takes up his cross and bears it while most gripe and complain. Some of his own nationality will call him names because he is successful in a white a mans world. However, God has shown what a man of this character can do, The love for him and his family goes beyond race, religion or politics. In his humbleness he becomes a giant. He will always be received well by those who we know by their deeds, words and actions are true believers in the Lord.

However, I regret that I am more the complaining type. I forget at times that trials will always be with us and frankly complain that they are upon me. In retrospect, I guess I’ve had an abundance of trials in my life and at times they are overwhelming. Oh sure I prayed, and sure I have all the outward signs of a faithful man, but I still stumble and fall. I’m still weak and I wonder how God can Love me so, yet let me stumble and fall, or have to undergo another situation. Certainly, I look around and feel there are so many others worse than I. I have a wonderful family and loved ones, but they also undergo the same type of trials to the phonies, liars and users who hurt and hurt you deeply. But who am I to judge who is good or bad or for that matter why? Of course religious persons will tell you all the standard lines they are provided with. But the fact is that they really can’t answer you either.

I sat back and contemplated that one word that we as humans long to have and we as humans interpret as the most wonderful experiences we can have. That is the word and feeling of love. Love in earthy terms is as good as it gets and all that it encompasses. We would not want to deliberately hurt someone we love. Then if we use our earthly definition, why do we have to suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? Coach Dungy is a good example of that. Here is man we perceive as being good. He is by all outward appearances a man who is loved and respected by all. He is a man who by all outward signs a human can judge is a follower, a believer and one who puts the Word into practice. So why does his child kills himself when this man has everything the world can offer- fame, wealth- success- family-love- friends. What was the purpose of this? Why would God the Father, who loves us, send him this, a most horrible trial? Is that love?

Well many will say God will use this for good. Even he who suffered the loss will say this. Why, because he believes in the mercy of God and that his child will be with him in paradise. And that there is a Godly purpose. However, only God knows this for sure. But what about the love. Was this an act of love by God and for who? I thought about it a long time and I have come to the opinion that you just have to commit your faith and trust to God. There are no answers here on earth, by no man.

I fell back in retrospect to what Jesus said, that He would not lose one that God the Father has given Him whose name is written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. So it sounds like you are either in the book or not? We are taught God knows all things and that He has a plan. Well, Hello, if He has a plan then how can I fail unless the plan says I will? I go back to His Word where it distinctly states who are we to challenge God if he made some for the wrath! He is the creator and therefore has the right to make that choice. Someone like an artist who creates something and then destroys it after completion. It was his to start with and his to do what he pleases. God also says that He is the God of good and evil and that it reigns on all, good and bad. So if it is our choice, then was that choice ordained by Him but we do not know it? Yet, can it be that through our trials God brings us to the fulfillment of His plan, knowing our choices are not the ones He wants us to make? Therefore does He take control and does He redirect us via the situations He brings into our life to gets us or others back on track? So when we make the wrong choice we suffer for it, because God wants us to succeed. He is the loving father because He gives us another chance and then another until we come to recognize He is in charge!

So how do I draw more closer to God and imitate Him and a man like Coach Dungy? I find I do not truly pray as often as I should, nor do I always tithe, or for that matter do I go to church as often as I used to. Instead of focusing on God and serving Him, I look around at the world and the people in it and see all the wrongs they are committing. I compensate by saying that certainly our churches are filled with me types. Just going through the motions. However, I can recall the times God did answer me and the times He did perform miracles in my life. Right now those all seemed a long time ago. However, if I can commit in faith to Him once again, then He will certainly do again what he did before. Then the miracles I saw and knew will come again. Certainly, I was the one who saw them as miracles and few others knew of them. But they were miracles none the less. Then why do we have to suffer and go through these trials. Well, as mentioned in my prior articles, it is His Grace that actually allows us to become more closer to what He wants us to be. That is totally committed and faithful and trust Him. The more we become dependent on Him and need Him the more we recognize Him and the truer our repentance and conversion.

It may sound corny to non believers but the suffering that Coach Dungy and others who go through worse, yet believe, is the forging of metal as in the fire. God passes you through the fire and you emerge clean! So to Coach Dungy and those who are true believers I say thank you for your example and faithfulness. As a post script, regardless if Coach wins the Super Bowl or not he has won in the Super Bowl of life and no material outward sign is necessary for those who know the word MAN!

 Robert T. Melaccio Sr. Copyright ©2005 Robert Melaccio



Robert Melaccio Sr. has worked in the computer industry for 40 plus years in a diversified business and managerial environments. He enjoys freelance writing, giving seminars for young adults and teen groups as well as being an accomplished award winning poet of published poetry. He has worked teaching and as a youth minister. He is married and has three children and three grandchildren.

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