"Do
not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your
mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing
and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
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Born and raised a Catholic, with
humility, the retired NBA legend Kobe Bryant makes a clean breast that he
indeed made a few bad turns.
Nevertheless, the basketball star has been grateful for what he is now
after that turning point which began through a priest with a compassionate
heart.
Bryan’s
career and private life reached its rock-bottom in 2003 after he was charged of
rape by a woman. He admitted of an affair with the woman but repudiated
the allegation on rape. The court judge dropped the accusations, but the
woman still pursued a civil lawsuit against him which ended up in a court
settlement.
Brought
by the disgrace, he lost his advertising contracts. The saddest part about it
was his wife filed for divorce. In the course of a forlorn encounter,
there’s no one whom he could turn to but God. He went to the church and
confided to his priest which took him towards
enlightenment.
Harking
back, he says that one thing that truly rallied him round during the process is
he’s a Catholic, grew up a Catholic, his kids are Catholic - was conversing
with a priest. He found it droll as he communicated with the Priest who stared
at him asking if he did it. And he replied, 'Of course not.' Then the clergy
asks if he has a good lawyer. Then he responded, 'Uh, yeah, he's
phenomenal.' Conclusively the priest then counseled him to let it go and move
on. That God won’t allow this to happen if he can't handle it, and it's in his
hands now, the cleric added. And that this is something that he cannot control.
So let it go. And that was the defining moment, according to him.
The
start player took the priest's advice to heart and transformed his life for
better. Sooner or later, his broken marriage was patched up. In a team
effort, they established the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF),
which supports young kids in the development of their physical and social
aptitudes by charity work and sports.
If
asked what made them to put up the foundation, Bryant reacted that his career
is winding down. That at the end of his career, he does not want to look back
and just say, he had a flourishing career because he won so many title fights
and scored so many points. He points out that there's something else that he
has to do with that.
Tracing
back the lesson from his own slip-ups, Bryant said that while it’s true that
everybody commits a mistake, all is worthy of a second chance and a little lift
periodically than knocking back when one ends up down-and-out, pointing the
finger at and placing significant others inside the box.
Things
to ponder:
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Naturally,
when one is hit by an ordeal whether big or small, it may be an individual’s
immediate reaction to leap in exuberance, in anticipation of it, especially if
the one enduring the torment is the one who causes us harms or that particular
individual is hated by the society.
While
it’s true that everybody commits a mistake, all is worthy of a second chance
and a little lift periodically than knocking back when one ends up
down-and-out, pointing the finger at and placing significant others inside the
box.
Was
there an occasion that you were ridiculed by someone when you were in your
lowest point? Or were you tempted in an impulse to curse an enemy/someone
who’s going through a distress because you feel that he/she deserves it after
all the unjust act they made against you? How did you feel while
envisaging it in the process?
References:
1).
Czarina Ong, Kobe Bryant shares how a catholic priest changed his life, May 2,
2016,
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/kobe.bryant.shares.how.a.catholic.priest.changed.his.life/85160.htm
2).
Chuck Klosterman, Kobe Bryant Will Always Be an All-Star of Talking,
http://www.gq.com/story/kobe-bryant-nba-allstar?currentPage=2
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