Posted on 09/23/2003 7:24:16 AM PDT by af_vet_rr
Good luck, David!
Although it's more for another thread, it would make a heckuva case for vouchers.
It shows what vouchers *could* do (in this case, rather than vouchers, the families of the students pay what they can, and scholarships and donations take care of the rest). Were vouchers available, they would be able to used here (Robinson targeted the school towards lower-income families, the ones that democrats say would not benefit from vouchers).
The democrats would also hate it because it stresses Judeo-Christian values to children, and we can't have that kind of thing going on in our schools, can we?
He's not a man. He's Buckaroo Banzai.
Heh. You know many athletes and a few celebrities here and there claim to be Christians, but I think he is one of the few who actually has never hidden that aspect of his life, and in fact, will openly talk about it. To me, that says as much as any championship he has won or anything else he has accomplished.
From an an article I found going back to '98 at Christianity Today (it's a bit long)
You want to talk basketball? David Robinson is the man to interview. Once again, on this 1997 November night, he's the man with the numbers, scoring a team-high 36 points. But the 32-year-old athlete would just as soon talk about diapers and diplomas. Oh, he'll discuss his status as one of the top three centers in the NBA—if you steer the subject that way.
But let David lead the conversation and his talk naturally turns to Jesus, and what God has called him to do with his fame and good fortune, such as helping underprivileged students go to college or poor parents provide for their children.
"He'll talk your ear off about that," says Glenn Rogers, a sportswriter who covers the National Basketball Association for the San Antonio Express-News, Robinson's hometown newspaper. "He's found his faith. That's what he goes by."
Sure, the basketball star has dollars in his wallet, but you won't see him flashing a roll of cash, unless it's to help out in the community, like the $5 million he gave to build a prep school, whose doors will open in 1999 at The Carver Complex, an arts and educational facility on San Antonio's poor side of town. Another program, "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood," helps kids stay in school and away from drugs.
As Robinson explained to People magazine, "The Bible is very clear: Don't do your good works before men to be cheered by men. [Valerie] and I do the right things because that's what God told us to do."
Endorsements for Doritos or Pizza Hut are about as wild as Robinson gets. In a profession known for its excess, the multi-million dollar man is cautious about where he lends his name and spends his fame.
Jesus and his family come first, he says, then basketball.
He is more concerned that his three boys learn godly character than whether they can match his Top 10 ranking in the NBA for points, rebounds, and blocked shots per game. He is more concerned that his fans see him live out his faith than he is interested in talking about the time in 1994 that he scored 71 points against the Los Angeles Clippers.
So he does things like start the David Robinson Foundation, which spreads his money into the community. He cites Matthew 5:14 as his calling to be a light on the hill.
"A couple of things have touched our hearts as we've grown as a family," he says of his wife, Valerie, and their three children. "I thought about parents who couldn't feed their children. We started a ministry that provided diapers and food for some of the single mothers and struggling families."
Filling a tall order
Robinson's concern goes beyond helping fill empty stomachs. Several years ago, he identified a group of fifth-grade students, and pledged money to help them go to college if they would stay in school and out of trouble. Of the 94 students picked from inner-city schools, 90 are still in the program as they head into their final year of high school.
"Education is one of my big things," he says. "When you see kids' eyes light up when they've just learned something, that's exciting."
He doesn't do this for adulation but to set an example as a Christian and as a professional athlete.
He wants his teammates to know his faith is real, and that he cares about them as people, not as sports commodities or soul-winning notches on his Bible belt.
"That's the hardest balance," he says. "When I go in the locker room every day, I face it. How do you love God and maintain your edge and not scare people off? The one thing I try to keep in mind is that I love these guys. I want to see them do well. If they want to talk about [spiritual things], I want to always be prepared. I want to make them feel like … I would be the first person they can come to."
"He says the Lord wants him to reach his full potential," says Rogers, who notes that Robinson is one of the top three centers (with Hakeem Olajuwan and Shaquille O'Neal), and one of the 10 top players in the league. "He wants to play all-out."
Those are nice accomplishments, Robinson admits, but ultimately meaningless without Jesus in the lead. And Jesus can be in the lead, even in a business like professional basketball. "If I felt that what I was doing was inherently a bad thing, I would have a major problem with what I do," Robinson says. "But the fact that it's entertainment, that it's competition, I don't see it inherently as a bad thing.
"Now if I was a CEO of a beer brewing company, I would think, 'Maybe this is not a good thing for me to be doing.'
"With basketball, yes, there are a lot of bad things about it. For one, our salaries are ridiculous compared to more valuable services in society."
But, he avers, basketball has given him a tall hill from which to shine his light. "I can go into a high school and talk about Jesus. What an incredible opportunity. There are a lot of positive things I see as the reason God placed me there."
His focus, he says, is not his success, but that God is behind his accomplishments. "I can run. I can jump. I can block shots. I can dunk. But I can't take pride in that," he says. "I'm successful because God gave me the ability.
"What I need to do is have a great positive attitude and a great work ethic. Those two things validate me. Yes, it's important that I have good numbers, and I'm well-respected as a player. But I think it's more important that I'm respected as a man."
Life's greatest moment
David Robinson quotes Scripture as easily as he can quote his statistics. The difference is that you have to ask him about his numbers. The Scripture flows naturally. Basketball is what he does for a living. His faith is what he lives.
His "second birthday," as he calls his conversion, came on June 8, 1991, when he talked with a minister from Champions for Christ. This is how he describes it in his parents' book:
"The first question he asked was, 'David, do you love God?'
"I was a little surprised and said, 'Of course, I love God.'
"Then he asked, 'How much time do you spend praying?'
"I said, 'I eat three times a day, and I pray then.' "'There's one around here somewhere …'
"Then he said, 'When you love someone, don't you usually take time to get to know that person? Don't you want to get to know that person better?'
"That day, Christ became a real person to me…. I felt like a spoiled brat. Everything was about me, me, me. How much money can I make? It was all about David's praise and David's glory. I had never stopped to honor God for all he had done for me. That really hit me. I cried all afternoon. That very day, I was saved."
His new relationship with Christ led to a renewed relationship with Valerie, whom he had dated earlier. He called her, and learned that she, too, had been born again.
Three months later, in September 1991, he asked Valerie to marry him. Now they have three children, and he is cast in the role as a model for his own offspring as well as his fellow players and fans.
The money and other benefits that flow to his family offer a challenge in parenting. "I try to make my kids understand that we don't focus on the money," he says.
"We're dealing with obedience and respect. You go into a store, they start begging for things. I teach them not to beg. Instead, we'll go to a store and I'll say we're just going to look today. I want them to understand there's a value to restraint. Just because you've got something available to you doesn't mean you wield it. That's not godly character. I don't know how God's going to allow me to teach them that, but it's something he's really impressed upon my heart."
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