Vineyard Church of Knox County
The Lungbuster Special
Sermon Audio from Sunday, June 18, 2006 — In the May 15th issue of Sports Illustrated, the personal stories of two world-class athletes were told. Hines Ward, the Super Bowl MVP wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is the son of an African American father and a Korean mother. In the article, it is clear that Hines is still wrestling with his identity and his place in the world. Some quotes in the article from Hines come from a heart that is restless and even bitter, a heart that lacks peace.
There was another article in that issue about Tiger Woods, rather about Tiger’s father, Earl. I’ll read part of it to you later, and you will hear why Tiger, also an Asian American, is secure in his identity and place in the world; he has peace. A few weeks after these articles were published, a man wrote a letter to SI noting the differences between these two athletes. He wrote: "I was moved both by the article on Hines Ward and by Rick Reilly’s column on Earl Woods. As a father and an Asian-American, I found it interesting to note the differences in the lives of these two outstanding athletes, both of whom have Asian mothers. Tiger seems to be at peace with himself, while Hines seems bitter and angry. One seems to be fine with being an Asian-American, while the other has only recently found peace with his dual identity. One had a father who was always there for him, but the other didn’t. Do fathers matter? – “Remember Earl” in SI Letters, June 5, 2006
