Was Your Mother a Prostitute?

The question clearly stunned recent Dallas Cowboy draft pick Dez Bryant, "Was your mother a prostitute?" Jeff Ireland, director of scouting for the Miami Dolphins, asked him a few weeks ago when interviewing Bryant as a potential 1st Round draft choice. "My job," he explained, "is to find out as much information as possible about a player I consider drafting. Having said that...I used poor judgment in one of the questions I asked him."

At the time Dez Bryant became angry at the question, but did not show it. He kept his cool, answered the question--and several others about his mother's former drug use. It was a lot of picking at a scab Dez Bryant hoped had healed.

Ireland later called and apologized, Dez accepted. For Ireland he thought it was "just business"--but nothing ever is when they're talking about your mother, your wife, your daughter or your sister. Not for me anyway.

But the controversial question remains unanswered: What was Bryant's answer to the question? Was his mother a prostitute or not? Don't you want to know?

I do, because I know someone who achieved a level of greatness far beyond what Bryant ever will--and he had a prostitute in his skeleton closet. Not only that, he actually had an adulterer, two prostitutes and another who propositioned a man in the middle of the night. He was conceived out of wedlock himself. His name?

Many of us just call him, "Lord," but his name is Jesus Christ.

So if Jesus can overcome, even redeem, his family tree with Rahab and Tamar the prostitutes (Rahab actually ran "The Best Little Whore House in Jericho") then there is hope for us too. What Jeff Ireland needs to know is that some of God's finest have always come from the most troubled of backgrounds--that is God's way.

The Apostle Paul once looked out over the church in Corinth and said,"Don't forget that the sexually immoral, the adulterers, the prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the thieves, the greedy and the drunk--none of them will inherit the Kingdom of God. And that was what some of you were. But now you have been washed, sanctified and justified through Jesus and the Spirit of God." (I Cor. 6: 9-11)

Because of Jesus, life for Dez Bryant is not about what he was, or what his mother did--it's all about this: "Are you becoming more and more like Jesus?"

I rub shoulders with prostitutes and strippers every Wednesday night at my church. They come to discover not who they were, but who they can become in Christ. The group is called New Friends, New Life (see the web address in my links). Maybe I'm rubbing shoulders with the next Dez Bryant and his mom each Wednesday there as well.

Scott Sager

A Lame Excuse for a Fisherman

I still remember the story about the father and son who always went fishing together opening day. They would stay up all night and be out on the water at midnight just when the season opened. One year, when the boy was about twelve, the father told the son to go ahead and cast his rod a few times before midnight just to get the kinks out and make sure everything was functioning properly. He flipped his line out with a nymph upon it and the strike sounded like an alligator hitting the water.

The boy reeled in the line with much struggle and with great determination. Pulling the fish up to the boat his father grabbed the net and helped him land "Ole Blue"--a famous trout in those waters that had often been pursued, broken many lines--but had never been caught. Looking at it up close they figured he must weigh at least 8 pounds. This was the mother-load of trout fishing...and they had caught him. There had never been a young boy any prouder, the look of accomplishment on his face was priceless.

But then the boy looked into his dad's eyes and saw a tear begin to fall. He looked at his son, looked at his watch and said, "We have to toss him back son, it's not fishing season yet." It was just ten minutes until midnight--but the fish had to go back in the water. Who cried more as they tossed it back we will never know, but the memories forged at that moment made a difference for a lifetime.

That young boy grew up to be a successful businessman. And every time he was tempted to take a short cut or fudge on a deal he remembered his father--and the lessons he learned that day about more than fishing...but about life.

Compare that boy to Robby Rose--who recently admitted to shoving a 1-pound weight down his fish in hopes of winning a fishing contest and a $55,000 boat. He admits now that he cheated, but it is the excuses that will sink him and any children following after him as well. He claims he wasn't cheating to win the prize, "Second place was mine already to do with as I pleased." He says he wanted to embarrass the sport for being skeptical of him--it seems he has been accused of cheating before. Are you surprised?

Tournament officials wanted to assign an observer to his boat, to make sure he was not cheating. He found that request unfair, the treatment of him and his fish "inhumane." Seems everyone is out to get him--and that is why he cheated, "I snapped. I lost my mind."

The good news is he also lost his privilege to fish for the next five years...as well as spending 15 days in jail, paying a $3,000 fine and knowing his name is chum around fishing circles.

The lesson--do the right thing the first time...and teach your children to do the same. The wise man Solomon once said, "A good name is like fine perfume...." and the only person who can stink it up is you (that last part is mine).

Scott