Why I forgive and support Michael Vick

I cannot pretend to be unbiased in this debate. I watched Michael Vick compete as a colligate at Virginia Tech, and his performances on a football field stunned me more than Roger Federer on a tennis court, more than Michael Jordan on a basketball court, more than Michael Phelps in a swimming pool. Perhaps some feel that I exaggerate, but I digress. His elusiveness matched that of a frustrated cat chasing down a fearful but quick moving mouse. Not since Barry Sanders have I ever witnessed a football player with as much god given natural ability as Michael Vick.

He grew up in Newport News, Virginia. A hard edged town, filled with vice, a place where very few young men grow up to make a positive difference in their world, a place where a disproportionate number of young African American men end up in federal penitentiaries. When he was 8 years old, Michael vick came upon two men fighting dogs, and was intrigued. Many of his neighbors and friends were excited, and viewed it as normal and exciting. Vulnerable, impressionable and without fatherly guidance, a young Michael Vick had been introduced to the barbarity, disguised as accepted urban culture, that was dog fighting. It was a path that would follow him, or that he would follow, into the NFL, where we would sign a record contract and bask in the glow of stardom.

Of all the things that America is, it is a land of second chances. It is a place where people can commit acts of laughable silliness, unexplainable vanity, and even unimaginable evil. But ultimately, even those in the latter class can somehow find a new opportunity, a second chance. Jacob's brothers sold him into slavery, but at a reunion many years hence, he wept and forgave. America demonstrates the possibility of second chances and the beauty of forgiveness more than most nations on this earth.

Some say that Michael Vick's sins are so egregious that they should never be forgiven, that he should never be allowed a second chance to display his magnificent talent on a football field again. When I hear this, I am reminded of the words of John 12:7. Christ spoke of a woman accused of adultery and said, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." No one came forward. Anyone who can judge Michael Vick as truly evil and unworthy of forgiveness surely must have the ability of God, to judge the motives of the soul and the desires of the heart. For me, I am content to leave this judgment to God.

It is possible that Michael Vick comes back to the NFL not just as a quarterback who is electrifying, but also as a quarterback who is more well rounded and more complete. But most importantly, he returns as a human being chastened, a man who has paid a severe price, who now understands the high price that is rightfully paid for cruelty to animals, and who is more credible than anyone else in preaching to young inner city kids the folly of dog fighting and the evil of animal cruelty.

I can't wait to witness the magnificent magic of Michael Vick once again, but this time I will appreciate it even more knowing that he is a good and decent man who has humbly paid the lessons of sin and emerged from his dark place an even stronger and better football player and human being.