Recently, on Monday, January 2nd, 2023, many Americans witnessed a horrific event during the NFL game Monday Night Football on the American network ABC. The two teams playing were the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. The game started as usual, with a delayed start waiting for a college bowl game to complete on their sister network ESPN.
At around 8:50pm Eastern time, Buffalo Bills' safety Damar Halmin took a hit from Cincinnati Bengals' wide receiver Tee Higgins, and both fell to the ground. While it doesn't seem like a very big hit, after Damar got up from the ground, he collapsed just seconds later. Immediately, team trainers from both teams rushed to the field, followed by medical staff, the paramedics, and the ambulance. What seemed like forever, the ambulance finally took Hamlin off the field to a nearby hospital, leaving the field around 9:25pm. Word got out that he actually had a cardiac arrest on the field and literally had to be brought back to life before he was transported to the hospital. It took trainers/medical staff/paramedics 9 minutes administering CPR edto get his heart pumping again. The game was suspended, and soon after Hamlin left the field, the NFL, coaches, and staff discuss if they should continue the game. It was later announced that night that the game was postponed, and later that week, cancelled.
The hours following Hamlin exits off the field was emotional. I think everybody at the game and those watching TV felt all the feels you can possibly imagine deep sadness, horrified, scared, grief, mad. I've seen grown men cry but to see so many men on both teams cry and their faces were filled with agony made my gut wrench. They literally saw a man drop dead on the field and then brought back to life, and I bet that was scary. Very scary.
And something else happened over the past few hours. People on live TV asked to pray. The anchors and commentators at ESPN ask everyone to pray. The Bills team gathered around in a huge circle and pray publicly. And this also happened on live broadcast (link to video of analyst opening praying). It was a very genuine mature Christian prayer, something that most people may not have heard before unless you go to church a lot and been involved in small groups prayers or Bible studies. It was a solid prayer.
I thought to myself, has the NFL flipped a switch? I remember just like yesterday how many people have criticized Tim Tebow for openly praying on the field after each touchdown. It was a time where people are criticizing everything about Christianity. There's always been Christian athletes, especially in football. I know a bunch and I have read a lot of other Christian football players in the NFL. As a Christian myself, I often wonder what's been going on in the last many years leading up to Monday night's event. And the only answer is God has always been with the NFL, and sometimes it takes an event like this to make people aware that there is a God. Just like Lazarus, Hamlin was brought back to life. People were openly weeping and crying and also praying. An in a week's time, Damar Hamlin was able to walk out of the hospital, board a plane, and head back to Buffalo, NY. It's one of those things I have to stand in awe of God and just observe what's going on. One of the first things he asked when he woke up from sedation was, "Did we win?" and the doctor answered, "Yes. Damar you won. You won the game of life."
I hope that even in times of joy that we remember God. In our times of happiness and where everything is working out right, we need to praise God and be thankful for our blessings. And of course, in our times of need, we ought to pray.
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