When a Man Prayed on ESPN

The nationally televised prayer for a critically injured young man.

Dan Orlovsky prays on ESPN for Damar Hamlin.

Early in Monday night’s football game, a Buffalo Bills player was injured.

Injuries happen all the time in football - but this was very different. Damar Hamlin was the injured young football player, and his life was in danger.

We were all horrified when the medical staff began administering CPR to Hamlin. You don’t give CPR to someone if their shoulder is dislocated. You give CPR to someone who’s dying.

A young football player was dying in front of us all on national television.

Thankfully, they got his heart beating again, and Hamlin was loaded into an ambulance and transported to a nearby hospital. As I’m writing this article, he is still in critical condition.

Dan Orlovsky prays.

After the game was postponed, sports talking heads quickly rushed in front of the cameras to attempt to put what they had just witnessed into words.

No one really knew what to say.

And that’s when Dan Orlovsky decided to say a prayer for Damar Hamlin on ESPN’s NFL Live.

Amid tragedy, where did we turn? Many people turned to God in prayer, just as Orlovsky did.

Just as the sports talking heads rushed to put their thoughts into words about the Hamlin situation, religious talking heads rushed to give their commentary on the situation surrounding the Hamlin situation.

I guess I have entered that arena, although I don’t know that I have much to add to the conversion. I did what Orlovsky did - I prayed for the injured young man. What else would you do if you’re a Christian in that situation?

I had some thoughts that hopefully will get us thinking a little more about prayer.

Do we only turn to God during the bad times?

Some people live life with God pushed to the further fringes of their life and mind. They don’t need God, they claim. After all, what could God possibly do for them that they don’t already have?

Sometimes even Christians have this mentality.

But then, some tragedy strikes, and that person pleads with God for mercy.

If God is merciful to them - do they then forget God once again and go on living their lives like nothing ever happened? God is there for us all the time, but far too often, we only treat God as our safety net in times of emergency.

God is the safety net in times of emergency; just read what David wrote in the Psalms - but oh, God is also so much more than that.

God will not be hidden.

Our highly materialistic, humanistic society has done all it can to push God out of the public eye - unless, of course, they can use God to help boost sales around Christmas time.

But in a football game where practically everyone’s mind is removed from God - God rose to the forefront.

• The players knelt in a prayer circle on the field for Hamlin.

• Fans in the stands were seen praying.

• Dan Orlovsky said a prayer on national television.

No matter how hard some people try to push God out of the picture, He won’t go away.

He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). It is the height of foolishness to think we have pushed the King off the throne (Psalm 2).

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Don’t forget that an innocent young man’s life still hangs in the balance. Let’s continue to petition the Almighty God to spare his life.

Let’s pray that God will continue to be glorified in this moment - as He already has been exalted.

Prayer is still powerful today.

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16)