The Deacon's Bench
This is exceptional:
He had nothing to say on Sunday. He had nothing to say on Monday. But soon-to-be-former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III left a note in his now-empty locker at team headquarters.
Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com has posted a photo of the note, typed up with various-sized fonts and a team logo in the background. Here’s the text of it:
“People are often unreasonable, irrational & self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of self, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends, and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest & sincere, people may deceive you. Be honest & sincere anyway.
“What you spend years creating others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity & happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often by forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it’s between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
Despite an explanation that the note was hanging in Griffin’s locker all year, it seems to have been left in a prominent place. Making the note more conspicuous is the fact that the rest of the stuff in the locker is gone.
The note prompted attention—and a reading on the air—on the Boomer & Carton radio show.
Griffin has always been outspoken about his faith, even making the sign of the cross on field (though he isn’t, in fact, Catholic):
If you know who Robert Griffin III is, you probably also know he’s a devout Christian. Griffin seems to prefer the Evangelical/Pentecostal denominations, even though he attended Baylor University, a Baptist University. In his hometown of Copperas Cove, Texas, Griffin attended the Christian House of Prayer Ministries, and the most recent news is that, since he’s been living in Washington D.C., he’s been attending the Cornerstone Fellowship Church. Both of these churches have been described as “modern evangelical, charismatic/Pentecostal congregation[s].
Nevertheless, faith and God has always been a huge part of Griffin’s life. He said of his upbringing:
I’ve been in the church since I was 7. My parents didn’t push it on us but they made sure we grew up in the church, so that’s all we know, that’s what we do.
And as a rising NFL star, Griffin is always quick to praise God for his talents and good fortune–and he wants to get the word out:
I praise God, I thank him for everything. Purposefully, you live every day for Him, and when He gives you the opportunity to speak up for Him or to do something in His name, you do it.
UPDATE: The background behind that Mother Teresa quotation is a little more complicated than many think. Check out the story behind it here.
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