De La Hoya v. Mayweather and Blasphemy

Tonight Oscar De LaHoya fights Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the junior middleweight title (154 lb limit) or, if you like, super welterweight title in one of the most anticipated fights since Tyson and Lewis fought in June of 2002.

I remember watching De La Hoya fight as an amateur in the Golden Glove Nationals down in Knoxville, Tennessee. I have followed his career for some time and have never really been won over as a fan of his for a number of reasons. I do have complete respect for his boxing skills, all he has accomplished over the years and I am rooting for him to clean up the sport a bit as he evolves into the promotion side.

I believe Oscar has bitten off more than he can chew with FM Jr.'s speed, youth and experience. Floyd doesn't endear himself to most fans with his arrogant statements about being better than Sugar Ray Robinson. Floyd has the makings of being the greatest with his perfect record of 37-0 with 24 knockouts, but he is a long way from being considered worthy of being mentioned with Sugar Ray Leonard, much less Sugar Ray Robinson.

As I was saying before, I think Floyd will win because of his speed, youth and experience. You can imagine how troubled I was to hear the statement made by a person who wears my same name make the following, what I consider to be, blasphemous statement concerning Floyd Mayweather Jr.

HBO's Jim Lampley said "If Floyd Mayweather were fighting God tomorrow, I'd make him the favorite to win by unanimous decision." I was immediately reminded of King Herod in Acts 12.22 being flattered by the crowd as having the voice of a God instead of mere man. Since Herod did not immediately give praise to God an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms.

I am also reminded of Proverbs 27.21 which says, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives." As foolish of a statement as Jim Lampley made and as revealing as it is about his own character, the real pressure, the real person placed in the crucible by the statement is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I do not know if Floyd is even aware of the statement or how he reacted to the statement if he is aware of it, but I do know that I am leaning more toward De La Hoya winning tonight. I previously had given De La Hoya little or no chance, but when you hear such a preposterous statement made it makes you pause.

Study the Word of God Like You're Looking for Money.

I was running the other day and as I run, I always look for any obstacles such as glass, holes in the sidewalk or uneven places that might cause an injury. I usually run against traffic so theoretically if a car were careening out of control I might have a chance at diving in the ditch. Every once in a while I'll notice a penny or sometimes even a quarter. On this particular day I see a one dollar bill about 2 feet off the sidewalk in the grass. I immediately stop and as I bend down to pick it up I notice ANOTHER one dollar bill.

Well, I had planned on just picking up the one dollar and keep on running, but now upon finding the second dollar I am in official looking-for-money mode. Who knows, maybe the unfortunate soul who had lost the couple of bucks had also lost a twenty! I mean, there is no sense in letting all that money blow around littering up the place. I have discovered there is a special attitude involved whenever I am looking for money.

Now I'm not talking about the general awareness of noticing money lying around somewhere. I mean when we are with purpose and eagerness looking expectantly for money or even the anticipation of finding money we have lost KNOWING it has to be here somewhere.

I try to read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with each day's date so when I found the couple of dollars on April 24th, the experience of finding the money was still fresh in my mind when I read Proverbs chapter 2, yesterday. The chapter begins by laying out a list of "ifs" when it comes to accepting words of teaching, storing them within us, turning our ear to wisdom and applying our hearts to understanding. The payoff comes in verse 5 with the reward being gaining the understanding of the fear of the Lord and finding the knowledge of God.

The crescendo for me was when I read the instructions when it comes to calling and crying out for insight and understanding in verse 4. "... and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure," That verse took on a whole new meaning for me after finding the couple of dollars and having my attitude changed instantly into the one of "looking for money." I was WAY too happy about finding a couple of dollars on the street. If I can apply the same enthusiasm and downright determination to studying the scriptures and gaining the wisdom and insight I am promised a success that a lifetime of searching for silver can't match.

I notice the instruction is not to search for it harder than we would search for silver or hidden treasure. We are only instructed to equal the intensity we have in our lives for gaining money. We know the wisdom and insight involved in God's Word is many times more valuable than any money we can gain in our lifetimes. I think the challenge is maintaining that focus and determination about God's Word in spite of the messages, that is, lies, that society tries to convince us to spend our lives pursuing instead.