This week’s Faith, Family, & Football feature is: M.L. Harris, Former Cincinnati Bengal.
PE: Why is faith important to you?
Harris: If you’re going to build any building that’s going to stand any length of time, you have to have a good foundation otherwise it will not stand. So for me, Faith is the foundation to who I am as a person. My foundation with the Lord keeps me strong, motivated, and filled with hope and limitless possibilities. It also encourages me to encourage others.
PE: Tell us about your family and the impact they’ve had on your life?
Harris: My mother was very instrumental in my upbringing. She was a single parent raising me and my four siblings and a very strong Christian. We were a close knit family trying to make it out of our situation, and athletics played a major role. Education and Christianity were also pushed hard by my mother.
I’ve been blessed to be married to a woman similar to my mom. My wife has a solid foundation in the Lord and really cares about family. We are both very family orientated, and instill the importance of faith to our kids. As a result, it’s caused me to live a focused life and to remain conscious of the things I’m supposed to be doing so I’m not making decisions that would bring embarrassment to God or my family. Ultimately, my faith and family empower me.
PE: What does being a father mean to you?
Harris: Not having an earthly father was a really difficult thing for me in the initial stages. I didn’t know what to do or what it meant to be a father. Then one day in church service, I sensed the Lord moving over me. A lady came up to me while I was standing at the alter with my sons and said, The Lord wants to know if he can be your father? That’s something that I’ve always wanted and I accepted him that day. Ever since I began to look at God as my father it’s helped me to become a better father. I see what he wants from me and it takes away the fear of being a father.
PE: How has your faith and family helped you develop off the field?
Harris: Family and faith keeps me accountable. Knowing that God sees all, forces me to remember that I represent my family and God. It puts me in a different mindset and keeps me calm in times of adversity and out of bad situations.
This is real life for me. It’s not a game. When I feel myself going in a different direction and the spirit wants to move and calm me down I listen to it. Because of my relationship with the Lord my flesh often times gets put in check.
PE: How do you balance faith, family, and football?
Harris: My relationship with God comes first, then my wife, then my children, and then my job. It’s in that order. That’s the way I live.
It’s plain in the word of God. It shows us that God has to be number 1. He’s number one in my wife’s life and in my life. I minister to her, she ministers to me. Then we minister to our children.
I don’t let my job dictate how much time I’m going to spend with my family. My family is important to me and I want to spend as much time with them as possible.
PE: What advice would you give to student athletes and current professional athletes in regards to their faith, family, and football?
Harris: I’d tell them the same thing I tell my youngest son…If you honor Jesus he’ll honor you. The bottom line is honor Jesus. He’s promised that if we honor him he’ll honor us. In doing so, we will do the things that God expects us to do. You’ll have the right kind of mindset, behavior and work ethic.
When you’re in relationship with the Lord, you don’t cheat when you’re working out. You know that the Holy Spirit prompts you and you can do more. You can work harder. The spirit will let you know that you can’t give up when you’re honoring Jesus. You give him everything you’ve got and when you walk away from whatever you’re doing, you have no regrets.