A STORY YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW

By Dr. Michael Sprague

Andre Agassi was a tennis superstar back in the day. He was a style icon who brought swagger on and off the court. Gold earrings and chain. Bright colorful Nike shoes. Who can forget his commercials selling Canon’s Rebel camera with the marketing campaign, Image Is Everything. To top it off, there was Andre’s long and famous mullet. His hair flew around like a lion’s golden mane.

However, did you know the rest of the story? In Andre’s autobiography, OPEN, he stunned the world by revealing the iconic mane was actually a wig. His signature feature was a mask. What do you do when you are going prematurely bald and your motto is Image is Everything? You get a wig!!

Andre admits the pressure of pretending caught up with him. At the French Open he was supposed to dominate, but he lost in four sets. Why? Worry. In his book, he said he got totally distracted by the fear that his wig would fall off in front of an international audience. Imagine.

Andre is not the only one who has dealt with these issues. It’s easy to go all out to hide our imperfections and vulnerabilities. It’s hard to allow ourselves to be fully seen and known. We’ve all been tempted by the pretender’s mask. We all yearn to know and be known, love and be loved, celebrate and be celebrated.

Let’s all stop being mugged by the mirror. In Psalm 139 God says we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. He did not make a mistake with you or with me. In God, we are secure, accepted and the apple of His eye. Our ethnicity, curl of hair, color of hair or lack of hair was all designed by God when we were knit in our mother’s womb.

I’ve been encouraged by Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand-when I awake, I am still with you.” At the beach one time I tried to count the grains of one handful of sand. It was impossible… there were so many. Think of it, God has more thoughts toward you and me today than sand on the seashores.

In the end, Andre learned that openness, authenticity and generosity were more important than clamoring for attention and image management. So can we.

Don’t be mugged by the mirror.

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 Dr. Michael Sprague is the Louisiana State Chaplain with the Capitol Commission and President of Grace Adventures.

Michael holds a Business degree from the University of Maryland, a Master of Divinity degree from Capital Bible Seminary (Lanham, Maryland) and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. He served as Senior Pastor for 26 years in LA and MD. He has written two books – DISASTER: Betting the Farm on God in Life’s Storms and Stories from Katrinaland.

Donna and Michael reside in Mandeville, LA. In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball, reading and traveling. His motto is “Bet the Farm on God.”

To find out more about Michael visit his website.

A special  Thank You to Fares Hamouche for allowing us to use this feaure photo.