NO
STEROIDS, SON

Topics: Admonition; Confrontation; Deliverance; Direction; Drugs; Fatherhood; Guidance; Love; Parenting; Wisdom

References: Proverbs 12:15; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 4:2; Hebrews 12:11; 1 John 3:1

Before Bill Curry was an ESPN analyst, he was a college football coach, and before that he was a lineman in the National Football League. Today he wears two Super Bowl rings. But in the spring of 1965, it was unclear whether he would ever wear an NFL uniform.

He had been drafted in the twentieth round by the Green Bay Packers of the Vince Lombardi era but was convinced he would never make the team unless he gave himself an edge. So, a few months before the tryouts, Curry began lifting weights and taking steroids. He went from 220 to 240 pounds in just a few weeks.

When his father, a weightlifter, came to visit, Curry talked about his remarkable improvement. “It’s just incredible what these pills can do, Dad!”

His father asked for the pills, walked to the bathroom, and poured them down the toilet. The younger Curry panicked. “What are you doing?”

His father warned his son about steroids and how they would eventually destroy his body. Curry was shaken but convinced, and he never took steroids again. Today he simply says, “I’m so glad I had a father who loved me like that.”

—Mark Galli, Jesus Mean and Wild (Baker, 2006)