As For Me And My House - A Minute of Vision for Men

As for Me and My House

In February 2016, Ingrid Williams, wife of NBA assistant coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder Monty Williams, was killed in a head-on collision with a woman traveling ninety-two miles per hour in a forty-mile-per-hour zone. Because Monty Williams had been in the NBA as a player or coach since the early nineties, the league took her loss hard.

Many people watched the video where Williams eulogized his wife. By the time I watched the video, it already had 6,267,419 views. I first heard the eulogy on SB Nation Radio’s Prime Cut drive time show with former ESPN hosts Steve Bunin and Sean Salisbury. Bunin was extremely honest when he said, “I don’t know that I could be so quick to forgive,” after hearing Williams publicly declare, “We hold no ill will toward the Donaldson family.” I had similar thoughts to Bunin’s as well.

Williams encouraged the audience to pray for the Donaldsons, because they, too, lost a loved one. He declared, “In my house we have a sign that says, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ We cannot serve the Lord if we do not have a heart of forgiveness. That family didn’t wake up wanting to hurt my wife.”

Now you know why there were over 6.2 million views. This response is so counterintuitive it can come only from a heart that has been radically transformed by the gospel. Williams boldly declared, “All of this will work out . . . as hard as it is . . . it will work out. I know this because I have seen this in my life.” He quoted the verse that I want to leave you with today, then encouraged those gathered for the funeral that this would work out. Romans 8:28 declares, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” God is good, and no matter what you are facing, he is working for your good.

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28