NBA's Dwight Howard Tells Students to Focus on God's Purpose for Their Lives
Dwight Howard says he knows he's blessed to have an NBA career and believes that inspiring the next generation is the best way he can honor God.
"If you have a dream hold on to it. Each and every person who reads this caption has a purpose on this Earth," Howard wrote on Instagram earlier this week. "Find out what your purpose is. God has blessed me tremendously and no better way to show him how thankful I am than by planting seeds in the next generation."
The 30-year-old who is gearing up for free agency in the upcoming NBA offseason played for the Orlando Magic before moving to the Los Angeles Lakers and finally the Houston Rockets.
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Howard's public image was compromised when he left the Magic in 2012 amid reports that he wanted his coach fired, asked to be traded and criticized his teammates. The athlete said when he felt everybody hated him, he turned to God.
"[I was] like 'oh my God ... please, just do something.' And He said, 'listen, if the whole world hates you, I love you. Always remember that,'" Howard told CBN earlier this year. "So I just tried to put away all the hate and everything like that and just focus on my relationship with Him."
Despite the dramatic media speculation surrounding his career, Howard revealed that he initially wanted to use his platform to spread the Word of God.
"My mission was to preach God's Word, you know, in the NBA, use the NBA as a platform for God and when I'm on the floor let people see the God in me," Howard told CBN earlier this year.
Howard later said realized he had taken on a tough task when he had an overwhelming amount of access to things like never before.
"There's times where it was very overwhelming. Where it's like man, this is so much," he admitted. "Everything is at my disposal, you know, all I got to do is just go reach and it's mine."
As a result, Howard made some mistakes. After fathering four children by multiple women, Howard admitted that he is far from perfect.
"You know, the minute I messed up, the minute I sinned, everybody took a shot at me. 'Hey, you're supposed to be a Christian,' but God died on — Jesus died on a cross for our sins, you know," he said. "So if He's willing to forgive us, why can't we forgive each other?
"When things are going wrong, when, I'm at a bad place, when I sin, I feel like He's there. He's my foundation," he said. "Like He hurts when I sin. But instead of Him turning His back on me, He's like, 'hey, come back. I still love you. I'm not going to leave."
