Thursday, April 1, 2010

NBA Player Becomes A Preacher

Former Miami Heat basketball player, Wayne Simien, has become a preacher. He became a Christian in 2003. His story is a wonderful one of redemption, after he gave up drugs, alcohol and sexual promiscuity.

Five years from KU, Wayne Simien answers another calling

Posted on Sun, Feb. 28, 2010 11:16 PM - ...After he had become a Christian on July 12, 2003, entering his junior year, there were plenty of folks who wanted the old Wayne back. They called him “Big Dub,” and he was once the life of the party.

“As soon as I stopped doing drugs, stopped drinking, stopped treating women badly, stopped playing selfishly on the court, that’s when people were like, ‘Hey Wayne, what’s wrong with you? What’s going on? I’m worried about you,’ ” Simien says. “Now you’re worried about me? After I stopped doing all these things?” ...

During that first year in Miami, Simien would meet his wife, Katie, through some mutual friends who shared their beliefs. Wayne and Katie met in August 2005, began dating on New Year’s Eve, became in engaged in February and were married in July. In another statement about the way he was choosing to live, Wayne did not kiss Katie until their wedding day.

“I wasn’t a virgin when I got married,” Simien says, “so it was just another way of wanting to honor my wife, wanting to share that with not only her but also everybody that was at our wedding ceremony.”...

http://www.mercurynews.com