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God in my Corner – A Spiritual Memoir – George Foreman

BACK IN MY BODY

When my legs buckled beneath me, I had collapsed on the floor. Apparently, my brothers and trainer had picked me up and laid my body on the training table. Now I was alive again. I could feel the blood running through my veins. All fear of dying had disappeared.

The worst thing that could have happened to me had happened to me. Yet for some reason, I was alive! The men in the dressing room gathered around the table-my brothers Sonny and Roy, Charley Shipes, Gil Clancy, Lamar, and Perry Fuller-all of them staring at me, their mouths wide open in astonishment. All except Perry who was sobbing, the tears streaming down his face.

I still thought I was dying, but since the fear of death was gone, I was almost cheerful. "Hey, I'm dying," I said, "but tell everybody that I'm dying for God!" I knew it had been God's hand that rescued me out of that dark place.

I lay back on the table, expecting to die at any moment, but this time, I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t tormented by the fear of death anymore. I was at peace with God and at peace with myself. All my life, in spite of my money and accomplishments, I had never felt fulfilled or truly happy. I continually wanted to go to new places; I always wanted to be somewhere else. I envied those who seemed to be more successful, wishing I could be in their shoes. But what occurred next totally flushed that discontentment out of me.

As I lay on the table, my spirit inside me was suddenly yanked from one place to another, like I was riding on a roller coaster. My stomach floated, like when a coaster goes up over a hump and then lurches downward. Instantly in my mind, I was shown all the places I had dreamed of going.

I felt what it was like to be in the shoes of the people I had admired so immensely-Sammy Davis Jr., and other celebrities. But just when I settled at being in each place and living that person's life, I was immediately yanked up and taken to another place to be a different person.

Not only did I sense the success and failure of my heroes; I also experienced the practice of every religion of these people.

Nothing satisfied.

This weird "virtual-reality tour" seemed to last for hours, but it couldn't have been but for a few moments in real time.

Finally, in frustration I cried out, "I'm George Foreman! I just lost that boxing match. I don't care where You're taking me-I lost the fight, and I'm who I want to be. I don't want to be anyone else!"

The moment those words left my lips, the journey stopped, and I opened my eyes.