Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh Reflects on Advent After Overtime Win
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Baltimore Ravens are 10-3 this season and hold the No. 1 AFC spot. Sports Spectrum is sharing how head coach John Harbaugh keeps his focus on Christ amid his team’s success.
After Sunday’s thrilling overtime 37-31 win against the Los Angeles Chargers, Harbaugh is ready for the playoffs.
Sports Spectrum reported that, following the final play, he ran down the sideline to celebrate with his team. “But he said he felt a divine prompting to (momentarily) leave the celebration and shake Rams head coach Sean McVay’s hand in a demonstration of good sportsmanship,” Sports Spectrum added.
“I jumped around, and I lost my headset,” Harbaugh said of the moment. “I think God probably reminded me — the Holy Spirit, maybe something. It was a small, still voice in my head.”
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In a postgame press conference, Harbaugh stated, “Five hundred years from now, none of us are going to be around. Five hundred years [ago], none of us were here, so we’re given this time with these people in this place for a purpose. There’s December, and the time is December. December football has a meaning to it. It’s preparation for great events to come. You have to put yourself in position with December football for what’s to come.”
However, Harbaugh didn’t stop at just football. He spoke about the greatest event in history: the birth of Jesus.
“It’s also the Advent season,” he said. “Advent comes from the Latin [word] ‘adventus,’ which means anticipation and preparation for an amazing event, which is the coming of our Savior and celebrating the Christ — the Good News that changes the world and changes it for all eternity.”
In July, Harbaugh spoke about his faith journey on the “Sports Spectrum Podcast.”
“To me, success is alignment with God,” he explained. “Perfect success would be perfect alignment with God and God’s will. … He knows what our true desires are, what our purpose is, so trying to find that purpose through connection with God — being connected and filled with the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit — that is success.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Harbaugh:
Despite his success as a coach, Harbaugh knows where to find his identity.
“Our identity is not in so much what we do but how we do it and more importantly who we do it for. Our identity should always be in Christ,” he told Athletes in Action. “The thing that gives human existence any meaning at all is the fact that we’re created in God’s image and that He loves us and cares about us one hundred percent.”
“Before the beginning of time, He had a plan for us, and He created us in a way [that] He knows us intimately,” Harbaugh shared, according to Beliefnet. “He knows what our true desires are and what our purpose is. So trying to find that purpose or connection with God and being connected and filled with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is success. That is the ultimate success.”
“I trust Providence; I trust God’s will, His plan,” he added. “And as much as anything, I try to put it in His hands because when you look back, you can see where He has brought you. When you look back, there’s a certainty in the road that you’ve traveled, and as I get older now, I can really see that more clearly.”
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