Laila Ali, You're Alright

When I first became a Laila Ali fan, I was hearing all kind of mean things about Laila, her fan club, and it was just everything. I thought, “Why is everybody giving Laila Ali a hard time?” I was told by my father that people didn’t always like her father, Muhammad Ali, at first either. Well, I ignored the rumors and would write her every chance I got. I did receive an answer that Laila saw my emails. She wanted to send me something, but I didn’t know how to accept it. I didn’t want anything from Laila, but she wanted to give me something. Maybe I should have accepted what she had to offer. The cocky Laila Ali that I only knew was alright with me, and I wasn’t looking for anything from her. I accepted the fact that Laila was cocky because she is a boxer. Don’t most fighters get cocky with their opponents? Isn’t it a natural thing for boxers? That was the Laila Ali I had seen inside of the boxing ring. Other than that, I knew nothing more about Laila until I bought her book, “Reach.” Then I understood Laila even more. That’s when I had things to say and couldn‘t write it. I had fears of being misunderstood through email on the Internet. I wanted to meet her and just speak with her face to face so that she could see my expressions. I wanted to talk to her as a human being. I wanted to say, “Laila, you’re alright. God talks to me about you.”

I began to slack up a little writing Laila. Her website was changing to a new address. I got a message from heaven one night while I was sleeping that I shouldn’t stop writing Laila. I thought, “If she sees my emails, she’s probably tired of me.” When she became more of a celebrity, I hung my head a little. I hung my head because I knew celebrities were busy or they just didn’t communicate much with fans. When you’re just a fan, sometimes it seems like you are nobody and unimportant. I wanted to be her friend. The spirit of the Lord kept saying that some of the things that I had to write were important. I kept feeling that so many people were saying mean things about Laila that writing her would not have mattered anymore. When I slacked up, it felt like a big weight on my heart and mind.

Seeing her father made me want to write even more. I was writing him through his website, but I doubt that he got my messages. I wanted to tell him how the Lord could heal him from the Parkinson’s that he has. I am a believer because of the miracle I had seen praying for my dying mother. There is great power in prayer. I have so much inside, and I feel I can’t get it out because of mean things and what other folks do. Maybe what's inside is too much for somebody else.  At the time that I heard about all of the mean things people were saying about Laila, I was going through some things too. I would say, “Lord, what have I done wrong.”

The Lord would say, “It’s not always what you have done wrong. It is what you have done right. Sometimes it is the things that others do.”

Laila, I feel you and you’re alright.