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The 700 Club with Pat Robertson


AMAZING STORY

Fighter Relies on God's Grace Card

By Annika Young
The 700 Club

CBN.com -“I go in saying, ‘I’m going to win.’ He’s going in saying he’s going to win. I want to win. Second stinks.” Mixed martial arts fighter Patrick “Bam Bam” Hutton has always wanted to be the best no matter what sport he plays; “Baseball, football, basketball, boxing, cross-country, track, anything. I love to compete. I mean that’s it. If me and you thumb wrestle right now and I lose, I’m going to be mad. I want a rematch.”

Growing up in a small town in Illinois, Patrick was a scrappy kid who loved to spar with boys in the neighborhood. “I’m not a mean person but I like the competitiveness and I like the roughhouse. I like to hit.” As an athlete in high school and college he was disciplined, because he knew that’s what it took to be the best. “My parents disciplined me in life. I got to give a lot of credit for discipline in sports to coaches.”

After college he landed a good job. But now there were no sports or coaches to keep him disciplined.  What he did have was time on his hands and money to spend. “Limousines, probably VIP at the clubs, VIP tables, beautiful women, maybe some celebrities hanging out with them, professional big-time athletes, drinking, drugs, a lot of women. Thousand dollar tabs. Just living like a rock star.”  And he acted like he was one.

Patrick began competing professionally in mixed martial arts. Now he carried around an ego bigger than his bar tabs and all the friends money could buy. But his lifestyle was affecting something much more important to him. “I was out of control with cocaine and I did it in front of my baby brother, who I would never hurt, ever. He told my older brother and he said we needed to talk. I denied it. Then he said something else to and it made me mad. I threw it in the toilet and it ruined the rest of my night. And I just remember cussing and screaming all night.”

Patrick knew things needed to change. “I was like, ‘you know what man, I've done the party scene,’ and I started going to church.” Not just any church but one pastored by his boxing idol, George Foreman. “People always say, ‘you only go there because of George Foreman.” I said, ‘It doesn’t matter. God uses him as a tool and he used him to get me in that church.’ Through Pastor Foreman’s mentorship, Patrick realized he needed to give his life to Christ. “I think that deep down in my heart that I wanted to be a better person, to be a better Christian and I stopped doing it on my own. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I mean He died for all my sins. He’s the reason why I’m here today.”

Patrick still competes in mixed martial arts with his usual discipline and focus. He also works with autistic children. “I get the absolute worst of the worst behaviored kids at my school. I use my experience and they’ll say ‘Oh you did this? You did that?’  And I say, ‘Yeah. It’s not good.’”

“I mentor kids all the time too in fighting, kids that want to be fighters that are just regular kids. I think my job is to help as many people as I can in the best way that I can.” And he believes the only way he can do that is through Jesus Christ. “Some of the things that Jesus did that makes me want to be like Him: He was loving. He was caring. He was forgiving. He was honest. He walked the perfect walk so I could make mistakes and learn to be better.”



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