Everything hits you differently as a parent—you just can’t think of yourself first any longer. Your whole outlook changes. You shift priorities to ensuring a future for your children.
So what happens when you get diagnosed in April 2021 at age 33 with a rare form of cancer—so rare, in fact, that the odds of contracting it are 25 million to 1? What happens when the doctors can’t tell you if you have five months or five years to live? And what happens with your son, born at the end of March 2020 at the outset of a global pandemic?
That’s the story of Jonathan Tjarks, who has covered basketball for The Ringer since 2016 and is a host on The Ringer NBA Show. He loves Jesus and Dallas, in that order. And he wrote about cancer, his son, and his church in a remarkable essay for The Ringer called “Does My Son Know You?” I’ve never read anything like it in mainstream media, let alone sports media. And I especially took notice when The Ringer founder Bill Simmons commended the essay. Jonathan concludes this way:
I have already told some of my friends: When I see you in heaven, there’s only one thing I’m going to ask—Were you good to my son and my wife? Were you there for them? Does my son know you?
Jonathan joins me on this episode of Gospelbound to discuss basketball, his journalistic career, and the reception to his memorable essay. Please join me in praying for him and his family as he finishes his race and prepares for eternity with Jesus.
The Gospel Coalition