Bruce Gradkowski: What The Bible Can Tell Us About His Future

A song says, "Be very sure, be very sure / Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!"

Now, let's apply that idea to the Oakland Raiders.

It was Nov. 22 when Bruce Gradkowski brought back a victory for Oakland. It was exciting. It was a last minute thriller.

Early this morning, a thought came to me. Let's look at a story about Noah. He was the 600—year—old man who was the owner of an ark/ship that was a safe haven for a select number of people and animals during his time.

A big rain fell. It rained for forty days and forty nights. A test had to be run.

Noah sent out the raven. The raven went here and there. There is no record of its return.

In a symbolic way, JaMarcus Russell was our raven. He went here and there, and few victories were returned, few touchdowns were scored.

Then, as the old story goes, Noah, the very old man, sent out a dove. That dove had no place to land, so the dove returned.

Noah sent out the dove, two times. On the second time, the dove  came back with an olive branch, a symbol that the struggle and the hard times were about to end. In the case of the Raiders, this would be the streak of losses.

But, slow down and read this: The dove was sent out again, and on the third time, the dove did not return.

That was a sure sign that Noah could come out of the ark, and return to a stage of more space and physical freedom.

The moral of the story is that you must run a test. The test may have to be run more than one time.

Our victory on Nov. 22 is a good thing. But, we must run a test with Bruce Gradkowski.

Head coach Tom Cable and the very old Al Davis must send Gradkowski out to lead the team, not once, not twice, but three times.

It looks like Gradkowski is our dove, but he has only been sent out one time. He did return with a victory in his beak.

Now, let's stay on pins and needles, and send him out twice more.

It makes good sense to run the test more than once.

When we are convinced we are in a safe place, and not flooded by losses, we can come out, and reign in glory and honor.

This time, when we get back to that "safe place," we are going to be grateful.

Yes, we will even thank "the very old man" who is often misunderstood.

We will be grateful, for we will have weathered a storm that flooded our territory for the past six years. That was our forty days and forty nights of confinement while other things were being cleansed, and purged.

This time, we will start anew.