Michael Redd used to go to clubs with Jay-Z and Diddy.
Now, the highly-paid, injured Milwaukee Bucks star has ended that lifestyle, and is instead speaking out about his transformation, according to The Lantern.
At Ohio State, Redd said that he struggled with lust and pornography, but that after God spoke to him in a hotel room prior to a 2003 game against the Atlanta Hawks, he turned his life around.
"I heard a voice say, ‘Get up and pray,'" Redd explained. "I've never felt anything like what I felt that night. My life has never been the same since. My heart was changed."
Recently, he was back at his alma mater to discuss his transformation with OSU's chapter of Athletes in Action.
"I used to read the story about Jesus getting whipped and think that it was me holding the whip," Redd shouted at his "Night of Hope" event. "Every time I watched pornography, every time I drank, every time I lusted, it was me giving him another lashing. I put him on that cross."
His lack of skills at the club also contributed to his change.
"I was no good at sin. I was also a horrible dancer. People would make fun of me because I didn't even know how to drink the right way," Redd said. "Girls would ask at the club, ‘Are you having fun?' and I'd say no, and want to go home."
Redd, who hopes to return to the Bucks later this season, believes that if his message changes even one life for the better that it was well worth it.
"I pray that it had a huge impact. Hopefully lives were changed and transformed," Redd said. "I saw a lot of people that seemed broken that really took in what I had to say."
