Today we will unpack the new sports movie, Air, based on the true story of Nike recruiting Michael Jordan to represent their brand.

The lead character in this fascinating movie is marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon. His role is to pursue Michael Jordan as he enters the NBA and get his commitment to endorse a struggling basketball division at Nike.

Vaccaro pitches Jordan on a signature shoe “Air Jordan,” which turns out to be the start of his iconic Jordan brand and partnership with Nike. In Air, it’s not as much about Michael the basketball star, but rather the origin of Jordan becoming a remarkable businessman and endorser and how Nike saw his true potential.

The movie is especially captivating when showing Nike’s challenge to persuade Jordan and his parents they’re the right company to partner with. The tension builds as Nike finally gets them to come to their campus in Oregon, and Vaccaro is forced to make a passionate plea when their pitch is headed in the wrong direction.

Here is an excerpt from Vaccaro’s convincing monologue:

“A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness. We need you in these shoes not so you have meaning in your life, but so that we have meaning in ours. Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up – except for you. You’re gonna be remembered forever because some things are eternal. You’re Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly.”

The takeaway from this quote is that Michael Jordan is thought to be larger than life and that many fans still regard him as some kind of deity. As followers of Jesus, we know he shouldn’t be viewed this way, but there’s a great application to Biblical truth from the quote that’s worth unpacking today.

A shoe is just a shoe – just some fancy rubber and shoe laces and can’t do anything on its own. But a shoe is capable of some amazing things on the basketball court when Michael Jordan is wearing it. He gives the shoe meaning and his story in those shoes inspires others.

As human beings, we’re just skin and bones. But when Jesus enters into our lives, He helps us become what we’re created to be by giving us purpose and meaning. We’re capable of amazing things because of Him working in us and through us.

Philippians 2:13 (AMP) tells us, “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

Apart from Him being in us, we can do nothing of eternal value. Jesus says in, John 15:5 (AMP), “’I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.’”

1 John 5:12 (AMP) also says, “He who has the Son [by accepting Him as Lord and Savior] has the life [that is eternal]; he who does not have the Son of God [by personal faith] does not have the life.”

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and surrender our lives to Him, we are united in Him, given eternal life, and His Spirit lives within us.

Romans 8:10-11 (AMP) explains, “If Christ lives in you, though your [natural] body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of righteousness [which He provides]. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”

Matt Damon explained in Air, “A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning.” 

Today, let’s be encouraged that as followers of Jesus, our lives have meaning because of Who is in us. It’s His story…His power…and His life that is “gonna make us [and others] want to fly.”

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20; ESV).

I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I humbly acknowledge that I’m nothing without Jesus. Thank you for allowing me to be united in You and I pray I’d live in a way that understands Your power and life within me. Please accomplish Your purpose through me and help me to be mindful that my life has meaning because of You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.