C. S. Lewis summed it up neatly when he said God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. In other words, we tend to ignore Him when everything is ‘hunky dory’ but think about Him a lot more when we are in trouble.

I was reminded of this when I woke up the other day to hear the sad news of Cyrille Regis’s untimely death. Rugby-loving addict that I am, even I know that Regis was a football superstar. And he has left a powerful legacy. Tributes such as: “he was more than just a footballer, “he blazed a trail for every black player who followed him, an inspiration to myself and many players of my era,” “a humble man and a great man” and “a true gentleman and legend” speak volumes of the impact he’s had on both fans and players alike.

He was clearly a great player as the BBC Sport’s chief football writer, Phil McNulty explained. Regis, he said, was “a striker of explosive, raw power and finishing who could unsettle any defence. Regis was powerful in the air, quick and a scorer of any type of goal, spectacular or scrappy.”

But this much-respected man was much more than that. He was also ‘a role model and a trailblazer for black footballers’ at a time when “high-profile black players were a rarity in Britain.” Sports commentator Adrian Chiles summed his legacy up well when he suggested that Cyrille Regis was more like Martin Luther King than a Malcolm X despite the racist abuse he and others suffered from fans in the late 1970s.

Chiles also talked of Regis’s very close friendship with fellow player Laurie Cunningham (one of a trio that manager Ron Atkinson dubbed ‘The Three degrees.’ Indeed, Cunningham proved very influential in more ways than one. in his life.

Talking in 2013, Regis said: “We were part of that first generation of black players in this country and I’m sure that if you ask any second generation player they will tell you they were inspired by Laurie.” But it was his best friend’s death (in a car crash in 1989) that proved even more important. Although he had been brought up to believe in Christian values, he had turned away from them as he grew up. Cunningham’s death however, left him asking questions such as ‘is there really life after death?’ ‘where is God in all of this?’ and ‘why did this happen?’

And this searching led to what he would come to describe as a real and life changing ‘encounter with Jesus.’ And it was an encounter that he wanted to share as he explained on his website: “I meet people all the time, some famous, some not who are all looking for hope and peace. I have learned that money cannot buy peace of mind so I simply tell people how I found hope and peace in God. The great thing about it is that anyone can have the peace that I have, you just need to know God.”

As C. S. Lewis would say God spoke to Cyrille Regis through his pain and it is my hope that He will speak to all who are grieving his tragic demise at this time. For just like Cyrille Regis, I believe He can prove a refuge and strength, one who is always ready to help when we’re in trouble.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]