Football, Faith and Family- Life Lessons From the Trenches

Football, Faith and Family- Life Lessons Learned in the Trenches

Football, Faith and Family- Lessons Learned in the Trenches

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my wife Cindy, my daughters Taylor and Brooke for their support, commitment and sacrifice all these years I coached. They are the rocks in my life and I love them so much.

I also want to thank the coaches, players, parents and others that supported me all these years. I had the pleasure of working with and for great people, Godly people and they were and still are a blessing in my life.

Introduction

So many things happen to us in life and we often wonder why, what is the reason and is there a purpose. As I move along my spiritual growth journey with God, I think back of all the times God has influenced my life, decisions I made (good and bad) and how he guides us even through the toughest of times. As humans we face so many things that we just cannot understand and regardless of how big it really is, at that moment it just seems to be huge. God has a plan, one that involves bumps in the road because we as humans choose another path and not his.

 I have to be honest about a few times in my life when things happened I didn't understand. I got mad at the world, wanted to know why, what was the reason.. This story is about life changing events that occurred in my journey as a player. These events eventually led me to become a coach. Events that I thought were the end of the world, something I had worked so hard for was suddenly taken away more than once.

Life Lesson #1- God has a plan for all of us, we have to ask for his guidance in the process and be obedient to him. Humans tend to need and want things, it is a natural part of living. What we often do not think about is what God needs for us to have. He needs us to have a relationship with him, he wants us to honor him. The bible speaks about desires of the flesh, getting lost in our way and being greedy. Often, what we need is really not what we want. Pray to God and ask for his guidance in buying, pursuing and having things.

Chapter One- My Football and Faith Beginning

I grew up in the sport of football, my dad, uncles, brothers and cousins all played football. We played on Sunday afternoon at my grandma's house and boy, those were some rough games. We tackled, blocked and played just like we had pads on. Football was a tradition in my extended family. On top of that, my brothers and uncles coached me in little league. As I got older and made it to high school all of them were there on Fridays watching the games. So Sunday after church, I got coached up, told what I did and didn't do and how to get better. It's not easy being coached by your relatives and critiqued. However, looking back I certainly appreciate it now. It was life lessons I needed and something I take with me to this day.

I always wanted to be a professional football player from the time I was seven years old playing little league. I worked so hard for many years trying to be the absolute best I could. I lifted weights, ran laps, ran up and down hills, and played year round sports to become a better athlete. I had a very good high school career making all conference, all county and all district honors in football as an offensive and defensive lineman. 

 I was also a three time conference champion wrestler and state qualifier. While many of my buddies parties and chased girls, I focused on my academics and sports training. I was a typical teenage boy, so I will not claim to be innocent by no means. But I did focus on my goals and aspirations of being the first in my family to attend college on a scholarship. I did not want my parents to be burdened financially no more than possible.

All that focus and work was paying off by the time I went into spring of my high school senior year. I had seven offers to play college football with one of those being NC State. I also had four offers to wrestle in college. I grew up a North Carolina Tarheel fan (Wolfpack fans please don't stop reading)! I had decided to go to NC State, Western Carolina or Mars Hill College for football. My best college wrestling offer was a small school in Pennsylvania and I didn't want my parents to have to travel that far for matches so I chose football. Football was my passion and I had goals to accomplish. Little did I know that football, faith and family would be a journey of ups, downs, curves, trials and triumphs.