| Growing up, God was somebody I would scream and cry out to whenever my mom would give me the "whuppings" I deserved, hoping He would cause her to stop. It didn't work.
During my redshirt year in 1988, I wasn't playing football for the first time in my sports life. Frustrated, I was ready to transfer. I accepted Jesus Christ, but had a lot of ups and downs, especially when it came to living for Him. I confessed the Lord (as Savior), but what I was trying to do was keep the law instead of have a relationship with God.
It was in 1998 and I was like the Apostle Peter, washing my nets (Luke 5) and He said, ‘let’s go out into the deep water. Even with God you can give all you can and He says, ‘give me more. I want to be like the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20, I want to die (to my natural tendencies) and I want the Lord to live in me. I want to get to that point because of things I deal with; I can be impatient, I can be quick tempered and if you let one of those things in it breeds another.
In January of 1998, I recommitted my life totally to Jesus. I was down in the dumps -- my relationship with my brother who was living with me was bad. Football, in spite of a huge contract with the Panthers, wasn't providing much joy. Through these trials, I learned to totally trust in God. I was delivered from sin, and the fruits and power of God's Holy Spirit started being seen in my daily life.
Football stopped being my God. Jesus Christ, and my desire to bring glory to Him, is now my only reason for living. Like the Apostle Paul, I become all things to all people. You can’t be like, ‘I’m a Christian and you’re not’ and be self-righteous. You have to do the work of God. Jesus, He ministered to the tax collectors and the lowest on the earth. People talked bad about Him but He kept doing it because he said, ‘they’re sick and they need my help.’”
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