Maybe you play football or soccer just-for-kicks. Some take it more seriously. For them, it is their life. They live and breathe the sport.  You sit in your living room and watch them play. You never made it to the NFL but you wonder what it would be like to have a son or a relative or even a friend who did.

Don’t spend too much time dreaming about it. Behind all the glitz and glamour of the big wins and the lucrative contacts, a few stories of emptiness have leaked out representing just the tip of the iceberg.

Former NFL Star Dave Pear doesn’t mince his words when it comes to his memories. Stellar performer – University of Washington standout, Pro Bowl defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders and the object of whistles, cheers and chants and no doubt the list goes on.  But now in his fifties – what does he have to say?

“I wish I never played football. I wish more than anything. Every single day, I want to take back those years of my life…Sure I won a Super Bowl Ring. But was it worth giving up my health for a piece of jewelry? No way. Those diamonds have lost their luster.” (1)

Experiencing pain every day, former NFL star reflects on how quickly the diamonds lose their luster. Was it worth exchanging his health for a piece of jewelry? He says no.

Jesus asked an even more startling question – more significant than losing one’s health. He asked:

For what is a man profited,

if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

(Matthew 16:26)

What does NFL New England Patriot Tom Brady have to say about the satisfaction he gets out of a life built around his football fame? What does this three time Super Bowl winner say?

In December of 2007, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed Tom Brady. There were some surprises as

Brady spoke candidly about his life and what he’s looking for.

Steve Kroft seemed genuinely surprised to hear this young athlete, with fame and wealth, tell him:

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.”

Steve Kroft then asked him: “What’s the answer?”

“I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady. “I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find.”

It wasn’t a flippant response. The facial expressions and the tone of his voice captured in the video underlined the deep desire this young celebrity has to find the real purpose for his life – the answer that will bring him true and lasting fulfillment – not fleeting successes and thirst for something more. (2)

Clayton Holmes, another football star didn’t find that football filled his inner soul cavity. All his successes couldn’t overcome his ‘lostness’ in life.  His biggest break came in 1992 when NFL Dallas Cowboys came through with a $200,000 signing bonus and a $1.3 million two year deal followed by three Super Bowl rings. Along with this came the big house in Dallas and his fancy white Mercedes 560 SEC at 23 years of age. Like other rich and famous athletes, now he was able to go to the nightclubs and flash $100 bills at the exotic dancers. But read his tragically sad story. Football and fame left him as empty afterwards as he was before. “Lost like me,” are his own words. (3)

 When the cardiologist told college football coach Andy Talley: “You’re having a heart attack and you have a blood clot. This is very serious,” his focus in life abruptly changed. The Villanova Wildcats’ coach, of considerable fame, shared the thoughts that went through his mind:

 “I’m really not interested in one more offensive play. I’m really not thinking about whether we’re playing man or two-deep zone. I wasn’t interested in one more hour in the office. What I was interested in at that point in time was my kids, my wife, my family, if I would ever see them again and — and where I was going to go if I died.” (4)

The most important question of all: Where will you go if and when you die? You really aren’t ready to live this life until you have a satisfactory answer to that one question.  Trophies, rings, and wins are worth absolutely nothing when compared to the value of your soul. Too many have lived their life and won their prizes but have lost their soul.

The greatest possession one can have in this life is ‘eternal life’. Where can eternal life be found? How could you be sure of Heaven and be a possessor of eternal life?

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life,

and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life;

whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

(1 John 5:11-12)

Do you know what else Christ the Son will do for you if you will let Him?

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

(John 8:36)

Would you like to be free from everything that handcuffs you in life such as your sins, your habits, etc.? Freedom is available through Christ.

This website has nothing to do with phony so-called Christianity show-biz or money-making religions. This website promotes a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ – one that gives you eternal life and frees you from your sin and brings you peace and for the first time in one’s life – will fill the inner empty cavity that can’t be filled by football or anything else.

Jesus said:

“I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly.

(John 10:10)

The abundant life that Tom Brady, Clayton Holmes, and many others are looking for, including maybe you, can be found only in knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.

If you would like to contact us for a personal response to a question or a concern you have email us here.

(1)   1) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jeff_pearlman/12/18/pear/index.html

(2)    2) https://heaven4sure.com/MeandGodQuestions/LifeLessons/tabid/58/ctl/ArticleView/mid/387/articleId/436/language/en-US/NFL-Tom-Brady-I-Wish-I-Knew-I-Wish-I-Knew.aspx

(3)    3) https://heaven4sure.com/MeandGodQuestions/LifeLessons/tabid/58/ctl/ArticleView/mid/387/articleId/450/language/en-US/Lost–Like-Me–Clayton-Holmes-NFL-Dallas-Cowboys.aspx

(4)    4) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/01/19/coaches.danger/index.html

Picture Credits:

David Pear –  http://blog.seattlepi.com/highschoolcover2sports/library/dave_pear.gif

Clayton Holmes – http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2008/0109/page2_g_holmes_200.jpg

Andy Talley – http://naia.collegefanz.com/images/coach_04.jpg

Tom Brady – http://blog.kir.com/archives/images/TomBrady%20010708.jpg

Superbowl Football – http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2009/01/superbowl.jpg

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