I was raised in a Christian home, but my faith did not become real until high school. Before I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, I thought that everything revolved around sports and me. I was selfish. It was always my dream to play college football, but God used some pretty big moments in my life to guide me away from my own desires, and instead, towards living out His will.

My life changed forever my junior year of high school. Our football team that year was one of the most talented to go through our high school in a long time, and it was supposed to be the year to make a run to the state championship game. However, that hope of mine was quickly crushed when I suffered a stress fracture in my right tibia that would sideline me for most of the year. This injury caused the most pain I had ever felt for weeks on end. I was completely devastated. The following weeks, I became very frustrated with the Lord. I did not understand why he was putting me through what He was. I became depressed and gained almost 40 pounds in just over a month. It seemed like the torture would never end. Then, one night when my body ached, and I was sick of feeling the way I did, I cried out to the Lord. I got on my hands and knees and begged Him to end the suffering. It was that night when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ once and for all. I realized that my life is not my own, and not about me. My life is about doing God’s will, and glorifying Him through it all. I acknowledged and experienced the peace and joy that Christ provides, and the freedom found in Him. God is good all the time. And all the time God is good.

After surrendering my life to my Lord and Savior, I saw the world through a whole new lens. Jesus molded my heart into one of service, and love. I experienced love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, the seven “fruits”, that are given to us after surrendering our lives to Him. God transformed my love of sports into something that would glorify Him. My senior football season, I experienced the kingdom of God. Long story short, our football team united around Christ, and committed to playing for the glory of God. At a public high school, I saw kid after kid giving their life to Christ after hearing and experiencing the Gospel for the first time. God used our team as a platform to show His love to other teams. We would ask to pray with the opposing team at midfield after the game so that we could give credit to where credit was due. The story of what happened to our team was very similar to the movie Woodlawn, if that helps you visualize it better.

Now, to recognize how much of an impact God had on me and the kind of unreal senior season it was, you have to understand what God did through me and the team on the football field. This is a part of the story that I often leave out, but to fully acknowledge the faithfulness of the Lord it is essential. With me being our biggest guy, 205 pounds, and playing quarterback, we made it to the state championship game where we lost by a last second field goal. That season I threw for 59 touchdowns and over 4,200 yards in 14 games, which are both state records in Wisconsin. I am not telling this to brag or boast in my achievements, or our teams, but rather for others to know the power of God, so He would get all the praise and glory for what He did through us.

God really used my senior year to show Himself to me. So, instead of playing football at the next level, I decided to lean on the Lord and go where I felt like he was calling me. Here, at UW-Madison, God is equipping me every day to live a life for Him. I am forever filled with our living Savior. God has a plan for me, and I will continue to walk faithfully and confidently along the path He has set before me. My life is not my own. Glory to God.