I was born and raised in Cartersville, GA.  I am so blessed; my parents raised me in a Christian home.  I received Christ into my life when I was 9 years old and I was baptized in my local church.  Although I received Christ at an early age, I didn’t fully understand what it meant to walk with Jesus, but I began my Christian journey. 

My older brother has been a huge blessing and influence to me as well as my parents.  I remember watching my brother and wanting to be like him.  In middle school I began to hang with the wrong crowd.  I began to develop a bad attitude and my language began to get ugly.  My walk with Jesus struggled and I became a “Sunday” Christian.  I would go to church and act one way and then I would act a completely different way around my friends. 

When I was 14, I was upstairs studying and my dad was downstairs working out.  I heard a faint voice crying for help and I realized it was my dad.  When I got downstairs, my dad was on the floor on his hands and knees.  Before I knew what happen, he had passed out on the floor.  I immediately called 911 and told the ambulance my dad was on the floor and I thought that he had a heart attack.  I vividly remember crying out to God to save my dad.  I prayed and told him that if He would spare my dad, I would live for Him like I knew that I should.

I remember learning about CPR in health class, so I propped up my dad’s head and waited on the ambulance.  When they arrived they had to revive my dad.  They loaded him in the ambulance and headed for the hospital.  I was told later that they had to revive him again before departing for the hospital.  They told us not to try and follow the ambulance but to get to the hospital.  I called my brother who was off at college and told him that dad had an accident and that he needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

On the way to the hospital, we got stopped at a railroad crossing.  The ambulance just made it through and we later found out that if they had gotten stopped my dad probably wouldn’t have made it.  When we arrived at the hospital, my mom was hysterical and I really didn’t know what to do.  They let me got into see my dad and he was stable at the time.  I looked into his eyes and held his head to mine, like he always did to me.  The nurses asked if he knew who I was and he nodded yes.

Before I knew it, he went out again and it scared me to death.  I lost it at this point and ran out of the hospital.  As I was running, mad at the world, a friend of the family passed me and picked me up.  He took me back to the hospital and my brother was there.  It helped a lot having him there.  They final got my dad stable and this event changed my life forever.  I will always remember my promise to God.

Following this incident I began to get on track with God.  I think I understood more about what it meant to be a Christian.  But I continued to struggle in my walk with Jesus.  I had more of an eternal focus at that point because I knew how precious life truly was.  My Christian life was very up and down.  Around other Christians I was strong but by myself or around the wrong people I struggled.  It was very frustrating but I pressed on.

When I was looking at colleges for football, I thought Clemson was where I was going to go.  But when I visited UGA, I knew God wad leading me to go here.  So signed with UGA.  My walk with God continued to be up and down during my first year at Georgia.  During my 2^nd year, I was starting and I got hurt in the Alabama game.  This was a very hard thing for me because I was just getting going and it all got ripped out from under me.  I really wrestled with God during this process but He continued working on my character during this trial.

Right before the summer of 2004, I was challenged to go to Athletes in Action camp in Colorado.  It sounded great to go out to Colorado, I had never been outside the southeast and I had always wanted to see the West.  So out of selfish motives I decided to go, I never knew that God would change my life at this camp.

At the Ultimate Training Camp I was with 120 other college athletes from all over the country.  It was so cool to see other athletes wanting to know Christ and live for Him.  During the camp, we learned Biblical principle to apply on the field of competition.  Each day we would hear talks about this and then have a lab to apply them on the field.  I twisted my ankle early in the week and had to sit out a lot. 

At the end of the week, we participated in the “Special.”  It is a 24-hour athletic competition intended to break us physically and force us to depend on God.  Well I broke down during this week.  During the last event of the Special, we run up a mountain AIA calls “Golgotha.”  I was still on crutches and couldn’t do the run.  But I couldn’t handle it.  I dropped my crutches and headed down the mountain.  During the run, you take a two by four on your side and go down the mountain.  Then you put the board on your back and go up the hill like Jesus did when He willing went to the cross for the sins of all mankind.  I can remember thinking Jesus didn’t quit on me, so I can’t quit on him.  It was awesome!

My outlook on athletics had changed drastically.  I no longer play for myself.  Now when I play it is for Jesus.  I recently dislocated my shoulder and it looked like I might be out for the season if I needed surgery.  I began to wrestle with God again about this.  But He quickly reminded me of my experience in Colorado, my dad’s heart attack and my other battles with injuries.  I said, Jesus Christ didn’t quit on me when He was going to the cross for my sins and I’m not going to quit on Him.

Fortunately the trainer told me I wouldn’t need surgery and that I could be back by the 3^rd game of the season.  I was overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness to God.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Luke 12:48b “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”  I now have a different perspective in life and I want to serve God intentionally out of a willing attitude because I have been given so much.  I am so blessed and I am so thankful to God for all that He has done for me.  My prayer is that you will be encouraged by my testimony and learn from the lessons that I’ve learned.  God is so good and He gave us His all by sending His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die a death He didn’t deserve to save a people who didn’t deserve this awesome gift of love.  

To God be the Glory…

 
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