LIFE CANNOT BE BASED UPON MAKING CONTIGENCIES TO AVOID RISK

. I am sorry, but we are seeing more and more of college football players sitting out a regular season or bowl game because they are afraid of the risk associated with an injury that might impact their financial future in the National Football League. Some college players are even doing it because hey have entered the transfer portal and have lucrative Name & Image prospects at their new college. Some college football players, formerly known as STUDENT ATHLETES, can and will earn as much as, or more than $1 million dollars a year, without graduating from college, but I am addressing the NFL draft. If these guys, and I know because was one, who are in great physical condition, have top notch medical care, lift weights every other day, maintain optimum anaerobic and aerobic condition and eat diets scientifically designed for optimum health are worried about getting hurt in a football game, and losing out on the tens of millions of dollars that pro football players earn, something is wrong with that logic. Elite college football players, or anyone else for that matter, can be injured at anytime. I am in Florida, where every summer and early fall precarious deadly storms make landfall. No one knows when or how the call to be with God will come, or when anyone of us will get that call. During my four years of playing college football, I don't think anybody I played with ever thought about "protecting" his body for the next level. That is just dumb. Sh_t happens. Always has, Always will. You can't make a contingency plan for everything

Before my interaction with faith took me to a different faith, I did spend some time with Jesuits. Yes, I was going to be a celibate, community activist with a beard trying to save one inner city neighborhood and praying to God that others would emulate my work, an older priest told me about another Jesuit who needed a heart transplant. He consulted with God about his condition. God told him, " My child, you will live to be a hundred". When he was finally cleared, his medical team told him that his relative youth and great health made it possible for him to have Mutiple procedures. He opted to include liposuction, a facelift, tummy tuck, and major cosmetic surgery. The priest, a former college football player, came out of the multiple procedures with flying colors. His recovery time was half of what the medical team thought it would be, He left the hospital on a bright sunny perfect Southern California. He walked out to the hospital parking lot, which is just off of Wilshire Blvd. A distracted driver looked up and saw that he was about to hit a pedestrian. Instead of hitting the brakes he stepped on the accelerator, swerved through a hedgerow on the parking lot, struck the Jesuit and killed him. A short time later the priest is going through intake in heaven when he sees God. He says, " Lord, I have been a good and faithful servant, you told me I would live to be a hundred, what happened?" The Lord responded, " I know. Sorry about that. I didn't recognize you". When your time comes, it just comes. We play a dangerous game. People die playing the game. That may be part of it's appeal to us. When I was in college, I played beside a very good defensive tackle. He was three years ahead of me and an All American. He was from Richmond, VA. and ad played HS football at Maggie Walker HS in Richmond. He was a Business Major and very sharp. He was projected to be an NFL first round draft choice, and he was. He signed a very lucrative contract with the Atlanta Falcons. He suffered a career ending injury in his third game and never played football again. Fortunately, my teammate had had the foresight to take out a multi-million-dollar insurance policy through Loyd's Insurance Group. He had enough money to start a business, which became very successful. The New York Jets paid tens of millions of dollars to lure Aaron Rogers, a 40-year-old quarterback to New York, from the Green Bay Packers. On one of his first plays from scrimmage, Rogers suffered a torn ACL. He missed the entire season and has struggled with mobility issues this season. Whatever endeavors one pursues, it is not good to place cautionary contingencies on how we pursue them. When I was a football player, I was shocked to wake up one morning and learn that a chartered jet carrying the entire Marshall University football team, coaches, medical staff, trainers, rich donors and many other had crashed, Killing 85 people. I thought, "Every weekend all over America half of high school. college and professional football teams travel to some away venue to play football. The Marshall crash is the only fatal plane crash of an entire football team that I recall. If athletes try to protect themselves, it is nuts. That is foley. When your time comes to depart this life, or to suffer an injury in a football game, it comes. BE CAREFUL. DON'T TAKE UNECESSARY RISK.LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTORS AND TRAINERS. PLAY THE GAME YOU SIGNED UP TO PLAY. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO PROTECT YOURSELF FOR THE NEXT LEVEL. ALSO DON'T MAKE TOO MANY CHANGES. YOU WILL WANT GOD TO RECOGNIZE YOU