48 Hour Rewind... Track, Jesus And The NFL

 I have my own show... 48 Hours. 

Mine is mostly in my head, on repeat.
If I don't repeat, I sometimes forget.

You probably have your own version of this show.

Last weekend... those 48 hours 

went like 

this...

Drive a thousand (not really) miles, see the boy (Dan). See Dan run. See Dan run fast. 

See Dan pr. (personal record)

See Dan smile.

 See Dan hug his dad. 

Hear Dan tell his mom he loves her and thank her for driving a thousand (not really) miles to see Dan run less than 2 minutes. 

This is college track people....

Drive hundreds (really) of miles, half way back home

Dan's dad smiled all the way.
 Me too.

 Sleep for a few hours.

Meet sweet friends and their beautiful girls...

for Easter Sunday Celebration.

See Jesus rise.

It's Easter!!!

Had dinner with their family. 

His mom is beautiful, humble and gracious.

We enjoy a feast.

His dad is gifted. I see where the son gets it.

This dad works with athletes, men who need reconciliation with sons. 

It's a big job. He asks for prayer this week as he will be at the Final Four, looking for opportunities to support, encourage, heal... broken men.

At dinner is a soft spoken NFL running back, recently retired. He shares some statistics on NFL players after retirement.

Within 2 years 78% of retired players are bankrupt or in some type of financial distress.

The divorce rate is high.

No surprise here. The two seem to go hand in hand.

He speaks of backgrounds that many players come from.

Poor, hungry, without male role models in their lives.

He shares a time in his own life...

 He had signed on with a team and received a healthy signing bonus.

He had a memory...

of calling his mom while in college, asking her for twenty bucks so he could go out with friends.  

Her response, "Are you crazy? I don't have that kind of money."

He called the bank,

told them he was coming in with a large check

and was going to cash it.

The green paper stuff.

He walked out of that bank with two million dollars in a case.

He took it home, kept it in his house for two weeks...

before depositing it somewhere.

I did not ask where.

I did ask why.

He said,

"I wanted to see it, feel it, it was mine."

He developed the habit of having a large amount of cash in his pocket. If he spent two hundred bucks, he would go to the bank, replace what he spent.

It took him a few years to get comfortable with money.

He no longer does this.

He learned through a course on money management.

He sat at the table with his beautiful wife and handsome boys.

He is a grounded man now.

His boys understand the value of a dollar and earn their spending money.

From their earnings they save and tithe.

 The men at the table laughed and shared that they are happy if they have a twenty in their pocket.

We are more alike than different.

Those 48 hours...

Exhausting, blessed, joyful.

I love how God puts people in our lives...

to teach, remind and point us to Him.

Can't wait for the next 48 Hours.

What's on your calendar?