He starts the letter off by hitting us religious and holier than thou people upside the head by saying,

“To all my non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity. Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

Man oh man, do we as Christians get it so wrong sometimes. Why do we think that because we know who Jesus is and because we say we’re Christian, we think that we can put ourselves up on this pedestal of

I’m better than you because you’re a ‘non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing’ Christian?

I had a conversation with a friend the other night, and we were talking about how being at a Christian University you would think that more people would understand that we are all screwed up human beings who obviously are not perfect and do not have all the answers. Instead, it is the exact opposite. It is like BECAUSE we call ourselves to be Christians, we feel the need to put up this religious cover-up to hide all of our weaknesses and screwed up parts of our lives.

I can personally testify to having been a Christian who used religion to cover up my sinful natured life.

However, my perspective has changed significantly.

I was eating lunch in the campus center after class one day, and this guy came up to me and asked if he could eat with me. I said,

Yeah, sure man.

I had no problem with it.

And so, we began talking, asking the common questions of,

Where are you from?, What year are you?, What’s your major?

But, being at a Christian University, it is impossible to not talk about your religious background.

The majority of people at Abilene Christian University are Church of Christ; hence it is a COC school.

Now as we were talking, I was asked,

So, what are you? (Implying what denomination I was)

I responded by saying,

Well, I guess you could say I am non-denominational? I don’t really associate my faith with a denomination. I believe in the bible and I believe in Jesus.

It seemed like my new friend was unable to comprehend my response. I don’t know exactly why, but it seemed like the only thing he knew was that everyone must be defined by something (a denomination in this instance).

He asked me,

So, you obviously haven’t grown up in the church?

My response was,

No, I actually have grown up in the church most my life. There obviously were times in my life where I didn’t go to church for periods of time, but I feel like I’ve had a subtle background of church throughout my life.

He was quick to ask then,

But so you’re just trying to figure things out then huh?

I was a bit taken back by this question.

And my tentative response was,

No, I feel like I have things kind of figured out. I mean, I obviously don’t have all of the answers, but it’s not like I don’t have a solid foundation of what my faith is based upon.

So, as the conversation ended, it seemed as though my friend had put himself up on this religious pedestal, and I was left in the shoes of the ‘non-believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing’ Christian.

I could finally comprehend what I (we as Christians) need to quit doing.

How will we ever have legitimate relationships if we are unable to relate with people on an authentic, personal, deep, and passionate level?

If we continue to use our religion to place ourselves above others, you can guarantee that you will not have any type of impact on anyone you want to influence.

How about we just BE REAL?

I have had a decent number of learning experiences which have affected my life.

One of the biggest though was when I resigned from the football team at the University of Nebraska.

I resigned from the football team in February of 2009. I did this because I felt like the Lord was calling me in a different direction than the one I was headed. There were a few interactions and relationships that I did not agree with, along with certain situations I was put in.

At this point, I thought my collegiate football career was over, and I was OK with that. If that was what the Lord wanted, than that is what the plan was going to be.

However, I finished the 09′ spring semester at Nebraska, and then worked and took classes during the summer in Lincoln. I then proceeded to get in contact with a private coach I worked with throughout High School and told him that I wanted to keep in contact with him and that if he ever needed any help with camps or anything, to keep me in mind (because one day I want to coach as well).

He gave me a call about a week after I sent him this e-mail. We talked about why I decided to discontinue playing and what my plans were for the near future.

He asked me, “Well, I have one question though, do you still want to play.”

I proceeded to tell him that, “I did still have the desire to play football, however, it was not that big of a deal to me. I didn’t want to just go somewhere just to go somewhere to play football, there had to be a purpose for it.”

He suggested that I could possibly transfer to the University of Kansas, but, if I had done that, I would have had to sit out a year, and lose a year of eligibility due to NCAA rules. And then, if I decided to transfer to a Division II school, I would not have to sit out, and I could play immediately. But again, I didn’t feel the need to just go anywhere, there had to be a purpose and a reason.

So, to make a long story short, the door opened for me to play football again at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. Two weeks before school started, and three days before fall camp, I hopped into my car from Lincoln, Nebraska and I drove to Abilene, Texas to visit the campus and meet with Head Coach Chris Thomsen. To say the least, the moment I walked on campus, I knew ACU was where I was supposed to be. It’s a crazy story, but in the end, I drove to Abilene Christian University from Nebraska out of the blue, not knowing anything, and I never looked backed.

But, now that you have a bit of context to this story, I want to make my point.

Today during spring football practice, it wasn’t the best practice we’ve ever had, and I think that could be credited to the fact that we have been practicing for about 6 days straight.

As an athlete, you are always going to have days and practices where you don’t feel like practicing at the level you know you should and are capable of.

But, if it is one thing I have learned, and Coach T says this all the time, is that,

You can’t let what you feel control what you know.

And I have taken that to heart.

But today in the middle of practice, it hit me. While everyone around me may have not felt like practicing to their fullest potential, I found myself appreciating more and more the opportunity that has been given to me. I found myself wanting, desiring to maximize the opportunity given to me; and wanting, desiring to be practicing.

It hit me that I have been able to find that the smallest things in the eye’s of the society, are incredibly huge.

In James 3:3-6 it speaks about how even the smallest things have an incredibly huge impact.

Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

I believe that if we as a team can take the next step in focusing on the little things, we will take the next step to being a national championship football team

Hebrews 13:16

And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

And so, we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing – or, we will just keep getting what we’ve been getting. Because ultimately, what got us here will not get us there.