Celebrity quarterback puts God first
>
> Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams, the hottest quarterback in the
> National Football League, prints his own trading cards. But it's
> not an ego thing.
>
> ...The cards tell the story of Warner turning his life over to
> Christ. He carries them around so he'll have something meaningful
> to hand out to fans who ask for his autograph.
>
> ...His new life in Christ is intertwined with his dramatic
> rags-to-riches football career. The NFL's most valuable player
> will lead his team against the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl
> XXXIV on Sunday.
>
> ...Warner became a Christian four years ago, shortly after
> tragedy touched his life. The parents of his girlfriend Brenda,
> now his wife, were killed when a tornado demolished their home in
> Mountain View, Ark. They had planned to be baptized that night,
> but stayed home because Brenda's mother had a headache, USA Today
> said. People at the church were spared.
>
> ...Kurt watched as Brenda, a Christian, responded to the tragedy
> with poise and grace rather than self-pity. He also knew how she
> had dealt with a crippling accident suffered by her son, Zachary,
> eight years earlier, when he was dropped on his head as a baby.
>
> ...Brenda sat in a rocking chair next to Zachary's hospital crib
> for 17 days, watching as he suffered seizures, quoting Bible
> verses, and asking God to perform a miracle. Although legally
> blind and brain-damaged, Zachary is now a fifth-grader who can
> read, gets around fairly well, and takes mainstream and special
> education classes.
>
> ...Three months after the deaths of Brenda's parents, Kurt became
> a Christian. Two months after that he proposed to her, and he has
> adopted Zachary and her daughter Jesse.
>
> ...Kurt got involved in a Bible study and began to "understand
> what was really important in life," he told Crosswalk.com. "I had
> my life and my faith, and they were two separate things. But as I
> began to grow in my relationship with God, I began to understand
> how they fit together."
>
> ...The family attends St. Louis Family Church, as does Isaac
> Bruce, a Rams receiver. Pastor Jeff Perry leads a Bible study at
> the Warners' home each Wednesday night during football season.
>
> ...Warner's long road to gridiron success was filled with
> setbacks and bad breaks. He warmed the bench for four years at
> the University of Northern Iowa. Finally getting a chance as a
> fifth-year senior, he led the Panthers to the NCAA Division I-AA
> semifinals and was named the Gateway Conference Offensive Player
> of the Year.
>
> ...But he was passed over in the NFL draft and rejected by the
> Canadian Football League. Warner took a job stocking shelves for
> minimum wage at the Hy-Vee supermarket in Cedar Falls, Iowa,
> while he worked out at a college practice field during the day.
>
> ...A year later he was playing again, but in small-time Arena
> football, an indoor game using eight players on a side and
> 50-yard fields. He missed a tryout for the Chicago Bears in 1997
> when he was bitten on the elbow by a vicious spider, leaving him
> unable to throw.
>
> ...After three years he took a step up. He was signed by the Rams
> and sent to the Amsterdam (Netherlands) Admirals of NFL Europe,
> where in the spring of 1998 he led the league in passing yardage
> and touchdowns.
>
> ...The Rams hired Warner for the 1998 season, but he played in
> only one game. He was left unprotected in the expansion draft,
> but the new Cleveland Browns didn't want him, either. Warner was
> still with the Rams in 1999, but the team signed
> superstar-prospect quarterback Trent Green before the season for
> $16.5 million, and it looked like Warner would be overlooked
> again.
>
> ...Green got hurt, and Warner stepped up to take his place. To
> the surprise of almost everyone, he threw a record 41 touchdown
> passes, led the league in completion percentage, and took the
> Rams to the best record in their conference, 13-3. In five months
> he had gone from being an anonymous bench-sitter to a Pro Bowl
> selection, and was named the NFL's most valuable player.
>
> ...Kurt is now a celebrity but says he owes his success to Brenda
> and his faith. He declined an appearance on the David Letterman
> Show to spend his wedding anniversary with Brenda. He has his own
> frosted flakes cereal, Warner's Krunch Time, and the proceeds go
> to Camp Barnabus (see link #1 below), a Christian camp in Purdy,
> Mo., for children with special needs.
>
> ...Warner told his story at a Billy Graham event (see link #2
> below) in St. Louis last fall.
>
> ..."Who am I ? I am a devout Christian man," he told the crowd of
> 40,000. "I am not a football player. That is what I do. When I
> throw a touchdown pass now, my thoughts are on how can I use this
> success on the field as a platform to glorify and praise my Lord
> Jesus Christ. People often ask the secret of my success as a
> football player. It has nothing to do with how I work out in the
> off-season, or my diet. The secret of my success is simply Jesus
> Christ."
>
>
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