By Sandy Kirby Quandt

If you are familiar with the National Football League, there is a good possibility you have heard of defensive end for the Houston Texans, number 99. J.J. Watt. It is because of two of his quotes in the Houston Chronicle, I am writing this post. It may seem bizarre to make a Biblical connection through football, but you won’t know until you read the entire post.

This past Sunday, December 28, 2014, loyalties within the Quandt household were divided. You see, the Houston Texans played the Jacksonville Jaguars whose quarterback is fellow University of Central Florida alum, Blake Bortles. Dilemma. Dilemma.

Pie texted me at the beginning of the game, “Go, Jags!” I ignored him.

While I do want Blake Bortles to succeed as quarterback, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to him getting pounded by J.J. Watt each play, I was rooting for the Texans. To be more specific, I was rooting for Mr. Watt.

This season J.J. was voted to the Pro-Bowl for the third time since beginning his professional football career in 2011. His impressive stats for this year are: 78 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 29 tackles for loss, 50 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 10 passes defensed, one interception, a safety, three receiving touchdowns, five total touchdowns, 32 overall points. In his four years of play, he has 57 sacks. The third-most in NFL history.

He’s up for Most Valuable Player of the year. He already has one defensive MVP award, and will probably win one for this year, even if he doesn’t win the MVP award.

Who cares? You might ask.

Well, let me tell you why I care. When I read Brian Smith’s article in the Houston Chronicle, I knew I’d rooted for the right guy.

“I don’t know,” said Watt, when asked if this was the best he’s ever been. “That’s mainly for everybody else to discuss. You all can write about it. My goal is just to go out there and do whatever I can. You work hard for the respect of your teammates and coaches and other players around the league. … I want to make my family proud. Those are really, mainly the only opinions I care about. No offense.”

Who do we try to impress? Those who may be in a position to award us in some way? Are we concerned with living so that our families, and most importantly our Father in heaven, are proud of us? Whose opinion really matters to us? The Father who will never let us go, or the crowd that disappears when the celebration is over?

When talking about taking time off now that the season is over, J.J. said,

“When I first came into the league, the veterans tried to tell me how much time to take (off). So my first year I tried to give myself a full month but I was back to work after about a week and a half. Last year, I tried to give myself two weeks and I took my brothers to Europe. But even over there we found ourselves working out a couple times. It’s one of those things where the farther you get off the path, the harder it is to get back.”

The farther you get off the path, the harder it is to get back…The farther we get off the path of regularly meeting with other Christians, the harder it is to get back…The farther we get off the path of daily spending time in prayer, the harder it is to get back…The farther we get off the path of helping those God places in our path, the harder it is to get back …

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below. If you think others would appreciate reading this please share it through the social media buttons.

Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God’s approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10 (GNT)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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