Keep the Faith

I speak at many churches and youth groups today, which is awesome. It’s because my faith is the most important thing in my life. That’s why I share my story—to hopefully impact people and change their lives.

Whether you’re a Christian or not, it’s important to lock in your beliefs and become disciplined. A consistent lifestyle fosters self-control, focus, and resilience in achieving your goals. Accountability and discipline promote balance in your life, enhances self-esteem, strengthens your will power, builds integrity, and enhances your decision-making. To me, the way you live your life is the most powerful testimony you can give for God.

My Christian walk and journey with God started with a simple invitation from a neighbor. People like Mark Watson, Coach Mark Richt, Kevin Hynes, and others led me to having a living, breathing relationship with Jesus. I’m so thankful to those people who came in my path who influenced and inspired me because it put me on a different trajectory than where I was headed.

One of the most difficult things I wrestled with during my football career at Georgia, for example, was dealing with the fame and attention that came once I started making plays. As a teenager, it was overwhelming. I went to class and other students stared at me. People were waiting outside our house for autographs. I love my parents more than anything, but when I went home to get away from everything on campus, they’d sometimes have a pile of footballs and helmets that they wanted me to sign for their friends. No matter where I went, I couldn’t get away from the spotlight.

I learned to lean on Coach Richt because I watched how he dealt with the attention so beautifully. One day, I asked him, “How do you handle it? It never stops. I get so overwhelmed by all of it. I don’t love it.”

It took me a long time to understand that I could say something in those encounters that might impact someone’s future. When I retired from football and went to work for ESPN, one of my prayers was asking God to help me do a better job of handling the spotlight and encouraging people.

I try now to make every interaction meaningful. I shake people’s hands and ask them about their lives and families. Sometimes, people ask me to send videos to their friends or loved ones who are fighting an illness, and I gladly do it.

Obviously, it wouldn’t have taken much of my time do those things when I was in college, but you’re so selfish at that age that you can’t see the forest through the trees. I spoke at a few Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings, but the organizers had to work around my video game schedule to get me there.

You don’t recognize all of the good you can do because you’re solely focused on me, me, me. Looking back, I think it was one of the most important lessons I’ve learned, and it’s one I share with my kids now. I tell them all the time, “This isn’t about you, bro.”

When you’re a star athlete, people build you up and put you on a pedestal. You don’t deserve that pedestal. I think as you get older, you understand it’s for God, so you can’t waste any opportunity given to you. Anytime I’m signing an autograph or speaking to a group of people, it’s not my platform—it’s God’s. He gave me the opportunity, so whether I’m talking to a small group or large group of people, I want them to know I’m blessed. I’ll use certain words to let them understand exactly where I stand with my faith. There’s no purpose in my life more important than spreading the Good News.

And though it’s great to do it from the stage or in public, the best place is closer to home, with your family, among the people you’re closest with.

One of my greatest achievements is bringing my parents closer to God. Over the past five years, Lindsey and I worked diligently to get my parents involved in our church. My parents didn’t attend church as kids, and we didn’t go to Sunday service as a family when I was growing up. But my parents have become strong in their faith as older adults, and it’s never too late to get close to God. One of the most beautiful moments of my life was baptizing my mother in the fall of 2025. She said it proved you could learn from your children.

The Bible tells us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19–20). Those were the last words of Jesus to His followers before He went back to heaven, where He lives now to help us keep following His commands.

And I would say to you, in the last words of this book, to align yourself with that assignment, not to be afraid of sharing your faith with other people, just trusting God to empower you in it. Make it your goal to be the best version of you that He made you to be, by starting where you are, using what you have, and doing what you can. Make every day count.