Written by: Barrett Starks

From a very young age, sports consumed me. It was everything for me. I found my identity in sports, I found my purpose in sports, and I found fulfillment in sports. All of my desires came from sports. My life revolved around sports and being good at sports.

I grew up going to church; I grew up knowing who this Jesus guy was, but I wanted nothing to do with him. I had everything I wanted… sports. I found all my faith being poured into football and basketball. I believed I didn't need Jesus because I had everything I needed. I was prideful and selfish.

Growing up, I was successful in sports. I became addicted to the success that sports produced in my life. I loved the way sports brought me peace and joy and the way I thought it sustained me. I believed football was what sustained me… I thought football would last forever; I believed sports was my whole purpose. But I was wrong; the thought of football lasting forever came to an end during my junior year of high school.
The success and the fulfillment I was finding in sports slowly started to fade away. The love and the passion I once had started fading away as well. Anxiety and this empty feeling started pouring into my life. The one thing I clung to, the thing I put all of my faith into, started to become the thing I dreaded. I felt alone, I felt lost, and I was angry. I kept thinking, "Why is this happening to me?" 

And I later found that answer. The fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy I was finding in sports was temporary and didn't last. The one thing I believed was sustaining me was actually the opposite; it was the thing that was draining me. When I was lost, broken, and had nowhere to go, I felt God put his arms around me. I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders; I felt all anxiety be taken away; I felt the pressure of performing leave my body. I found this verse, and to this day, it is on my mirror; it is my phone wallpaper. I truly believe this verse got me through the darkest time in my life. 

"Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4 

I was in a season of life where I needed rescue. I needed a sustainer. God took my broken heart and showed me what life looked like with Him. He showed me there is nothing greater than Him. Younger me never would have imagined life without sports being the focal point in my life, but due to the grace and the love of God, I found a purpose more than sports; I found a purpose that was bigger than myself. A purpose of being a servant for the Kingdom of God. And he invites us into that purpose every single day.
 
I am forever grateful for sports; I still to this day love to watch and play sports. But sports taught me something. Well, I guess God taught me something about sports. We as humans have a purpose bigger than sports; one day, for each of us, sports will end. The identity many of us find in our sport is not our true identity. Our true identity is that we are children of God. He loves us through the highs and the lows. Sports are not your purpose, God is! I will wrap it up with another verse from Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9