----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Shannan
Sent: Tuesday, 1/28/2014 6:47 PM
Subject: Manning: what most people don't know about him
Manning…what
most people don’t know about him
Peyton
Manning, the quarterback of the playoff-bound Denver Broncos, completed
the greatest statistical regular season at the quarterback position in the
94-year history of the National Football League (NFL). This regular season
saw Manning set records in yards passed in a season (5,477) and touchdowns
thrown in a season (55), and he led his team to accumulate more points
(606) in a regular season than had ever been done before. Manning also
tied the record for touchdowns thrown in a game (7) in the Broncos Week 1
win over the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Baltimore
Ravens.
Any fan of
Peyton Manning or the NFL generally knows that Manning is the consummate
professional. He treats the fans, media personnel, teammates, and
opponents with respect. He works as hard—and probably harder—at his craft
than any other player in the league. And he produces one fun,
family-friendly commercial after another, showing his sense of humor and a
humble assessment of his own importance.
But what many fans of Manning and
the NFL may not be aware of is Manning’s Christian faith. In the excerpt
below from Peyton’s book Manning (available on Amazon in paperback
here and Kindle here), which he co-wrote with his father Archie Manning in
2001, the record-setting quarterback gives a rare description of his faith
and its importance to him. The description is a rare one, not because
Peyton’s faith is an insignificant part of his life, but because, as
Peyton explains in the excerpt, he has intentionally chosen to speak more
by his actions than by his words.
Like my dad, I
make it a point when I speak to groups to talk about priorities, and when
it’s schoolkids, I rank those priorities as: faith, family, and education,
then football. For me generally it had always been the big four: faith,
family, friends, and football. And I tell all of them that as important as
football is to me, it can never be higher than fourth. My faith has been
number one since I was thirteen years old and heard from the pulpit on a
Sunday morning in New Orleans a simple question: “If you died today, are
you one hundred percent sure you’d go to heaven?” Cooper was there and Eli
[Peyton's two brothers] but it didn’t hit them at the time the way it did
me. It was a big church, and I felt very small, but my heart was pounding.
The minister invited those who would like that assurance through Jesus
Christ to raise their hands, and I did. Then he invited us to come
forward, to take a stand, and my heart really started pounding. And from
where we sat, it looked like a mile to the front.
But I got up
and did it. And I committed my life to Christ, and that faith has been
most important to me ever since. Some players get more vocal about it—the
Reggie Whites, for example—and some point to Heaven after scoring a
touchdown and praise God after games. I have no problem with that. But I
don’t do it, and don’t think it makes me any less a Christian. I just want
my actions to speak louder, and I don’t want to be more of a target for
criticism than I already am. Somebody sees you drinking a beer, which I
do, and they think, “Hmmmm, Peyton says he’s this, that, or the other, and
there he is drinking alcohol. What’s that all about?”
Christians
drink beer. So do non-Christians. Christians also make mistakes, just as
non-Christians do. My faith doesn’t make me perfect, it makes me forgiven,
and provides me the assurance I looked for half my life ago. I think God
answered our prayers with Cooper, and that was a test of our faith. But I
also think I’ve been blessed—having so little go wrong in my life, and
being given so much. I pray every night, sometimes long prayers about a
lot of things and a lot of people, but I don’t talk about it or brag about
it because that’s between God and me, and I’m no better than anybody else
in God’s sight.
But I consider
myself fortunate to be able to go to Him for guidance, and I hope (and
pray) I don’t do too many things that displease Him before I get to Heaven
myself. I believe, too, that life is much better and freer when you’re
committed to God in that way. I find being with others whose faith is the
same has made me stronger. J.C. Watts and Steve Largent, for example.
They’re both in Congress now. We had voluntary pregame chapel at
Tennessee, and I attend chapel every Sunday with players on the team in
Indianapolis. I have spoken to church youth groups, and at Christian high
schools. And then simply as a Christian, and not as good a one as I’d like
to be.
How do I
justify football in the context of “love your enemy?” I say to kids, well,
football is most definitely a “collision sport,” and I can’t deny it jars
your teeth and at the extreme can break your bones. But I’ve never seen it
as a “violent game,” there are rules to prevent that, and I know I don’t
have to hate anybody on the other side to play as hard as I can within the
rules. I think you’d have to get inside my head to appreciate it, but I do
love football. And, yes, I’d play it for nothing if that was the only way,
even now when I’m no longer a child. I find no contradiction in football
and my faith.
Ah, but do I
“pray for victory?” No, except as a generic thing. I pray to keep both
teams injury free, and personally, that I use whatever talent I have to
the best of my ability. But I don’t think God really cares about who wins
football games, except as winning might influence the character of some
person or group. Besides. If the Colts were playing the Cowboys and I
prayed for the Colts and Troy Aikman prayed for the Cowboys, wouldn’t that
make it a standoff?
I do feel this
way about it. Dad says it can take twenty years to make a reputation, and
five minutes to ruin it. I want my reputation to be able to make it
through whatever five-minute crises I run into. And I’m a lot more
comfortable knowing where my help is.
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