Last night, Nick Foles led his underdog Philadelphia Eagles to a victory over the New England Patriots, throwing for nearly 400 yards. He was named Super Bowl MVP.
But his personal story is even more incredible than his on-the-field performance. Two years ago, he contemplated retiring and walking away from the game. He was cut from the St. Louis Rams on the TV show Hard Knocks in a painful moment that ended up going viral.
However, as he explained in this video for the YouVersion Bible app:
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I kept reading Scripture, I kept praying, I kept asking God—and so many of us ask God for signs, we ask God, ‘Hey, please just put it on the wall, like, I want to know,’ but that’s not how it works. He’s not always going to do that. He was shaping me. He was bringing me down to my knees … At that moment, through that prayer, He said, ‘Hey, just take a step of faith. You’re either going to stop playing the game of football and you’re going to go onto a different area of your life and I’m going to be with you, I’m going to be the most important thing in your life, or you’re going to step back into football and you’re going to continue to play and I’m going to be with you every step of the way and you’re going to play to glorify me.
[/lborder]Foles decided to return to football, and became the back-up quarterback in Philadelphia—a team he used to start for. However, after the team’s new starter, Carson Wentz, suffered a season-ending knee injury, Foles took over. Though he only played a few regular season games, Foles ended up leading the team through the playoffs and a Super Bowl win.
But just because he’s become an NFL star again, doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking about his future—after the game. He recently told reporters that he wants to go into ministry, saying, “I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary.”
We’d totally go to his church.
