Surrender the Fear

 “Dare to do something courageous and step out onto that water.” Roma Downey in “Box of Butterflies”

I had never heard the name Harrison Butker until this past Sunday. In case you are sports illiterate like me, Butker is the Kansas City Chiefs' kicker who kicked the winning field goal during the Super Bowl. I probably would have forgotten him already, but his name keeps popping up on my phone. The reason is not because of his victory kick, but because of his faith. It turns out that the 27-year-old kicker is very outspoken about his Catholic faith. He is not afraid. When he was interviewed before the game, he said: “I always pray for God’s will to be done, so whether that’s a make or a miss, if I’m doing my absolute best to maximize the talents that He gave me, if it doesn’t go in I’m gonna keep the process and keep going as much as I can until I’m not kicking footballs anymore. ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ is a great prayer.” At the end of the game, he gave “all glory to God.”

It warms my heart to see young people, especially those that are public figures, speaking boldly about their faith. They are not afraid to talk about God and glorify Him in public. The Chiefs’ quarterback, 27-year-old Patrick Mahoney, is also outspoken about his faith. In an interview during a Super Bowl news conference, he said: “My Christian faith plays a role in everything that I do. I always ask God to lead me in the right direction and let me be who I am for His Name… We’ll be on a huge stage in the Super Bowl… and I want to make sure I’m glorifying Him while I do it.”

On the other side of the field, the other quarterback was also not shy about speaking up about his faith. Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback who is only 24, has repeatedly credited God with keeping him strong during difficult moments in his career. “You have to put God at the center of everything that you do,” he told CBS Sports. “In all the things that we experience in life —good, bad or indifferent— you have to keep God in the center.” He has the phrase “Be who God called you to be” displayed at the top of his Twitter profile.

It is inspiring to see all these young athletes give witness to their faith on national television without fear. We all could learn a lot from them. I have been doing a challenge on social media during this month of February. I asked all my friends to boast in the Lord. I have been tagging five friends per day asking them to post about God for five consecutive days, and in turn for them to tag five of their friends, asking them to do the same. As of today, I have tagged a total of 85 people, and to my surprise, only two have accepted the challenge. Most of the people that I tagged are strong in their faith, so it never dawned on me that they would be afraid to post about God on their social media pages. And yet, to my disappointment, they have not been courageous to do so. Many of my friends have not even allowed my post to show up on their pages. It may be that they have been busy with other things, or that they simply did not see my request. Whatever the reason, I know that if the challenge was to post about our children, grandchildren or spouses, we would do so in a heartbeat. But when it comes to post about our faith, we hesitate. We are afraid to be called “holy-holy” or to be labeled a religious fanatic.

If I have learned one thing this week from these young football players is that as hard as they trained to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy, they never lost sight of the race that will lead them to win the trophy that will last forever. While they ate healthy meals to prepare them for the Super Bowl, they continued to feed their souls with spiritual nourishment. These young men taught me that no matter what I do in life, I cannot be afraid to speak about my faith and give witness before others.  We must surrender the fear in order to win the race of life. And it starts with not being afraid to speak up about our faith.

Copyright © 2023 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.