Obviously, football is a sport that I’ve been closely related to in my life after serving as a coach for 32 years. During that time, I was blessed to coach many great athletes, one of whom was Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe. While I don’t claim to have had any favorite players, I have no trouble saying that Shannon was one of the most enjoyable. Our time together with the Denver Broncos was truly special.

This past August, Shannon had the honor of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and my wife and I were blessed to be his guests at the enshrinement ceremony. Not only were we privileged to attend the event, we also were invited to sit in the front, as Shannon said he was planning to reference me in his speech.

During his talk Shannon shared about the three D’s that had helped him become a great player: dedication, discipline and determination. I smiled because I, too, believe in those virtues and had encouraged them in my players. And I was truly blessed when Shannon said that the reason he’d worked so hard was because he’d always told me, his coach, that he had “eaten enough cold oatmeal” early in his life.

For those of you who don’t know his story, Shannon grew up in a shack in rural Georgia with his brother, Sterling, where they were raised by their late grandmother, Mary Porter. When Shannon had finally made his NFL fortune, he said to Mary, “Granny, I can buy you almost anything. What is it you want?” As a wonderful Christian woman who never missed church on Sunday, she said to him, “I want to live in a home where God can bring His rain, and I don’t have to wake up wet.”

After the ceremony, Shannon told me, “Coach, you knew that I never played the game for money. You knew that I played the game to provide for my loved ones. I really wanted to let everyone know that dedication, discipline and determination were my driving forces.”

For Shannon Sharpe, playing football wasn’t about getting rich and spending money on earthly pleasures. He has a purpose for wanting to earn a living. He viewed it as a way of investing in the people he loved. And, as Christians, I believe we can learn a thing or two from his example.

As a coach, I used to ask my players if they were spending their time or investing it. Now I want to ask you the same thing. Are you spending your time here on earth on things that are temporary, or are you investing your life in things that will last for eternity?

In the past two years, the economy has been on a roller coaster ride. The stock market has plummeted, risen and plummeted again. Folks have lost millions of dollars that took them years to earn, and I believe it has served as a wake-up call, providing us all with a reminder that earthly wealth is temporary.

Thankfully, as followers of Christ, we have the opportunity to store up treasures of a different kind—those that, according to the Bible, cannot be stolen or destroyed. They are called treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), and they take the form of lives touched for eternity, dollars given to the Lord’s service, acts of kindness to strangers, and other displays of love done in His name. Those are the things that truly matter in the eyes of God and will have value long after we’re gone.

This month, I want to challenge you to examine your heart and your life and ask yourself if you are spending or investing. Sure, it can be a monetary question, but it goes far beyond dollars and cents and includes our time and our talents, as well. Are we storing up treasures in Heaven with the resources God has given us to use while we’re here on earth? If not, it’s time to make a change. And thankfully it’s never too late. We can start today by making an investment in the things of eternity and then enjoying the blessings that it brings. As it says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “…for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Model the Master,

Les Steckel
FCA President/CEO