Christian Athlete of the Week: Russell Wilson

Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson has a big game ahead of him on Sunday when his team takes on the division rival San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Conference Championship game. If the Seahawks win, it will be their second NFC championship win ever. All of this pressure must be building up on Wilson, but he is a man of faith and knows that the God he serves is bigger than any game he will ever play. He found that God when he was 14 years old.

“I had a dream that my dad passed away and that Jesus came into the room and he was basically knocking on my door, saying, ‘Hey, you need to find out more about me,’” Wilson said. “So that Sunday morning I ended up going to church and that’s when I got saved.”

Unfortunately, his dad actually did pass away six years later. Still, throughout his life and throughout all of the adversity, Russell Wilson has stood strong in his faith.

“No one can stop what God has for you,” said Wilson.

Being a 5’11 quarterback in the NFL, that’s saying something! Check out this video where Mars Hill Church Pastor Mark Driscoll interviews Wilson about his faith and trust in God.

Russell Wilson is a work in progress at quarterback; he still has things to work on until he becomes a great quarterback. However, he noted in the video that spiritually he is a work in progress like we all are. Wilson shows that even though you’re only 5’11, you were drafted in the third round, and you don’t have the big arm that every other quarterback has, God can still use you to impact a lot of lives. Both on the field and off the field, Wilson has impacted many lives in the city of Seattle. Due to a partnership with Russell Investments (a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual), every touchdown that Wilson scores, passing or rushing, $2,000 will be donated to his charity that deals with youth activities in poor communities. It’s great to see a man like this helping out in the community and showing love to everyone around him like Jesus commands us to. Just because of the kind of guy Wilson is, I will be routing for him to win the NFC Championship game this Sunday. That, and it would be nice to see the Seahawks finally win a Super Bowl! Good luck to you Russell Wilson and God bless you!

Credit: seattle.cbslocal.com

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

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Arsenal Ahead of Rivals

If you’re an Arsenal fan, then you are enjoying their season so far. They have the best record in the Barcays Premier League with 48 points (15-3-3) and the best part is, they are far above Tottenham Hotspur (40 points) and Manchester United (37 points). The French-born manager Arsene Wenger has his Gunners poised for a Premier League championship run, something they haven’t won since the 2003-04 season when he took them all the way to beat other big-time rival Chelsea with the help of a young Thierry Henry. Arsenal made it back to the championship game the following season, only that time they lost to Chelsea. Arsenal is third all-time in championships won with 13 behind Liverpool (18) and Manchester United (20). Olivier Giroud is leading the team with 9 goals so far this season and is third on the team in assists with 5 (Mesut Ozil is second in the league in assists with 7). So all in all, Arsenal is having a great season thanks to Arsene Wenger’s coaching, while Manchester United is struggling during the last half of the season. Arsenal’s main concerns are Manchester City and Chelsea. Manchester City is leading the league in goal differential with 36 and Chelsea is at a solid third place right behind them with 46 points. These two teams could possibly catch up to Arsenal and knock them off from the top. Arsenal plays Fulham this Saturday, but they’re biggest game coming up isn’t until February 12th when they play Manchester United. The Gunners won’t play Chelsea until March 22nd and then right after that they play Manchester City on March 29th. Those are the three games to watch this year and they could determine who wins the Premier League title.

Arsene Wenger
Credit: irishcentral.com

Old School Basketball

Every team in the NBA is trying to build their team through the draft and recruit young talent. Not the San Antonio Spurs! They are currently 31-8 and have won six games in a row. They have won 9 of their last 10 games. And their best five players are in their thirties. Not only that, but they have the oldest coach in the league in Gregg Popovich at 64 years old. He is showing the NBA that you don’t have to be young and energetic to win, you just have to be smart. Tony Parker runs the offense just how Popovich wants him to. They have the second-best field goal percentage in the league with 49.3 percent (right behind the Miami Heat’s 50.7 percent) and they are second in the league in assists per game with 25.3 (right behind the Atlanta Hawks’ 25.4). The most important stats however are their points per game and their point differential. The Spurs are fifth in the league with 104.7 points per game and second behind the Indiana Pacers with an 8.1 point differential. At this rate, the Spurs could be looking at another championship run and Tim Duncan could finally ride off in the sunset with another NBA Finals victory. My prediction is that they’re going to face either the Thunder or the Houston Rocket in the Western Conference Finals and then battle the Miami Heat or the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. I believe that this team can go a long way, even with one of the oldest rosters in the NBA. Some of the young guys like Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard are going to have to step up if they want this championship run to happen, because the NBA season is a long one.