Here and Now

God is teaching me to be in the Now. At first, I was worried about how I would be able to stay busy after football. I heard many stories about men who retire, spend all their money, and have no are clueless of what to do next. I don’t want to become a stat and I don’t want to be lazy. So I’m learning to focus on what’s happening Now. Right now that focus is on my family. I’m putting more of my efforts and energies into my family, bonding with my kids more now than I ever have before. When I worked full-time, I missed all the little things that happen at home. Now I’m able to watch Tasty videos online and cook with my kids. In fact, we love cooking together!

My kids love watching Iron Chef. So, when we cook dinner each night we play our home version of Iron Chef, each critiquing the food. For instance, my oldest might help me in the kitchen and then present dinner to the family saying, “Tonight I made for you all grass-fed lamb with a little rosemary. We cooked it with a lemon butter sauce and garnished it with a little parsley. Served alongside it is a side of egg noodles.” To which my my eight-year-old will say, “It tastes pretty good but you could have used a bit more pepper. The lemon is just right, not too tart. Overall I give it a high B!” All three of my kids will judge the food and we have a lot of fun with it.

My Platform

Before I retired from the game, I talked to a lot of my former teammates who had retired and they all said that the first year was really hard. They warned me that it would be weird, and it is a bit. Since high school I’ve been doing the same thing every single day. But now life is different. I don’t get paid to work out, condition, and play football anymore. But I’m happy with where I am and, most importantly, I still have a platform to share my testimony. I want to show others that I’m not anything special, but Christ is. He is the one that deserves our praise.

One day, after I had shared my story at a church, a woman came up to me and said how much it impacted her and helped her through a hard time. That amazed me and showed me that I still should be sharing my testimony with others. Tonight I get to share again at a local church and I’m pumped to do it.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” —Matthew 28:19-20

—Charles Tillman

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