Remembering a Great Interview

I met Kerry Joseph back when he was still with the Ottawa Renegades. It was a good three years before he triumphantly hoisted the Grey Cup wearing the Green and White and it was on the morning of another Grey Cup - one he wasn't playing in (incidentally, the team he joined today won the Cup that year).

When most of the rest of his teammates had left town - it's hard to watch the game when you won't be playing in it - he stuck around so he could help with the Athletes in Action Grey Cup Breakfast.

It was at the Breakfast he took some time to talk to a nervous 2nd year journalism student. Before I was a Christian myself, he told me how his relationship with God changed his life. Here's the story I wrote after speaking with him and a few others:

Kerry Joseph has had his share of disappointments, but the 215-pound CFL quarterback with a tattoo of Jesus Christ on his bicep says his spirituality gives him purpose and the strength to accept the hardships.

“Football is not guaranteed,” says the Ottawa Renegades player. “Anything can happen; you can be released or injured. You have to have faith and be strong. You have to trust God has a plan for you.”

In 2002, Joseph was released by his NFL team, the Seattle Seahawks. His marriage was also failing and he says he felt the things he loved most were gone.

“I realized I had put those things in front of God. To get my attention, he took those things away from me.”

Joseph says his faith has brought him peace and God is with him everywhere, even on the field.

“One of the things I pray before I go out on the field is for God to be everything: my arm, my eyes, my feet and just to be out there on the field with me,” he says. “I feel when I am out there his arms and his protection are around me.”

Joseph is not the only CFL player who finds God on the field. When the Toronto Argonauts and the B.C. Lions compete for the Grey Cup on Sunday, 30 Christian athletes will attend chapels before the game.

Wally Buono, B.C. Lions head coach, says Christianity is part of every aspect of his life and helps him to handle football’s instability.

“It gives us the opportunity to be grounded in something that will not change,” he says. “We live in a world that is predicated on whether you win or lose. If you have a solid rock that never changes that you can rely on, it gives you tremendous satisfaction and joy.”

Ryan Dawson is the national director of Athletes in Action, the Christian organization that runs pre-game chapels and bible studies with all nine CFL teams. He agrees with Buono, saying players are taught if they don’t perform, they will be replaced by someone who can.

“It’s really difficult for the guys not to fall into the trap of feeling they are only valuable when they perform, because really, their profession tells them that,” he says.

Dawson says the bible reverses this thinking by teaching that everyone, win or lose, has incredible value.

“One of the things about having a deep personal faith in Christ is that regardless of whether you are high or low, He is with you.”

After a frustrating season where the Ottawa Renegades finished eighth in the standings and Joseph suffered two injuries, he says God’s constant presence is especially important. Even though he is disappointed he won’t be playing in Sunday’s game, Joseph accepts it and says it just wasn’t their time.

“When good things happen you thank God and when bad things happen you still thank God. You thank him for the opportunity and you know that he is going to get you through whatever you are going through.”

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Thanks for the interview Kerry and thanks for the autograph - I subsequently gaveit to one of my best friends. I've since become a huge Roughriders fan and more importantly, a Christian. Speaking with you helped me on my own journey towards God.

Good luck in Toronto. We'll miss you in Saskatchewan.