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Narration: For a seed to grow, it often needs to get pushed into the dirt.

POW!

Brown: Take that Harry Walls! How’s that dirt taste?

Walls: Groan!

Walls: Hey! Great play, Brown!

Brown: Huh?

Brown: I don’t get this guy. He never gets to play much but he’s always smiling and practicing hard.

Narration: And yet on Sunday morning, while the rest of us were recovering from a night of post-game partying, there he was … still smiling and getting ready to go to church.

Brown: Church? Is he for real? Yet how can anyone fake that?

Brown: Okay, I’m intrigued! I want what he has. He’s different than the rest of us. I’m not sure of what that is, but I think it has something to do with Jesus.

Brown: I don’t get it! Every practice, no matter how hard I hit this guy, he pops up smiling, ready to get at it on the next play. Why?

POW!

Walls: Nice tackle, Ron.

Brown: I’m going to keep this up to see what this guy is made of.

Brown: I must admit, I admire his Christianity … but I can’t let HIM know that.

Panel 4:

Narration: I signed up for winter training with a track athlete, trying to get ready for the pros … and look who showed up.

Brown: Harry Walls! What are you doing here?

Walls: I wanted to get faster, and I just happened to sign up to come here also.

Brown: Just happened? Hmmm …

Narration: Harry Walls and I worked out together every Saturday. Even though we were never close friends, we would go eat breakfast together afterwards and talk. Harry and I never did a Bible study together, but in reality, I really was reading the Bible … through Harry!

Narration: While Harry talked about Jesus, he also witnessed through his work ethic, his kindness, and his character. Harry never forced his faith on me but for the first time in my life, I saw someone my age living out his Christian faith. He was a devoted Christian who was also a devoted athlete … and he made it look easy.

Narration: Next season we played for the championship … but lost in a close game … because I missed my assignment on one play.

Brown: Oh no!

Narration: Everyone knew it was MY fault … except Harry.

Walls: No game is defined by a single play, Ron. You played a GREAT game!

Narration: I never forgot that. Next year Harry transferred to another school to prepare for ministry. I was shocked. I hated to admit it … but I missed him.

Brown: Walls is gone?

Narration: After a stellar senior season I looked forward to playing at the next level. Several NFL people assured me I would be drafted … but it didn’t happen.

Brown: Wait! What? I didn’t get drafted? That’s not supposed to happen! I’m All-Conference!

Narration: Dallas began talking to me about signing a free-agent contract. I was totally confused! I didn’t know what to do. I got up from the table.

Brown: I need some air. I can’t think!

Brown: I am lost! I have had my trust in the wrong thing. Football can never save me. I feel dead inside.

Brown: What I need is what Harry Walls has. Jesus will never fail me.

Brown: Lord Jesus, I’m lost! I am sorry for all the wrong I’ve done. I give up my life and I place my total trust in YOU to save me and be my Lord! I will follow you for the rest of my life!

Narration: That was the day when I trusted Jesus Christ for my eternal life. Many of the verses I heard Harry quote came back to my memory …

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

Narration: After I surrendered my life to Jesus, everything changed. I realized I was a sinner. Jesus died to pay for my sin and then rose from the grave with the promise of a new life. I now had an incredible peace. I was willing to follow Jesus anywhere. Now that I was able to put football life into proper perspective, I went on to coach and serve on the Nebraska football staff since 1987.

Narration: I was able to reconnect with Harry 20 years later. He had no idea I had given my life to Jesus. Harry was like a seed I once tried to crush into the dirt. Without him knowing it, that seed produced many seeds (including me) that went on to produce even more seeds.

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

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