Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles publicly credited God for his team’s success at this year’s Super Bowl, but now the MVP says he wants to share the Lord’s message with high school kids when his football career is over.
Foles said he almost retired from the NFL at the end of the 2016 season, but after careful prayer, he took a “leap of faith” and stuck it out for another season. It turned out that one season made the difference for earning a Super Bowl ring and Foles thanks God for those blessings, the Associated Press reported.
Regardless of what happens in the near-term, Foles is already planning for his post-football career.
“I want to be a pastor in a high school. It’s on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It’s a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people’s hearts,” he told the AP.
Foles says that he feels he can help guide young people to stand up to the many things “thrown at them” in life. Foles notes that kids face a lot of pressure today, from social media to entertainment, and other temptations, and as a man who has “fallen many times,” he thinks his life experiences will prove enlightening for young people.
He also feels that working with America’s youth would be an ideal way to pay back the great success he has enjoyed.
“I’ve been blessed with an amazing platform, and it’s just a door God has opened, but I still have a lot of school left and a long journey,” the 29-year-old Super Bowl MVP said.
“Either way, I would’ve trusted in God,” Foles said about his life choices. “I would’ve done something else and glorified God in that instance.”
The quarterback was one of the Eagles’ study leaders when he was on the team from 2012 to 2014 and served as a role model for some of the younger players. He gained a reputation for being very well-versed on the Bible.
“Guys like Nick and Wis can spit out scripture all day and it’s awesome to take in that knowledge,” said Eagles special teams member Kamu Grugier-Hill.
“It took a lot more faith to come back and play than it would’ve to go in the other direction,” Foles said. Still, even as he was thinking of hanging up his helmet, football continued to call to him.
“The reason I decided to come back,” Foles concluded, “is I’ve loved the game of football since I was a kid, I loved playing sports, I loved being part of a team, and I knew as a person that the more growth I’ve had and the more opportunity I would have to glorify God and trust in him would be to go back and play football.”
His last minute decision led him to the biggest win of his career.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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