Dave Sterrett - I Am Second: Real Stories. Changing Lives

Some names and details in the book have been changed to protect the identities of those mentioned.

2012, 2013 by e3 Partners Ministry

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ISBN 978-1-4002-0576-9 (TP)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bender, Doug.

I am second : real stories, changing lives / Doug Bender and Dave Sterrett

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4002-0373-4

1. Christian biography. 2. Christian life. I. Sterrett, Dave. II. Title.

BR1700.3.B46 2012

277.3'0830922dc23

[B] 2011041633

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the One who is First.

Contents

Brian Head Welch

Daniel Montenegro

Josh Hamilton

Michelle Aguilar

Nate Larkin

Karen Green

Michael W. Smith

Shannon Culpepper

Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs

Vitor Belfort

Ken Hutcherson

Whispering Danny

Brian Sumner

Chris Plekenpol

Tamara Jolee

Bradie James

Bethany Hamilton

Laura Klock

Sam Bradford

Norm Miller

We were both still in college, playing for rival schools. But despite our rivalry, we were friends. More than that, we shared a common commitment. Football was our talent and we loved the game but it didnt define our lives. God was our passion and we wanted our lives to be about him. Not long after Sam interviewed for I am Second, I was able to sit in the chair and share my story.

We gathered in the football team facility of Graham High School. My younger brother, Case, was the quarterback there at the school and my dad was still coaching him, as he always did me. The set was simple: a black backdrop, a single light, a camera and the white chair. I wore a pair of shorts and a black T-shirt. Then I sat down and shared my story. Im not perfect, nobody is, but like everyone else who have sat in that chair, I talked about how God is first in my life.

Then came the Red River Rivalry, the annual faceoff between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, a game that has been played for over a hundred years between the two schools. Sam was leading the Oklahoma Sooners and I the Texas Longhorns in this classic battle.

The game is always played halfway between the two schools in Dallas, Texas. The stadium itself is split in half, with half the crowd rooting for Texas and the other half for Oklahoma. Thousands of fans drive up from Austin, and thousands come down from Oklahoma, all to see who will win the big game.

But that year, as everyone drove in, they were met with a question. Lining the highways into Dallas were billboards with our faces asking the question, Who is Second? Everyone wanted their team to be first. Everyone wanted their star quarterback to be first. But with the help of I am Second, we were able to tell our fans that no matter who won we were both Second.

I am Second, is a message we shared then, a message I talk about with my dad in our book, Growing Up Colt, and its one that I continue to share on the national stage with the Cleveland Browns. Second isnt easy. It doesnt guarantee you all the rosy trouble-free clichs you might have heard in school or at church but as I and all those featured in this book will tell you, it is the only way to truly live. Whatever youre facing, whatever your struggle, whatever your hurt or your hope, the stories in this book will give you a glimpse of where to find the answer. And if these stories bring you hope, if they move you, then I encourage you to share them with someone else.

Colt McCoy

Dont do it, Shane, Danny begged. Youve had too much.

But Shane refused to listen. He pulled his motorcycle to a stand. He lifted his leg to mount the bike, but his drunken balance crashed them both to the ground. He brushed off the dust and tried again. Finally succeeding, he roared up the street, leaving Danny in his wake.

Danny downed the last of his drink and left the bar. Feeling an odd compulsion to go for a drive, he borrowed a car and wandered through the neighborhood. In the distance an object lay across the center. As he approached, it proved to be a motorcycle similar to his friend Shanes. Another twenty feet and there lay a man, sprawled across the center line. The street was dark except for a lone lamp glancing off a darkened pool of red that spread under the body.

Danny jumped out of the vehicle and saw it was Shane, lying facedown on the road. His helmet had rolled to the side and his head was broken open. He lay in a pool of dark, dark blood. Danny bent down on all fours and put his face next to Shanes, his cheeks warmed by the touch of his friends blood.

Shane, youre going to be okay, he told his friend. But Danny knew it was a lie.

They rushed him to the hospital and into emergency surgery.

Hes still alive, the doctor said, coming out of the operating room. But he wont be for long.

Danny never disbelieved in God, but he never really believed in him either. His friend was facing death. A man came to pray for Shane, but prayer was never something Danny did either. This was a time of decision. A time to decide if God was someone he believed in, if he was someone he could pray to. Either Danny was a friend and follower of a God who heard his prayers or he wasnt.

As Danny learned, becoming second isnt the journey of perfected saints or of superhero believers. It is the honest, raw, and often painful journey of broken people who have decided that life is not about them. It is not about what they want or about what they can do. Some have tried money; others have tasted pleasure, success, beauty, family, or religion. They all tried something to calm the ache in their soul, to find purpose, love, or happiness. But whatever they tried and whatever they were looking for, they only found it when they surrendered and said, I am second.