Dagostino Mark - Still in the Game Finding the Faith to Tackle Lifes Biggest Challenges

2018 Devon Still

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Epub Edition November 2018 9780785222460

ISBN 978-0-7852-2246-0 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018909535

ISBN 978-0-7852-2242-2

Printed in the United States of America

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CONTENTS

Life has a way of bringing you to your knees. At some point or another, no matter how strong you are, no matter how in control you think you are, you will drop to the ground and pray. And pray hard.

In my case, I was less than two years into what I thought were all of my dreams coming true. I had made it to the NFL. I was a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. I was making good money. I had a girlfriend I loved, who loved me back. And I like to think I cherished all of those blessings just a little bit more than some of the young guys around me because I had a daughter to share it all with me.

My daughter. My Leah. The beautiful little girl with the big bright smile who came into my life before my senior year of college, who inspired me to get busy not just dreaming of a better life but achieving it.

On June 2, 2014, my then four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer.

When I heard that word, I fell to the ground, and I honestly didnt know where I would find the strength to stand back up. I didnt know how I would ever be able to be strong enough to help my little girl face this disease. I was devastated, scared, in shock, and overwhelmed. How could this happen to my Leah? My little angel. How would I ever find the strength to battle this?

I didnt know then what I know now.

In truth, I didnt know Gods power, and I didnt recognize the power that God had given to me.

What I didnt know then was that God had already been working, preparing me with every obstacle I had ever overcome, to face every obstacle that now lay in front of me.

I didnt realize He had been there every step of the way.

I didnt realize He was with me, even then, right there in that hospital, in a moment when I felt more abandoned by God than Id ever felt in my life.

I didnt realize that through Leah, God was about to reveal Hed already blessed me with a Playbook for Life. A playbook I would finally recognize. A playbook I recognize now when I look back on the important moments of my life, and which I have the good fortune to share with others all over the world through the internet, through speaking engagements, on TV, and right here in the pages of this book. I had no idea He would use this challenge to set me and my daughter on a path of purpose that was much bigger than either of us ever could have imagined.

I didnt realize then that God works that way in all of our lives. Every day. And its up to each of us to get off the bench, to stand up, and to get in the game no matter what life throws at us, so we can feel the full power of His blessing.

I realize all of that now. Im thankful for it. And thats why Im writing this book.

Whether youre a believer or not, whether youre a churchgoer or not, whether you picked up this book in the hopes of finding some divine inspiration or just picked it up looking for a little advice to help get you where you want to go in life, I hope that by the end of this book youll see it too. In your own way, in your own life, God has been leading you down the path to where you are now; and even at this very moment, He is giving you the tools you need to handle whatever life throws at you next.

You just have to do your part in order to realize those blessings.

What I know now, what Im finally able to see, is that God had been giving me what I neededand therefore giving me what my daughter would needgoing all the way back to the very beginning of my life.

Playing basketball with my dad is the most prominent memory I have of my early years, right up until the third grade.

My parents, along with me, my older brother, Tony, and our baby sister, Shaquara, all lived in a white brick, two-story duplex in a place called Cambridgean affordable housing community on the outskirts of Wilmington, Delaware. That spot up on a hill overlooking the Delaware River was a pretty good place for a kid like me to grow up in the early 1990s. We lived on Kynlyn Drive, and there were patches of grass in between all the brick buildings with plenty of space to get outside and play. There were lots of kids in the neighborhood looking to play every day. It was fun.

When it came to basketball, though, my dad never went easy on us. Not even once. Wed walk up the alleyway to the court when I was six, seven, eight years old, and my big brother and I would take turns squaring off one-on-one against our father. Hes six feet, two inches tall. We were little kids. Yet hed whoop us every time. No mercy.

Cmon now, Devon, take the shot. Take the shot! hed say.

Id take one more dribble, go to plant my feet, and hed shoulder in, steal the ball, turn around, and toss up a perfect jump shot. Swoosh. The man was good at the game, and it was right there on that raggedy old concrete basketball court with my dad where I first fell in love with the sport. With any sport, for that matter.

Basketball was my fathers passion, and he wanted us to be passionate too.

Youre not gonna get any better if I go easy on you now, are you? hed ask with a big smile on his face.

Someday Ill beat you, Id holler back at him, in the most serious voice I could make. You just wait. Im gonna be big as you and tall as you and youre goin down!

Thats what Im talkin about! my dad would say, laughing as he tossed the ball out to me, then stole it again before going in for the game-winning layup. Alright, wed better get inside before dinners on the table, or you know your mom will be mad.

Tony and I were lucky enough to have bikes as kids, too, and when the weather was good, those bikes were just about all we needed to entertain ourselves all day long. We used to see BMX riders on TV, and wed pretend to be just like them on those patches of grass between the sidewalks. Wed get busy building ramps and jumps out of old milk crates and pieces of wood wed find piled against the fences behind the buildings. I still remember the rush of getting up on a little embankment, perching that bike on the edge, then pedaling hard as I could til I hit that ramp and flew through the air. I imagined I was taking some great big leap, when in reality I was probably only clearing a foot or so before landing back down on the pavement. It sure felt amazing to catch some air, though.