How to Be Real in a World Full of Fakes
Sam Acho
During my last year in Arizona, everything seemed like it was going my way, but after suffering a broken leg the year before, things just weren’t the same. My body, which I had relied on heavily to be successful, wasn’t working the way it used to…
The next season I signed with the Chicago Bears, but something still wasn’t right. My body was still in a good amount of pain. I didn’t want to tell the coaches because I didn’t want to give them an excuse to bench me, so I managed it. I coped and tried my best to be successful in my job, all the while wondering when things would get better.
It didn’t make any sense to me. I didn’t understand why I was still feeling the effects of a three-year-old injury. I didn’t understand why, even though I felt as if I was performing better than my peers, I wasn’t getting a fair chance. I also didn’t understand why God chose to send me to Chicago of all places and not use me in the ways I thought I was supposed to be used. I wanted to be the star of the team. I wanted to be the captain. I wanted to be the hero. But God reminded me that he is the hero of the story. Not me. He also taught me that just because you’re not the captain of the team, it doesn’t mean you can’t lead. Leaders come in different shapes and sizes and many different styles. So I decided to lead from behind.
That first year with the Bears, I wasn’t playing much on defense, but the coaches gave me an opportunity on special teams. Special teams is a part of the game most people don’t know about. If you’re not a starter, you’re relegated to special teams. Most of my teammates hated being on special teams, and I did too. Until God showed me it was not about me.
Colossians 3:23 says to do everything as if you’re doing it for God and not for others. I decided to make the most of my opportunity as a special teams player. If the coaches don’t want to play me on defense, I thought, then I’ll be the best special teams player they’ve ever seen. And God made it work for me, both on and off the field.
On the field, I was chosen by my coaches as a Pro Bowl nominee for special teams. I also played well enough to earn another contract with the team the next year. But it was the off-the-field opportunities that left me speechless.
Although my job was important, God made it clear that there were other things in the world that were more important. Once again I was reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (ESV).
We had some big-name players on the team during my first year on the Bears, and then they all left. The coach was changing the culture and wanted to bring in certain guys who could implement it. There was something of a mass exodus. Our most well-known players—the ones most heavily involved in helping out the local community—were all gone, and there was a void that needed to be filled. I didn’t have any plans, but I saw a need. So I filled it.
After spending a good amount of time serving the community, I noticed my perspective started to shift. I was thinking less and less about my desires and more and more about God’s.
A few months later I found a letter in my locker after practice: “Congratulations, Sam, you have been nominated for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. This award recognizes your work to help make the community around you better.”
I was stunned. I thought this award was reserved for big-name players, like the guys who had been let go earlier. I also felt honored because the award was named after one of the best Chicago Bears players of all time, and I was playing for the Bears. I was also surprised because of what else was written on the letter: “As an added benefit to your hard work, we will be donating $50,000 to the charity of your choosing.” I was confused. In years past, nominee for the award were granted $5,000 to their charity and the winner would receive $50,000.
Well, this year, my first year to be nominated, the committed had received a big-time sponsor, and that sponsor wanted to amplify the impact of the work the players were doing. Nominees now received $50,000 for their charity, with the winner receiving $500,000. And that amplification couldn’t have come at a better time.
My parents traveled every year to Nigeria and brought free medical care to people in need…The trips were going well, but my dad felt as if God was calling us for more. Calling us to build something. My dad is a dreamer and a builder. His desire was to see an entire community, an entire country, changed.
God gave my dad a dream of building a state-of-the-art medical facility in rural Nigeria. This was a part of the world where people died from dirty water and dysentery, insect bites and infections, and where cataracts, hernia, and skin lesions ran rampant. There was no electricity, no running water, and very little hope. It included the village where my grandfather had grown up. God gave my dad a vision, but we had no idea how he was going to accomplish it. And then I learned I had been nominated for the Payton Award.
That $50,000 went a long way toward getting the Living Hope Medical Center off the ground. Once people saw that it was being built, they decided to chip in and try to help finish it. Yet a year later we were still a big short. Then I was nominated again. And with that additional $50,000, the Living Hope Medical Center was completed.