Passionate Warrior: my recent article posted on FCA.org about the journey and passion of Coach Jeremy Williams, a former Division 1 football player and high school football coach who is now battling terminal ALS. Click on the link to read the this inspiring story. Below the article, you will find a video testimony that Coach Williams did back in 2010, before he lost his speech, and also other links to information about the Williams family. Below is an excerpt I want to share with you all today:

“I’m a warrior,” Coach Williams said in his 2010 video testimony, Faith Through Adversity, which was played at the Jeremy Williams Tribute event. “I was a warrior on the field when I played college ball. As a coach, I’m a warrior on the field. And wherever warriors are, there’s a war.”

Coach Williams has approached not just the game of football, but his entire life, with a warrior’s mentality. He always had something to fight for, whether it was a few points on the scoreboard, or for one of his players to start a personal relationship with Jesus.

Psalm 89:19 says, “I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have exalted a young man from among the people” (NIV).

While this psalmist is quoting the Lord and referencing the great warrior David, God has given Coach Williams the strength to fight on and off the field throughout his career. Even during recent years when he cannot physically fight for himself, the Lord bestows him strength, and he remains a warrior regardless of his muscle mobility. As the community honors Coach Williams, he has never ceased to raise even higher the name of Jesus.

Unlike most, Coach Williams has had to truly face the question: what does it mean to give the Lord control over every aspect of your life? From his own body, mind and soul to his family, Williams answers this question very humbly.

In Coach Williams’ video testimony, he references Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (NIV).

Coach Williams does not see ALS as, “that big of a deal.” To him, his diagnosis only meant that he is going to die in a few years, but he asks if that’s any different from any one else. Rather than focusing on the adversity, he focuses on God’s glory.

“I have the peace that He is in control,” Williams said. “He’s going to take care of me and my family.”

 

The Lord has taught me that He will not allow any adversity to come that is not directly related to furthering my calling in life. With what perspective will you choose to see the adversity in yours?

 

What one man may use as an excuse, Coach Williams uses as a platform. 

Sports bring out a competitive passion from inside of us that hits us when we realize our ability to feel and to be passionate on the field. God invites us to exert this passion back to Him, and He multiplies the passion as we manifest His glory shining inside of us. Williams’ passion for glorifying the Lord’s name has far outweighed any experience He had on the Division I football field. God developed that passion into one that is not bound by physical movement or circumstances, but into a desire and passion that the Lord will fulfill in this warrior throughout all of eternity.