Anyone who follows sports, especially football or baseball is familiar with flamboyant Deion Sanders. Deion was drafted as a first-rounder in 1989 by the Atlanta Falcons out of Florida State and played in the league for 14 seasons with several franchises. He was an integral part of the teams that won two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Sanders also played for five different Major League Baseball teams in 11 years. He is the first athlete to have competed in a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Sanders also known as Prime Time was recently selected as the head coach of the Colorado buffaloes. This hapless team had a dismal record last year, going 1 and 11. Deion came aboard and hasn’t lost a game yet, this despite his replacing almost every player on the entire team.
He does not lack confidence in any facet of his life. If you want to know how great he is just listen to one of his interviews. Recently he was interviewed and asked who the best college football coach in the country was. Without missing a beat. he said, would somebody puleeze get me a mirror.
Hilarious!
I was living in Atlanta when he played for the Atlanta Falcons. I was at the airport and was in line with him to get through security. In spite of the hot Atlanta weather in the middle of the summer he was wearing a full-length mink coat with a top hat that was approximately 18 inches high. He had enough jewelry on to equip an Indian jewelry store in the heart of Mumbai and he was smiling a big radiant smile.
Many are familiar with Sanders’ attention getting antics and huge ego, but not as many know what a devout Christian he is. He tried the money, sex, fame, awards, the big houses, expensive clothes, and most everything the world has to offer. He came up empty on all of it and found that only God could fill the empty spot in his heart and bring him joy, love, happiness, and most importantly peace. He was like so many who have seemingly tried it all and when he discovered none of it was what it was advertised to be he went to the dark side and began contemplating suicide.
But that changed when he went to the bright side and God showed him the way of truth and now he is inspiring millions of impressionable young men to be the men God wants them to be. He doesn’t drink, smoke, or take drugs like so many superstars and has no use for any of those things. He doesn’t act or put on a show so someone will think he is a great man of God. He gives the credit for all of his success to God.
Sanders revealed that in 2021, he had blood clots that threatened his life. However, after eight surgeries and the amputation of two toes on his left foot, God healed him and Sanders made a recovery.
“It was a blessing because I could have lost my life very easily . . . It was there. It was a thought process of losing my leg from the knee down,” Sanders told Chris Neely of “The Pregame Show.” “It was almost there. So when I look up and say ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ it’s because I know the quiet cries at night that were in that hospital. I got to really see God’s face and the different personalities of God, I feel,” he added.
Sanders spent weeks in the hospital amid the health scare but said prayer got him through the long days in bed.
“I’m pretty sure that some of those nurses thought I was crazy,” Sanders said, referencing his vocal prayer to “the Lord all night.”
There are many who detest Deion Sanders, but I admire him. Many who have made it to a very large stage ignore God and keep Jesus hidden and locked away in a closet somewhere. Many who have a small stage and handful of opportunities do the same thing.
Just remember, “You don’t have to act. No matter where you are or what you are doing, be who you are: a child of God.”
Deion Sanders uses the platform given by God and he uses it to glorify and magnify the Lord. He has Jesus and wants you to have him too.
Go get ’em Primetime!
Luke 12:2
You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known.
You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.
“I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being.
Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life – body and soul – in his hands.