“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” — Proverbs 9:10
A Complete Calling
Have you ever been watching your favorite team play really well on offense but make costly defensive mistakes? How about watching a lights-out defense only to see zero offensive production? A very high OR low scoring game means you’re not completely clicking as a team. Watching your team lose in either way can be very frustrating for fans, players and coaches.
In a similar way, God calls us to acknowledge the consequence of sin without undermining the grace He provides through the cross. I love how Christian musician Tauren Wells describes how these two work together in his song, “Known”: “It’s hard truth and ridiculous grace to be known.”
When one side stands alone, it just doesn’t work the way God designed it to. Can a football team’s defense take the field for offense after every turnover? No way! Even if they weren’t completely exhausted, they couldn’t perform in the same way a well-tuned offense does.
At times, it seems we may have over-corrected the “fire and brimstone” messages with a replacement one that says, “Do whatever feels right, there’s grace for that.”
“What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God’s gift of undeserved grace will show up even better? No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?” — Romans 6:1
We can’t replace hard truth with grace, or vice versa. They simply must harmonize together to develop a healthy fear of God. This harmony is a beautiful back-and-forth battle for us daily (much like a hard-fought football game). Only then can you experience true wisdom.
— Ryan Noelte
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
A golf pro teaching a group lesson once posed the following question to his students: “When you tee off, how big is the target you are aiming for?” The students thought and gradually started sharing guesses — 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet and so on. Each one was trying to estimate the size of the green. After some more guesses, the instructor told them they were all wrong. The students were even more puzzled when he informed them that their target is always 4.5 inches in diameter.
On any tee shot, the target is always the cup, which seems impossible, as that implies a goal of a hole-in-one … even when the pin is 300-500-plus yards away! Having anticipated the students’ disbelief, the instructor chuckled as he began to explain that the intent was to change their mindset. If golfers aim for the green and miss, they could end up in a bunker, the rough or even a water hazard. If they aim for the pin and miss, they’re on the green which, practically speaking, is right where they want to be.
In Scripture, we’re given a command that is seemingly even more impossible: Be like Christ. Imperfect, sinful humans are commanded to be like the perfect Son of God. Why would God ask us to do something we inherently can’t do?
Like the golf lesson, the believer is challenged to change their mindset. In his letter to the church in Philippi, the apostle Paul writes, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5, NASB). The subsequent verses go on to describe how Christ acted in humility — giving up His right to glory and power as the Son of God to be fully man and becoming a servant. He was obedient to the Father when He took on the punishment we deserved. That same humility and obedience are what we need to fulfill Paul’s charge to the Philippian church.
In the Book of Isaiah, we read that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6, NASB). To put it in golfing terms: When we try to “live right” in our own strength, it’s like a shot aimed at the green that ends up in a hazard! Conversely, when we aim at the pin — Christ Himself — even our misses land on the green.
Make it a daily prayer to humble yourself, submit to God’s will, and seek to serve rather than be served. While we’re still prone to error, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do extraordinary things we could have never dreamed of on our own. It’s like landing on a soft, lush green in prime position to sink a putt.
Bills safety Damar Hamlin gets baptized by team chaplain Len Vanden Bos (right) and teammate Christian Benford. (Photo courtesy Len Vanden Bos)
The night of Jan. 2, 2023, changed Damar Hamlin’s life forever. A little more than three years later, the Buffalo Bills safety experienced another life-changing moment — in a very different way — when he decided to get baptized.
On Jan. 9, surrounded by family and members of the Bills organization, Hamlin was baptized by team chaplain Len Vanden Bos and teammate Christian Benford. It was a step Hamlin had been considering for more than a year and one he didn’t want to rush.
“It was important for it to be the right time,” Hamlin told Sports Spectrum last week at Super Bowl Media Row. “I wanted my family to be able to make it up to Buffalo to be there. I don’t want to say that I’m a completely new person, but my sense of direction and purpose and alignment with who I feel like I’m supposed to be has been on point. It brings me peace.”
For many, Hamlin’s name remains tied to the cardiac arrest he suffered during a “Monday Night Football” game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2023. The game was suspended as medical personnel worked to revive him on the field, and what followed was an outpouring of prayer that stretched far beyond football.
When he looks back on his life, he can see how God was forming him to endure that experience and use it to point people toward Him.
“My faith was very strong — always,” he said. “I always had an internal connection to the Lord. It feels like my faith before wasn’t built up for everything. It truly feels like every experience that I live, everything that I’ve been through as a kid growing up, it was moments to prepare me for what God was going to bless me with.
“I feel like all the work I was doing, God truly just hand-picked me and said, ‘I’m going to choose you for this.'”
Hamlin believes the experience positioned him to witness something larger than football. It allowed him “to be at the center of so much love, so much prayer, bringing people together,” and it also brought a bigger spotlight to his foundation, the Chasing M’s Foundation. Designed to support youth and community initiatives such as toy drives, educational scholarships and promoting health safety, the foundation expanded its mission after Hamlin’s cardiac arrest to include automated external defibrillator distribution and CPR training.
“I have people who were never believers — ever — dropping to their knees and talking to God and finding God through caring for me,” he said. “That’s a blessed position to be in.”
Hamlin remained in the hospital for almost two weeks following the incident, and there were questions about whether it was safe for him to return to football, if his body even got strong enough for him to be able to. It was a trying time and a season that left him with a new perspective.
“To have that perspective, to know that God chose me for a higher purpose — even beyond the game — it truly makes me feel like a chosen one,” he said.
Hamlin said his faith journey has remained active since that night in Cincinnati. He grew up in a Christian home and later attended a Catholic high school, where he studied the Catholic faith closely. That experience led him to focus even more on his personal relationship with God.
“That’s why I always feel like I’ve been tied to the Lord — even before,” he said. “I really learned the most through the phase of injury I had this season. I tore my pec, like, Week 7 or 8 and I was down for a few weeks.”
But recently, his relationship with both Benford and Vanden Bos has helped him grow even deeper.
“Len truly has just been pushing me and helping me grow within my faith,” Hamlin said. “We meet once a week and continue to grow.”
Following the cardiac arrest, Hamlin returned to the field and played in five games during the 2023 season, then started 14 games in 2024. He was limited to only five in 2025 but described this season as the happiest and most focused he’s felt in his life.
The time away from the field proved formative. He said he felt like he learned more about himself and his faith through that injury than anything else he’s experienced.
“That process really taught me so much about myself,” Hamlin said. “I didn’t have the season I wanted, I had the season I needed. I slowed myself down. I got right with God. I had to listen. I had to sit myself down and listen. The isolation away from the team gave me time. I truly think this period of time that I missed this season will prolong my career for however long that I want to play.
“And it ultimately led to me getting baptized. It was exactly what I needed, so I’m not looking back.”
As a child growing up, it seemed like time took forever to get here, and once time was here, it was over much too fast. Little League game day took forever to get here — the school day took forever to get over, the wait from school to get to the field seemed like an eternity, and once the game started it was over too quickly. How many of you can relate to a similar setting? I would say most of you know exactly what I am referring to.
As an adult, time has not changed much other than the activity. With cell phones and computers, it seems like our workday never quits unless you have the willpower to shut off your electronics and take time to unwind, de-frag, or as some say, go dark. Unfortunately for some of you, vacation is now more like a working vacation even though you are taking PTO. Can it get any more upside-down than it is now?
I am just as guilty as anyone else with Zoom meetings at home, FaceTime meetings, and never-ending text messages and emails once I leave the office. So how do we manage our time wisely?
Only you and I can choose to focus our time on what is important to us. Author Stephen Covey says, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
At the end of the day, I like to make a list of what I did not get done today and add it to my to-do list for tomorrow. Yes, time does fly by and sometimes I have no idea where it went. Author Boyd Bailey says, “God is your pilot and you are the co-pilot, the Bible is your instrument panel, and prayer is your radio to communicate with the pilot! You have the time.”
Psalm 139:16b promises, “… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Today, put some margin into your day. Start your day in prayer and ask God to teach you through His Word, through your daily activities, and through the people you meet. Then read some Christ-centered devotions or listen to a God-centered podcast, read God’s Word (the Bible), and allow God to speak to you through your reading time.
I guarantee that if you start your day when you are fresh, having your coffee, tea or juice with Jesus, you will discover how much more productive your day will be, how your attitude toward others will be more positive, and you will flourish in your workplace as God intended you to flourish.
Klint Kubiak (26) is introduced as the Las Vegas Raiders head coach, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Klint Kubiak was introduced Tuesday as the new head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, and in his first public comments in the role, he made clear where he believes the opportunity ultimately came from.
“I just want to thank God for the opportunity to sit in front of you guys today,” Kubiak said at his introductory press conference. “God had a plan for this day that I could never have seen and I’m just grateful.”
The 38-year-old becomes one of the youngest head coaches in the NFL after helping lead the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship on Sunday. Powered in part by Kubiak’s offense, the Seahawks finished the regular season with a 14-3 record and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC en route to the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship. In his one season as Seattle’s offensive coordinator, Kubiak helped the Seahawks offense rank third in points (28.4 per game), eighth in total yards (351.4), eighth in passing yards (228.1) and tie for 10th in rushing yards (123.3).
He now takes over in Las Vegas tasked with leading the Raiders back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. With young stars in tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty already on the roster, the Raiders hold the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and are expected to select quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who won the Heisman Trophy and led Indiana to a national championship.
But Kubiak said his identity is rooted in something far deeper than wins, losses or job titles.
“I see my identity as a child of God,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference. “I know that I’m sitting right here because of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t always that way. I’ve had some great mentors that helped me who know the Gospels better. My goal is to live out the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes and let those values show through in my current coaching. I fall short of that a lot, but I always go back to the building blocks, which is the Bible.”
How great is this from Klint Kubiak? New Las Vegas Raiders head coach shares about his faith at his introductory press conference.
Kubiak has been open about that foundation throughout his rise in the NFL. Last week during Super Bowl LX Opening Night, he told Sports Spectrum that learning to separate his identity from his profession changed the way he approached coaching and life.
“Your identity is not in your job; our identity is in Christ,” Kubiak told Sports Spectrum. “When I learned that, and I spent more time in the Word from all the mentors I had in coaching that helped me get into Bible studies and read the Word every day, it took a really heavy load off just knowing that I’m a child of God.
“Football is something that I do, but trying to be a good father and be a faithful husband is way more important than any of that.”
"This is my favorite question of the night … Our identity is in Christ."
Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak shared about his faith and gifting his entire team a Bible at Christmas pic.twitter.com/zt2ecn3d1s
Kubiak’s faith has also shaped the way he relates to players. During the Seahawks’ 2025 season, he provided one of the team’s most memorable off-the-field moments by purchasing Bibles for every player and coach as a Christmas gift.
“That’s the most important thing,” Kubiak told Sports Spectrum when asked about the gesture. “You’re trying to find Christmas gifts for guys every year to show them that you love them, and what better gift than that?”
Kubiak is taking over for Pete Carroll, who went 3-14 in his only season leading the Raiders, which followed 14 years at the helm of the Seahawks, including the franchise’s first Super Bowl win in 2013-14. Prior to Kubiak’s lone season with Seattle, he was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints (2024) and Minnesota Vikings (2021), and held various other roles with numerous teams. He is the son of former NFL coach and player Gary Kubiak.
As he begins his tenure in Las Vegas, Kubiak said he hopes the values he draws from Scripture will continue to guide his leadership — even as he navigates the pressures that come with leading an NFL franchise.
“I fall short,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference, “but I always go back to the Bible.”
