“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17
A New Year
Today is the beginning of another year.
The year 2019 has arrived. It’s fun to think about all the things that will happen in sports this year. Who will win the Super Bowl? How about the Daytona 500? Can the Red Sox repeat as World Series champs? Is this the year the Warriors miss out on the NBA Finals?
Trying to figure out what will happen this year in sports, although it’s often unpredictable, can be a lot of fun. But there’s a promise God makes in His Word about all of us for this year that is never unpredictable.
If we stay connected to Christ, we are a brand-new creation each and every day. He has made all things new and as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, the old has passed away.
It’s a new year, but it’s also a new day to begin moving forward in Christ.
We’re a NEW creation!
Happy New Year.
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Jalon Daniels has sort of been overlooked for much of his football career, so being an undrafted free agent entering the NFL was nothing new. But just as he did during his five-year career at the University of Kansas, the quarterback just went to work and let his play do the talking.
After going into training camp as a long shot to make the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster, Daniels will begin his rookie season as the primary backup to starter Baker Mayfield.
“It feels great,” Daniels told the media on Tuesday after the roster decision was made. “It’s a blessing. It’s great to be here. Great to be a part of the Buccaneers organization and I look forward to being able to continue getting better here.”
The Buccaneers signed veteran QB Jake Browning earlier this year to a one-year deal with the expectation that he would be the backup, but Daniels outplayed him during camp. What the team saw from Daniels trumped the money they’d already committed to Browning.
“That’s an incredible accomplishment for an undrafted rookie to get that position,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said. “I can’t think in the last decade another time it’s happened, but the No. 1 thing is, he earned it. It wasn’t just given to him. … You can go back and forth with the experience argument, but we’d rather have a very talented, prepared, inexperienced quarterback than going with experience just for the sake of saying the guy’s experienced.”
A second-team All-Big 12 selection in 2022, Daniels finished his Kansas career with 9,282 passing yards, 1,445 rushing yards and 90 total touchdowns. He provides an option as a running quarterback that can give Tampa Bay a different look when he’s on the field.
In his first preseason game, Daniels went 10-for-15 passing with 111 yards and also gained nine yards on three carries to go with a rushing touchdown. In Tampa Bay’s second preseason game, Daniels was 9-for-14 passing for 71 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 19 yards on seven carries. He got the majority of reps at quarterback in the Bucs’ final preseason game, going 8-for-15 passing for 57 yards with four carries for nine yards.
Between his play in games and in practices, Daniels slowly climbed his way up the depth chart to where the Bucs coaches and front office could no longer ignore what he was doing. In his mind, he was just being himself — just showing up and playing football like he’s always done.
“I have God on my side, and I truly believe that everything that I’ve been able to do up to this point has been because of Him,” Daniels told reporters after the team’s final preseason game. “So I’m not going to lose faith. I’m going to keep my faith in God, and at the end of the day, everything that’s going to happen happens for a reason. I’m going to let God handle those decisions.”
He was asked later about being an undrafted free agent and whether that mattered to him at all. He’s coming at it from a perspective of gratitude that’s rooted in his faith in God.
“My journey is my journey,” he said. “God put me in this position for a reason. Something my mom told me after the draft was, ‘I don’t know why you’re in this position, but at the end of the day it’s happening to you for a reason. I think that God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers.’
“If I’m in a position where I have to show others that this mountain can be moved, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to go out there and do everything that I can to be able to make plays. Draft pick, UDFA, it doesn’t matter. I got the opportunity to come out here and play NFL football, so I’m forever grateful for that.”
Daniels starred at Lawndale High School in Southern California around the same time as highly rated quarterback prospects like Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and D.J. Uiagalelei. All three committed to traditional powers — Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson, respectively. Meanwhile, Daniels committed to Kansas, a school with very little football tradition and the only Power Five program to offer him a scholarship.
But he helped spark the Jayhawks program, bringing them into the AP top-25 poll in 2022 and even getting some buzz as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He was the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, but suffered an injury in training camp that he re-aggravated in a game against Texas and had to miss the rest of the season. As a senior, he threw for 2,531 yards, 22 TDs and seven interceptions.
His faith in God has always been a major part of who he is. He shares about his relationship with God on social media, saying “All Through Christ” in his Instagram bio, and his teammates notice how much his faith guides him.
“People wrote [Daniels] off, but he always kept God in his life,” former teammate Elijah Jackson told the L.A. Times. “It didn’t faze him, not one bit, and I actually think it made him better, put a chip on his shoulder.”
At 23 years old now, Daniels is a little older than some other rookie quarterbacks, but the Bucs see that as a good mix of experience coupled with athleticism. Licht had plenty of praise for his new backup quarterback.
“There’s no blueprint for an undrafted rookie becoming your No. 2 quarterback,” Licht said, via reporter Sara Walsh. “Jalon basically wrote his own.”
“There’s no blueprint for an undrafted rookie becoming your number 2 quarterback. Jalon basically wrote his own.” – Bucs GM Jason Licht on Jalon Daniels
According to Elias Sports Bureau the last time an undrafted rookie qb was active week 1: 2016 Trevone Boykin in Seattle pic.twitter.com/pbQtUgwMW5
Former NFL player Tom Brady, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” — Ecclesiastes 2:11a
In June 2005, legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady was famously featured on an episode of CBS’s documentary-style news program “60 Minutes.” He was 27 years old, in the prime of his career and at the top of the football world, having recently won his third of what would become a record seven Super Bowls.
Yet when asked in the interview what he’d learned through all his success, Brady — in a moment of incredible sincerity and vulnerability — revealed his futile quest to find meaning in Super Bowls.
“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there’s something greater out there for me?” he asked. “… I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s gotta be more than this. I mean, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.'”
So what’s the answer?
“I wish I knew!” he exclaimed. “I wish I knew.”
The sentiment behind Brady’s comments has been a common refrain throughout the generations and across the sports landscape. Once accomplished, these lifelong goals that athletes set for themselves and work tirelessly to achieve don’t fulfill them in the way they’d hoped. Too often, they’re left discontented, still in search of ultimate meaning and the true purpose of their lives.
It’s a sentiment the Bible addresses most directly in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The author of the book tells of how he sought lasting meaning in wealth, possessions, career, relationships, alcohol and even wisdom itself. None of it sufficed. Then, in the second-to-last verse of the book, a powerful verdict is delivered: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
After a life lived trying (and failing) to derive inner peace from earthly pleasures, the author had learned his lesson. Inner peace isn’t found in anything of this world — not the number in your bank account, the admiration of other people, or the Super Bowls you win. Meaning is found in knowing God, being known by Him and living the life He’s called you to live.
The things of this world aren’t worthless in and of themselves. Strive as hard as you can after your athletic goals. Work diligently at your job and provide for the people around you. But we weren’t made to find lasting meaning in any of that, only in God Himself. If we get them flipped, we will always wind up disappointed.
Cleveland Guardians players speak at the team's Faith Day, Aug. 29, 2026. (Photo via X/@msteller123)
The Kansas City Royals took down the Guardians, 8-3, in Cleveland on Saturday in an American League Central matchup. The loss dropped the Guardians to a .500 record on the season and weakened their already tenuous grip on the third and final AL wild-card spot, which they had acquired thanks to a seven-game winning streak leading up to the series with Kansas City.
Yet despite the loss, many Guardians players considered Saturday a resounding success, all because of what happened before the first pitch was ever thrown.
In partnership with the Northeast Ohio chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Guardians Faith Day was held at Progressive Field in Cleveland for the second consecutive year on Saturday. During the hour-long event hosted by team chaplain Mike Suit, Guardians players were given the opportunity to share their testimonies of faith in Jesus and how a relationship with Him impacts their lives on and off the field. Fans enjoyed Christian fellowship and were encouraged to follow the Light of the World as well.
One of the players who spoke was All-Star rookie pitcher Parker Messick. Much of his testimony revolved around his grandfather’s incredible healing and how God was at work in his life through that time.
“I had the conversation with the Lord,” he said, “and I’m like, ‘Lord, I know You’re real. I’ve seen what You can do. I’m never doubting You again. You’ve proven Yourself to me time and time again. I know what You did on the cross, and I’ll live for You forever.’
“I’ve tried to live that out ever since that day. He’s never left my side and I’m seeing the things that He can do in my life, so I encourage all of you to do the same.”
Messick was joined on the panel by the man sometimes called upon to catch his lethal fastballs, 34-year-old catcher Austin Hedges.
The veteran told the story of how he grew up knowing about God and being part of a church community, but he realized he was relying on others’ faith rather than his own. In 2021, during his first stint with the Guardians, he challenged his Christian background and completely left the church.
One of the biggest influences during his spiritual wandering, he said, was the fellowship of his numerous Christ-following teammates on the Guardians.
“The biggest change is these men standing here with me,” Hedges said. “These guys are so inspiring to me. Only a few months ago, I said, ‘You know what? That’s it. I’m in!’ … These guys are living their lives the right way, and I want to live like that.”
Austin Hedges shared his testimony with fans Saturday during Faith day at Progressive Field saying “God’s love is so real” and thanking his teammates for inspiring him. #GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/Y22ifMLiEu
Hedges continued later: “As of May of this year, I got back. And I am so bought in. The last couple of months, everything is just crystal clear to me. Everything makes so much sense. God’s love is so real, and I’m so excited for the rest of this journey — my life — growing with Jesus.”
“It’s very humbling,” he told reporter Natalie Turk after the game. “It’s been very cool to see how God has grown this group of guys we have in the clubhouse, how the numbers have grown and how each guy in that group has grown individually as well. That’s been a very, very cool thing.”
“You grow in your faith and you learn that, hey, there are some things you gotta give to Him that are gonna be heavier, and things that are out of your control, that you need to be able to just give off and release,” he said.
Joey Cantillo spoke to fans pregame about his faith saying “some things you have to give to Him because they’re heavier & out of our control” #GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/geEqPfUpHn
On the diamond, the Guardians (now 69-68) are set to begin a three-game home series Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays (68-70). Cleveland currently holds a half-game lead over the Orioles in the AL wild-card race.
Before our practices even begin, our players know what’s expected of them. Without any of the coaches giving instruction, they set their equipment down, line up on the court and start their stretching. Seniors and upperclassmen take charge and hold each other accountable.
From there, they know what court to head to and begin their warmup. They understand what’s expected of them to start each practice, and they know that if they’re late for any reason, they will have to do the entire stretching sequence on their own.
Successful teams and programs don’t happen by accident. They take dedicated coaches and players who agree to a set of expectations and have the self-discipline to execute them, even when they’re not given direct orders. Our girls’ tennis team finished as the state runner-up this past season, and while the talent had a lot to do with it, so did their discipline and willingness to meet the expectations set for them.
When they veered off course, they accepted coaching well, and when needed, they accepted tough coaching even better. They understood what it took to be one of the best and to succeed at the highest level. But ultimately, none of this happens if they didn’t have buy-in and discipline on their own.
The same is true of our faith. Following Jesus requires more than just agreeing with what He says. It requires us to order our lives around Him in every way — praying when we’d rather scroll or watch TV, serving when we’d rather be served, or choosing to worship when we’d rather let ourselves be distracted by something seemingly more entertaining.
None of those practices earn God’s love or acceptance, but they are a way of responding to it.
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”
Training requires intention and repetition. Usually, it requires us doing something we don’t really feel like doing. Good athletes understand and accept this. Many even embrace it because they know you don’t become stronger by occasionally working out just when you feel like it. You get stronger by consistency in the gym. In the same way, our faith grows stronger when we consistently make room for God to shape us.
There will be days when you don’t feel like praying or spending time in the Word. You’ll have moments when obedience is difficult and you don’t want to pay the price of it. But that’s when discipline matters. It’s helping you strengthen your faith and become formed in the way Jesus intended.
What we repeatedly practice begins to shape who we become. A great team understands what’s expected of it. A growing disciple does as well.
