Seattle Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” — 1 Peter 4:10
The Gift of Challenges
God loves us too much to let us stay the same. Embrace the pain in your life and be grateful for the discomfort that will lead to growth.
Easier said than done right?
After having his hand amputated at age 4 due to amniotic band syndrome, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin spent the next 18 years proving his talent and passion more than compensated for his lack of a left hand. We know the happy ending: He silenced the naysayers and made it to the NFL. But this isn’t the best part of his story. Griffin turned his aliment into ability and his achievement into a platform.
Griffin serves as a reminder to everyone, disabled or not, that success can come on your own terms and not by the world’s standards.Now anyone who faces the uphill battle of being different can proudly join the fraternity. What the world defined as a burden, God used as a gift.
Wait, so the challenges we experience are a gift from God? Yes, but my point is God doesn’t bring us through storms for nothing. It is up to us to draw close to the Father, seek His face for wisdom and be ready.
You were created the way you are on purpose, not just for your benefit, but for others’ as well! Be ready to help people through their storms with your gifts, your experiences and the proof from your life that Jesus is good!
God has strategically brought you through seasons and is placing people in your path for you to guide. For some of you it will be mentoring in business endeavors, for others it will be bearing the burden of someone facing significant loss.
Griffin is a cheerleader for those who are facing the same adversity he did. Step into your calling, use your gifts and give God the glory along the way.
— Krystal Nungaray
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“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” — 1 Timothy 4:12
Ever hear the term “actions speak louder than words”? Or maybe someone has said to you, “Talk is cheap.” Statements like these are calling individuals to back up a claim that has been made.
In the game of baseball, scouts log many miles in their cars and in the air searching for what they call the “five-tool” player. They are in search of the next Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani who can run, throw, field, hit for average and hit for power. That individual is a rare find and a coveted prize when the scout locates him. This player doesn’t just talk about what he is able to do, but proves it day in and day out.
Jesus has called every follower of His to be a “five-tool” example of those who believe. No matter what our age is, we are to be an example to others in five different areas (1 Timothy 4:12, above): the way we talk, the way we act, the way we love, the way we express our faith (especially when things aren’t going the way we would like them to go), and — particularly in our culture today — how we maintain our purity before the Lord and others.
As Christ-followers, let’s speak the truth in love, and by our example be who our God has called us to be. What tool in your life needs to be more under the control of the Holy Spirit?
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton runs with the ball against Georgia on Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Texas wasn’t expecting to face Gunner Stockton when it first encountered him in last season’s SEC Championship Game. Stockton, Georgia’s backup quarterback at the time, entered the game when starter Carson Beck went down with an injury.
Stockton engineered three scoring drives in regulation, took a hard hit in overtime that knocked his helmet off, and still led the Bulldogs to a touchdown on that drive to win, 22-19.
The 10th-ranked Longhorns were much better prepared for Stockton when the teams met again on Saturday, but they still couldn’t stop him. The redshirt junior from Tiger, Georgia, threw for 229 yards and accounted for five total touchdowns in a 35-10 victory for the fifth-ranked Bulldogs (9-1 overall, 7-1 in SEC).
It marked the second time in five weeks he produced a five-touchdown performance against a top-10 opponent while throwing just five incompletions, as he also accomplished the feat in Georgia’s 43-35 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 18.
“It was a great game,” Stockton told the media Saturday. “It was a great atmosphere. Something you definitely dream of. I’m just glad we came out on top.”
In his last four games, Stockton has completed 74.6% of his passes for 251.3 yards per game with 15 total touchdowns and just two interceptions. The Bulldogs are averaging 35.8 points per game in that stretch and moved up to No. 4 in Monday’s Associated Press college football poll.
Stockton was given the keys to the offense this season after Beck transferred to the University of Miami, and he has the Bulldogs in position to return to the College Football Playoff, where they lost to eventual runner-up Notre Dame in the quarterfinals last season. He was 20-for-32 with 234 yards and a touchdown in that defeat.
A strong faith in God has helped Stockton as he’s gone from being a little-known backup to a Heisman Trophy candidate who is leading the SEC in completion percentage. He credits his parents for making the Lord a priority during his childhood.
“My parents, they’re awesome,” he said in a recent interview with I Am Athlete. “I think the biggest thing they did was, you know, my faith first. Just believing in the Lord and just trusting His process. And then second, I think they did a good job of keeping me level-headed.”
Asked during the interview how he lives out his faith as such a public figure, Stockton pointed to the Bible and the people around him.
“Just being consistent, just staying in the Word and surrounding yourself with great people, like-minded,” he said. “Our team chaplain’s awesome. He does a great job during the week and on Saturdays.”
As he continues in his career, Stockton is guided by a desire to spread God’s love through the way he carries himself.
“The biggest thing for me is the Golden Rule,” he told I Am Athlete. “That’s what I try to live by: treat others like you’d want to be treated. That’s kind of how I’ve carried myself my whole life.”
With the conference portion of its schedule now complete, Georgia has to wait and see whether it reaches the SEC title game. It would likely require Alabama or Texas A&M to lose its final conference game on rivalry weekend.
The Bulldogs host Charlotte at 12:45 p.m. ET on Saturday and visit rival Georgia Tech in their regular-season finale Nov. 28.
According to Ephesians 5:21 (ESV), a measure of the reality of my relationship with Jesus is how I submit to others with whom I am in relationship. The verse emphasizes “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Though the concept of submitting is often viewed negatively, the Bible presents it positively and as a mark of spiritual maturity when it is applied in healthy, honoring ways.
Submission, as depicted in the Bible, is when someone joyfully fulfills the responsibilities and privileges of his or her role in a relationship. Some of these relationships addressed in the Bible are: husbands and wives (Ephesians 5:22-33), leaders and members (Hebrews 13:7, 17), and employers and employees (Ephesians 6:5-9). The greatest example of submission is Jesus in relationship to God the Father (Philippians 2:1-11), and is to be applied to our relationships with one another.
The story is told of two people who meet on a narrow mountain path coming from opposite directions. They each stand in the way of the other. To one side of the trail is a sheer stone wall, and on the other side is a deadly vertical drop-off. The two travelers are at an impasse. Neither can move onto their desired destination.
How do they resolve it? Each traveler can turn around and return home, unfulfilled in his or her journey. Another option is for the bigger person to throw the smaller person over the cliff to clear the path. Or, one person can lay down (submit), allow the other person to step over, and then get up with both individuals moving on in their journeys.
Panthers QB Bryce Young, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)
They needed overtime and heroics from quarterback Bryce Young to do it, but the Carolina Panthers overcame a 14-point first-half deficit Sunday to defeat the Falcons on the road in Atlanta, 30-27, sweeping the season series against their division rivals for the first time since 2013.
Widespread criticism surrounded Young last week following back-to-back poor performances, and the third-year QB responded with perhaps the best game of his NFL career thus far. Young completed 31 of his 45 pass attempts against Atlanta for a franchise-record (and career-high) 448 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover.
Carolina got on the board first with a touchdown on its opening drive, when Young found rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan through a tight window for a 7-yard score. But Atlanta responded with a vengeance, scoring three touchdowns on three consecutive possessions for a 21-7 lead. Then, Carolina flipped the script.
On the first drive of the third quarter, still trailing 21-10, Young lofted a deep pass that receiver Xavier Legette hauled in for a 36-yard TD.
After the teams traded field goals, Young led the Panthers on a nine-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in a 12-yard touchdown to McMillan with just more than a minute remaining. McMillan’s second score of the day gave Carolina the lead.
What makes his record-setting day even more impressive is that he was hobbled most of the game with a right ankle injury sustained in the first quarter. He has already missed a game this season due to an injury on that same ankle.
“Pain is an accurate way to sum it up,” Young said with a smile when asked what he was thinking after re-aggravating the injury. “… I want to be out there to play. I don’t take this game from granted. The Lord has blessed me to be here — to have this opportunity. Any time that I am able to go, I always want to do that.”
Young battled through to lead the Panthers to their fifth one-score win this season, with three (including Sunday) coming on walk-off field goals. Although the Panthers have only won 12 games with Young as the starter, 10 of them have come on game-winning drives, more than any other quarterback since Young entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
“Just faith. I believe in the Lord,” Young said in Sunday’s press conference when asked about the reputation he’s developing as one of the more clutch players in the NFL. “I know that everything’s already written, so I enjoy times like that to be able to go execute. I grew up — I’m sure most people did — in the backyard being able to say, ‘Oh, we have a two-minute drive to win the game. We’re able to go down and score with zero seconds left.’ I’m blessed enough to be able to do that in real life.”
Young calls himself a “Follower of Christ” in his Instagram bio and has spoken about his faith in Christ since his college days at Alabama. He was featured in the Fall 2022 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine and on the Sports Spectrum Podcast that August.
“I’m based in faith,” Young said on the podcast. “I’m blessed to have the family that I do that introduced me [to faith] when I was young. Throughout my life, my relationship has grown with the Lord and my faith has improved. Through that, I work to be the best version of myself that I can be and to embody Christ in all that I do.”
The Pasadena, California, native captured the 2020 national championship (as a backup) and the 2021 Heisman Trophy while at Alabama. In the NFL, he’s been criticized at times for uneven play and praised at others for flashes of brilliance, especially after setting a franchise record for passing yards. Whether receiving criticism or praise, Young finds his deepest purpose in pleasing his Father in Heaven.
“Regardless of how someone else views me, whatever award, accolade, whatever someone may say — negative or positive — I appreciate and am grateful for the positive, and even for the negative,” he said on the podcast. “But at the end of the day, what motivates me and pushes me is to model myself after the Lord.”
The Panthers are sitting at 6-5, their best record through 11 games since 2018. Sunday’s win, paired with a Buccaneers loss, moved Carolina to just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South.
The Panthers will try to keep pace or overtake Tampa Bay in a crucial “Monday Night Football” showdown next week on the road against the San Francisco 49ers (7-4). Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET. Young and his injured right ankle will be monitored throughout the week.
