“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” — Psalm 118:22
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For most athletes, there comes a moment when the dream doesn’t go as planned. The tryout doesn’t go well. The coach posts the roster and your name isn’t on it. The phone call comes, and you’re told, “We’re going in a different direction.”
Rejection in sports stings because it touches something deep in us — the desire to belong, to be chosen, to matter. But what if those moments of being cut or overlooked aren’t the end of the story? What if God is doing His most important work in the silence that follows?
Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner knows that feeling well. After going undrafted in 1994, Warner was cut by the Green Bay Packers before ever taking a snap. He stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Iowa for $5.50 an hour, wondering if his NFL dream was over.
But Warner didn’t quit. He kept training and kept trusting God.
Years later, after stints in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe, Warner finally got his shot with the St. Louis Rams — and led them to a Super Bowl victory with the team affectionately known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.”
If Warner’s story is any example, rejection doesn’t mean failure in God’s eyes. It doesn’t mean the end of the story. Instead, it often means redirection. When you don’t make the team, when you get benched or when your athletic career ends sooner than expected, you’re standing in the same place countless people of faith have stood — between disappointment and God’s purpose.
Psalm 118:22 reminds us, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus Himself was rejected — by friends, by crowds, even by His own people. Yet in that rejection, God brought redemption to the world.
Being cut or overlooked doesn’t mean God’s done with you. It might just mean He’s preparing you for something you can’t see yet.
— Cole Claybourn
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