“I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me.” — 1 Corinthians 4:14-16 (NKJV)
No Greater Legacy
My son, Nathan, loves football. He played four years of high school football and four years of faith-based college football, and he loved the competition and the life lessons he learned.
Then about two years after he graduated from college, he decided he wanted to pass on some of his life lessons from football to other young men, so he became a defensive coach with one of our local high school teams. And he loved every minute of it. He especially loved the mentoring and leadership he provided to his players, many of whom needed instruction about life more than they did about football. So day in and day out, he taught them the technical details, the X’s and the O’s of playing defense, but more importantly, he poured his life into their lives, imparting to them everything they were willing to learn about becoming better young men.
And then he quit.
I asked him why, after eight years, he would quit coaching a game he loved so much. I will never forget the simple yet profound answer he gave me. He said, “Dad, I love football, but I love my boys more.” You see, my son is the father of two boys, ages 5 and 3, who are growing up in the blink of an eye right in front of him. So he had to choose who would get his time, his energy and his life, and he chose wisely.
Fatherlessness is the great scourge and malady of our age, and it will only end as men step up and do what God has called them to do. If you’re a husband and/or a father, surrender your life to Jesus, then pour that life into your wife and kids in every way imaginable. You will discover, as my son also will, that there is no greater legacy.
— Richard Strange
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE, FEATURING ROBERT MATHIS
Robert Mathis spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts (2003-16) and is the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks (123). He was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2021, and won Super Bowl XLI with the team in 2006-07. He retired as the NFL’s career record holder in forced fumbles (52).
Matt Forte welcomes Robert Mathis to the Sports Spectrum Podcast to talk about his journey of faith in Christ, the worst year of his life in 2014, the power of prayer, his favorite quarterback to sack, and the Colts’ culture.
Robert Mathis, who spent all of his 14 seasons with the @Colts and was part of the Super Bowl XLI winning squad, is now a Semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2025. #PFHOF25pic.twitter.com/CErpQyajCL
Ilia Malinin. He’s known to the world as the Quad God: the first male figure skater in history to master and land all six types of quadruple jumps, the first to ever land the elite quadruple axel jump in competition (4.5 revolutions in the air), and the first to ever land seven quad jumps in a single program. He holds many scoring world records and has elevated his sport to heights never seen. Many are already saying that, by the end of his career, he will go down as likely the greatest male figure skater of all time.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics were supposed to be his crowning moment. Nobody had been able to beat him in more than two years. While he did walk away with a gold medal in the team competition, the individual event shockingly didn’t turn out that way. Literally moments away from hearing his national anthem, he had a disastrous skate in the men’s long program and finished in eighth place.
The world was surprised at how well Malinin handled the moments that followed, yet his relationship with failure was born long before the Olympics happened. He says there have been two guiding principles by which he has dealt with disappointment:
1. You don’t get better by never falling. In his disastrous free skate at the Olympics, Malinin had multiple falls — extremely uncharacteristic mistakes for a skater of his caliber. And yet, he was quick to point out that falls are part of the journey, especially in the sport of figure skating, and improvement doesn’t come by being scared of tumbling to the ice. Falling is part of the process, and you must accept that in order to improve.
Sometimes it’s easy to think that the Christian life is supposed to be this steady, upward climb. We’ve somehow put in this idea that we’re supposed to be perfect and never fall. But the Bible doesn’t promise us that. Rather, it promises that, even if we stumble, God will hold our hand and help us back up.
2. God’s sovereignty is what gives purpose to even our falls. In an interview shortly after his epic collapse, Malinin told NBC, “I always say that everything happens for a reason. God puts things there the way He wants it, and I’m always taking that for granted and knowing that there’s always something that has to be done.” This philosophy was on display in the exhibition gala that followed the end of figure skating competition as Malinin chose to skate to Christian singer NF’s song “Fear,” and the world was hushed in a special moment on the ice.
There’s a peace that comes from knowing that even our most disastrous mistakes and failures can and will be used by God for good. We can be confident in knowing that He’s in control of everything that happens. He knows ahead of time how things will turn out, and nothing will take place outside of His plan.
Our falls might not take place with a global audience watching as happened for Ilia Malinin. Most likely, they will happen when few are watching except for God. But no matter how or when they happen, the fact that God will catch you no matter what, and still use your stumbles for His glory and your good, can free you up to not be scared of failure, but to welcome it when it shows up.
Ohio State safety Caleb Downs makes a catch during the school's Pro Day in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)
Ohio State safety Caleb Downs has spent the past two seasons building one of the most decorated résumés in college football. Now, he’s on the verge of hearing his name called early in the NFL Draft — potentially within the first five picks.
He was named the winner of the 2025 Jim Thorpe Award — given annually to the nation’s top defensive back — and a finalist for both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards, each honoring the nation’s best defensive player. Downs was also a two-time consensus first-team All-American and a key member of the Buckeyes’ 2024-25 national championship team and Big Ten runner-up squad in 2025-26. Furthermore, he was given the Big Ten’s Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year honor and, for the second straight season, the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year award.
His impact extended beyond the field as well, earning the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which recognizes performance, leadership, character and community involvement, and he was nominated as Ohio State’s candidate for the 2025-26 Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award.
“I have spent 11 years coaching in the NFL and Caleb Downs is the best football player — pro or college — that I have ever coached,” Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Tim Walton said. “He is first-class and exceptional in all areas he touches.”
That combination of production, football IQ and consistency has made Downs one of the most highly regarded prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft. Multiple outlets project him as a top-10 pick, with ESPN and The Athletic placing him as high as No. 5 overall to the New York Giants.
“Downs would be the first safety taken in the top five since Eric Berry went to the Chiefs in 2010, and he’d be worth it,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. wrote.
But Downs is more than just a football player. And he’s not shy in talking about what’s most important to him.
“There’s two things that are more important than me, more important than me playing football,” Downs told “The Walk” podcast in August as to why he wears No. 2. “My faith in Jesus Christ and my family. So those two things is what I wear on my chest every game and those are the two most important things in my life.”
His faith has been central not only to his personal life, but also to his platform at Ohio State. In 2024, several football players helped lead a worship gathering on campus that featured worship music, player testimonies and baptisms. When the event returned in 2025 — drawing an estimated 2,000 attendees, nearly double the previous year — Downs was among the players who spoke to the crowd.
“No play we make on the field — no touchdown, no interception — can compare to the Kingdom of God,” Downs said.
Speaking afterward, he emphasized where he believes true credit belongs.
“God is good,” Downs told local television station ABC 6. “I mean, I can’t take credit for it. None of my teammates can take credit for it. At the end of the day, His glory is above anything that we can do, but we know Jesus is real and we know that if you believe in Him, you will be saved.”
That message has also shaped how Downs talks about faith publicly. On “The Walk” podcast, he talked about the hesitation many feel about coming to Christ.
“Some people say, ‘I’m not ready to be baptized. I’m not ready to come to Jesus,'” he said. “But the realization is that Jesus is for the people that are sick. Jesus is for the people that aren’t perfect. You’re never going to be perfect enough to come to Jesus. That’s the point.”
He continued later: “Whenever you surrender to Him, that’s when everything will be washed away and you will be made renewed in Him. The faster that you can come to Him and run to Him and totally surrender your heart and your mind to Him, that’s the better off you’re going to be.
“There’s no amount of good behavior that you can do that will allow you to feel like you’re righteous enough to come to Him, because you never will be. It’s just a realization that He is what makes you righteous. He’s what makes you perfect.”
Downs, after just three collegiate seasons, officially declared for the NFL Draft on Jan. 7 and made sure to point his gratitude to God with a post on Instagram.
“Everything I’ve been able to achieve starts with my faith,” he wrote. “I’m grateful to God for the direction, strength, and purpose He’s given me. And I will continue to glorify, honor, and praise Him throughout this journey.”
The NFL Draft goes from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I was frustrated. I was having a difficult time getting the girls to take practice seriously. I often reminded them, “You play the way you practice,” yet their effort and focus were not reflecting the standard I believed they were capable of reaching. As a coach, I knew something had to change — not just in what we practiced, but in how we practiced.
Before one practice, I wrote a true-or-false question on the dry erase board: “Practice makes perfect?” I gave the girls time to discuss it among themselves, then asked them to record their answers. Seven players chose true, while two chose false. I then asked each group to explain their reasoning.
“You need to practice if you want to get better,” said our captain, speaking for the true group. The others agreed, adding that without practice there can be no improvement at all. They weren’t wrong, but I felt there was something deeper still missing.
Then one of our junior players raised her hand. Violet said, “I agree that you have to practice to improve, but you have to practice correctly to get better. And I don’t think anyone except Jesus is perfect. So I would change the saying to, ‘Perfect practice makes you better.’”
So often in life — at practice, at work, in school, or even in our walk with Christ — we simply go through the motions. We show up, but our hearts aren’t fully engaged. We may be busy, but we are not always intentional. Just as careless repetition on the court does not lead to growth, careless habits in our faith do not lead us closer to God.
Spiritual growth, like athletic growth, requires purposeful practice. It requires humility, reflection and a willingness to recognize when we are doing something incorrectly. We will make mistakes, but growth happens when we acknowledge them, repent and allow God to correct and shape us. Scripture reminds us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
When we raise our standards, pursue excellence with the right heart, and practice with intention, we grow stronger — both on and off the court. Walking in His ways becomes more natural, discipline becomes more meaningful, and improvement follows.
Perfect practice doesn’t make us perfect, but it does make us better!
