Winning the Super Bowl is reaching the pinnacle of what God created a football player to do with his work. It was an amazing experience and one that I’ll never forget! But it’s not everything, by any means, though it is definitely the most important accomplishment I’ve done in my sport. As a team, we tried to really soak it all in and enjoy it for what it’s worth and celebrate as much as we can during such an exciting achievement. But in the grand scheme of things, we know the Super Bowl is just a game. And football is just a sport.
Because we won, we’ve had so many opportunities to do cool things such as events, appearances, interviews and more. These appearances give us more chances to shine our light on a greater scale than we would have before. In a sense, we’re still riding the high of our win. And it’s been unique for me because not only did I experience a Super Bowl win this year with the Eagles, but I was also in free agency. These are two really great opportunities in just a few months and I’m so grateful to have been giving the experience and opportunity for this season.
Since the win, I’ve been able to make appearances on the NFL Network, multiple shows (many of which I couldn’t even make), the Stronger Men’s Conference in St. Louis with Louie Giglio, as well as a bunch of signings to attend. We also get to go to the ESPY’s this year!
Now that I’m in Chicago with the Bears, I can see how God has prepared me for this coming year. In fact, being a free agent this time around was 10 times easier than being an undrafted free agent in 2014. Whenever circumstances are up in the air and out of my control, I can only pray and trust that, at the end of the day, God has the best plan for me and my family.
I can trust God because I know He will once again do what He’s always done for us by providing for our every need. I know He has the perfect opportunity waiting for me and He wants to give that to me in His timing. This gives me an incredible peace. When the decision was to be made, we had about six or seven teams interested in signing me, but my wife, Yesenia, and I only had a peace about one or two of them. Once we felt like God had given us the peace and direction for our future, we knew it was up to us to make the decision of where to go.
While our whole family is excited for the move, our kids don’t exactly understand what is going on. They only know they can put the Eagles chant on hold for now. My wife is also excited about a new city and new opportunities to connect with the wives of my new teammates.
Yes, we will miss our community in Philly, but those relationships will never be broken. Those are some of my best friends ever; being signed to a new team won’t change that. I already have trips and outreach opportunities planned with my teammates from the Eagles during this offseason.
Obviously what we had was extremely special and very rare, but we all knew we would be called to our own ways with new teams in new cities. You have to be mentally prepared at all times to say “yes” to God’s call, wherever that leads you. Those of us who are leaving the Eagles this year now have the great opportunity to share what we had in Philly with other locker rooms. And then we get to let the Holy Spirit do what He does best — change lives and bring the Gospel to light through God’s people.
“For this is what the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” — Acts 13:47
— Trey Burton, Chicago Bears tight end
The Increase, part of the Sports Spectrum Network, is a community of Christian pro athletes sharing their personal stories of the decrease of self and the increase of Christ (John 3:30). Visit TheIncrease.com for more stories and videos.
