There Has To Be More Than This

Super Bowl XLII is next week, and, having come from the Mid­west, I have to admit I’m still in shock that the NY Giants came onto Green Bay’s frigid arctic tundra last Sunday and beat the Packers. So it’s Patriots vs. Giants, Tom Brady vs. Eli Manning. Should be a great game!

Tom Brady is in the midst of a ten-year, 60-million-dollar contract to win it all for New England. And he’s good at what he does. In fact, he quarterbacks the only NFL team ever to win 18 games in a season, surpassing the 17-0 Dolphins of 1972. Quite a success story. And yet, consider these comments from a recent 60 Minutes interview with Tom Brady:

His all-American image took a hit last year, when actress Bridget Moynihan, his longtime girlfriend, announced she was preg­nant with Brady’s son shortly after the couple broke up. Brady supports the child but is now dating a Brazilian supermodel.

He asks, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can't be what it’s all cracked up to be.”

What's the answer? “I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady. “I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find.”

All of us armchair quarterbacks, and anyone who wants to make it big—get rich and famous—would do well to listen to Brady’s remarkably frank admission how he got to the top, became the best of the best, and in the end found it unsatisfying. Why is that? Because he was made for a kind of joy and thrill so much more grand than any athletic success or bank balance can bring. He was, and you were also, made for the incalculable soul-satisfaction of praising, thanking, and trusting in the Lord God, celebrating his forgiving love poured out in Christ. Pray that Tom Brady finds the One he’s searching for!