Dialleo Burks

II invited Jesus into my heart the summer before I went to college, but it was years before I took my faith seriously.

My parents separated while I was growing up, so I would spend weekends with my father. My grandmother told me I couldn’t come unless I went to church. She was the one who first taught me about faith.

I was going to Eastern Kentucky on a football scholarship, and I didn’t want to be alone, so I asked Jesus into my heart. I wanted God to go to college with me.

Except I didn’t think about Him much.

I got to college and got involved in things college guys do. Things started coming at me and I put God on the shelf.

Later, I met the woman who would become my wife. We attended church but I wasn’t consistent in giving God the time He deserved. He was still on the shelf.

Then I went through some tough times. I wasn’t drafted. I did make the Philadelphia Eagles and lasted with them through one season before getting cut. Before getting cut by the Eagles I went through the worst period of my life. I was broke. I was having difficulties in my marriage. But I still hadn’t turned to God. I kept my Bible on the night stand, and never opened it.

After I got cut, I went home and lay around for a while, doing nothing. I was wasting my life. My pride was crushed. I couldn’t find a job. But still I didn’t think about God.

My agent called and told me I had a tryout scheduled with the St. Louis Rams. It was the sorriest tryout of my life. But still I didn’t think about God.

I went to some friends house. They invited me to church with them, and I went. There were only about 30 people there, and I sat in a pew all by myself. The pastor preached a sermon that made me feel I was the only one there.

I decided I would give God everything. I wanted to get my life right. I realized I hadn’t been giving God anything, and it was time to change.

The next day I found a job. That night, at 6:03 pm, the phone rang. It was my agent telling me the Indianapolis Colts wanted me to come for a tryout. I dropped the phone and realized that if I just gave God a little, He would bless me.

The workout wasn’t good, but I had God on my mind and in my heart. That’s when life changed. My marriage was restored and my career was launched.

I look at that time in my life as being the worst and the best. Life was so difficult, and yet I gave my life to God and received everything I had ever wanted, which, ironically, had been there right in front of me all along.

Reading the Bible has taught me to stay grounded. I now know that whatever troubles I have are for a reason, and I know God will work it out. I learned to be patient, and to have faith.

While I might have put God on a shelf, He never put me on one.

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