"Super Bowl Stars & Scripture" with Paul Allen & Jason Romano

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Here's the host of Grief and Gold, the voice of the Minnesota Vikings,
Paul Allen my Man. Jason Romanowith Sports Spectrum did good work last week
at the Las Vegas Super Bowl.The week up to the game, they
parade the players for like zany wackybits and occasional football questions, and Jason

(00:27):
was on the scene as director ofMedia for sports Spectrum dot com, a
Christian centered sports website where Jason alsohosts some really good podcasts with huge names
in sports. What was unique,cool and eye opening for this Christian watching
from afar is how Jason just slidin there and asked scripture and or prayer

(00:52):
related questions to a bevy of SuperBowl starters. To wit, forty nine
Ers quarterback Purdy was surrounded by scribesand here comes Jason. I mean he's
like, you're gonna get questions likerock, how do you guys handle Chris
Jones Brock? Have you ever askednineteen why he goes by Debo and not

(01:15):
ty Sean Raykwan? Then Jason JasonRomano sports Spectrum dot Com rolls in with
this rock. Let me ask youa question about your faith Jesus, how
you doing good. How you're doinggood? Tell me about scripture this year,
some of the Bible verses that you'vebeen reading and passages it's maybe helped
you this year. Yeah, thisyear, for me, it's been Psalm
twenty three. Yeah, Lord's myshepherd. I have what I need.

(01:38):
He lets me lie down to greenpastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
and then it goes on. Butfor me, you know, playing
this game, playing this sport,there's a lot that goes into it,
and you know, you can it'seasy to get wrapped up in you know,
wanting and feeling like wanting to beloved you know, obviously by your
teammates and everybody, but like thewar world, and so for me,

(02:01):
like in that in that passage,it's talking about you know, I already
have what I need from from thegood shepherd in Jesus. So I don't
know. I've just been studying Psalmtwenty three throughout the whole whole season and
been going back to it. That'swhat I start off with. Actually every
single day, I just read offSo twenty three to myself before I start

(02:21):
start off with some solitude and andthen I go about my death. I
talked to your dad a couple ofdays ago. He said, he praise
his guts out what he watches youplay. Yeah. Do you pray when
you're playing during a game? Yeah? Yeah, I do. You know,
And it's not can we know God, can we win here? Can
we do something great here? It'sit's more just to have that that piece,
that steadfastness and all the chaos.That's really what it is. It's

(02:45):
sinking back into like Holy Spirit,you know, take over and lead me
here in this moment and allow meto think clearly, allow me to you
know, obviously go through my readsand like I said, just have a
even killed state of mind that thatI get from the Holy Spirit. Well
done, Brock Psalm twenty three.You say more on that later, Holy
Cow, Well done, buddy.Jason chatted Bible and God and prayer and

(03:07):
purpose with like broadcaster James Brown,Christian McCaffrey and so on, and he
also had a beautiful chat with Championlinebacker Drew Trankwell, tell me about like
I'll share a little bit about yourtestimony and the importance of Christ in your
life. Yeah, I was fortunateto grow up with parents that love the
Lord and shared that and shared thoseviues with me at a young age.

(03:31):
I accepted Christ when I was tenyears old, but I'd say I had
a profound experience and encounter with Grace. My freshman year of college, had
a teammate by the name of camMcDaniel and we did a little Bible study
at his house. But just thefact that there's nothing I can do.

(03:52):
I think as an athlete, youget into the performance mindset of kind of
earning respect, earning, earning people'slove if you will, earning the approval
of others. And I learned thatit's not that way with God. God
loves you regardless of what you cando, what you've done in your past.

(04:13):
And I think that encounter with Graceis was really monumental for my faith.
What was that like coming to theNFL when so much is based on
performance, so much is based onthis, Yeah, and still staying rooted
in Christ. What's tough. You'reunder constant pressure to perform that that performance

(04:34):
identity. It's so anti gospel,it's and it's challenging because you want to
be the best that you can beand you're constantly having to watch tape of
yourself. You're constantly being criticized,you're constantly being praised, and so there
you certainly need to be surrounded bypeople and have solid community to pour into

(04:56):
you. Otherwise that last thing Drewsaid definitely piques the interest and big time.
Let's relive the week in that specialday with my dear friend and brother
in christ, Jason Romano of SportsSpectrum and unfurl the stories right now the
fiend goal elite elite work. Lastweek, My brother, do do do

(05:21):
you attend the Super Bowl for SportsSpectrum yearly? Yes? In fact fall
I have. That was my sixteenthSuper Bowl week last week and my seventh,
I believe with Sports Spectrum. I'vebeen there seven years now and we
found that it just is this incredibleaccess that the NFL allows us to have

(05:43):
with press passes and yeah, sowe've been trying to go every year,
even the year of COVID UH twentytwenty one Super Bowl, I guess we
went down there and uh and itwas just it's just been a really really
really big blessing for the ministry forus. The response you were given by
all of your subjects that I sawat least were dramatically longer than say,

(06:06):
the everyday run of the mill questions. So, did like any crusty negative
scribes give you any guff? Ilove your description. There not a lot,
But I will say when we weretalking to Rock party and we had
to kind of plan it out evento get near him, because you've been

(06:28):
to these scrums, as you callthem, the media scrums, and you
know at the Super Bowl, thequarterbacks are the most in demand players to
talk to. And you know,when we got to Brock, we got
there an hour before he was scheduledto sit down. We were the second
person there. By the time Brocksat down, there were seventy five people
there probably around him, and wefelt really pushed in because we were in

(06:51):
the front. And I asked thefirst question to Brock, like that media
session on Tuesday, I was thefirst question. I just kind of jumped
in and you know, did mything, and I watched as Brock was
answering. I kind of just glancedover and I don't know why, but
you know, there was a coupleof eyeballs on me, like, oh,

(07:13):
why is this guy asking this question. There was one moment when I
was at Super Bowl media night Mondaynight last week, and I was interviewing
a player and kind of you know, we had like three people standing around.
It was Marquez Valdez scantling and wewere standing around him, and I
knew what I wanted to ask him, and we were all just kind of
waiting our turn. So I jumpin and ask the question. And again

(07:33):
I could kind of see like ashaking of the head, like why are
we asking about this? But outsideof that, everybody was very cordial and
very nice and understood that we werethere for a little bit different purpose than
maybe some of them were. Jason, tell us about your sit down with
three time Super Bowl champion corner Devinmccordy. What resonated with you after that

(07:56):
chat. Yeah, I've known Devina couple of years now. I met
him. I met a pro footballChristian conference in twenty nineteen and they had
just won the Super Bowl, theyhad beaten the Rams, and there was
questions about whether Devin was going toeven retire then, and he came on
our podcast and I just asked him, would you be willing to come and
share a little bit about your faith? And he came on, and so

(08:18):
we've been you know, I wouldsay cordial since then. And you know,
had a good relationship. And whenhe was walking around Radio Row,
I don't know if you've ever beento Radio Row, Paul, but you
know that it's just kind of afree for all in some cases with some
of these people. And Devon waswalking by, he saw Sports Spectrum,
he saw me, and he cameover and he gave me a big old
hug and he just said, whateveryou want, Jason, I'll do it

(08:39):
for you. If you're looking tohave me on. I said absolutely.
And what I didn't even realize wasthat he he was calling the game for
Westwood One, I guess the pregame, the halftime, in the postgame,
and his brother was calling the actualgame or a big part of the programming
for CBS. So it kind offell on a lapse to talk to him

(09:01):
based upon a previous friendship and relationship. And I just love how positive he
is. I love how unashamed heis about his faith, both him and
his brother. And you know,I love how honest he was in the
conversation with me about the challenges thathe's kind of thinking about spiritually post football,
because when you're a football player,everything's sort of very regimented and scheduled

(09:24):
for you, including time you know, with chapel services and all that in
your faith. And now he's kindof home with his family and he's on
the road traveling doing NBC work duringthe season and Westwood One and games on
the radio that he's really struggling withtrying to find that quality time with God.
And I love how honest he waswith me about that. And all

(09:45):
of these are available at sports spectrumdot com. Sports Spectrum dot com with
Jason Romano, including as he mentionedearlier, and we played the Mint and
a half to begin Faith and GoalNiners Rags to Riches Quarterback brock Party.
Now, when you casually asked himwhat scripture he was into these days,

(10:05):
he went right to the beauty.That is the full message of Psalm twenty
three. Now it's an oft memorizedand universally revelant psalm found in the Old
Testament and written by King David,who grew up tending sheep as his father
was also a shepherd. Now,in this psalm, David expresses his great

(10:26):
confidence and delight in the constant protectionof a loving God. So Jason verse
two of Psalm twenty three, andPurty went right to this absolutely inspired by
the Holy Spirit, David wrote quotethe Lord makes me lie down in green
pastures, he leads me beside stillwaters end quote. Do you feel David's

(10:52):
message for all time here is thereare times God makes us slow down,
makes us obey, makes us prayand give banks even for the simplest blessings
in life. Then leads us topeace one way or the other, and
in all circumstances. What's the read? Yeah, I would agree with that,

(11:16):
Paul. I think when you thinkabout life and the ups and downs
that come with life, you knowPsalm twenty three, that part you don't
hear too often The Lord is myshepherd. Maybe you do, but quite
often later on you hear, thoughI walk through the valley of the Shadow
of Death, I will fear noevil for you are with me. That's
read mostly at funerals, and youhear those when you know you're sort of

(11:39):
at the lowest end of life,if you will, after a person dies
and you're there grieving and you're listeningto this psalm to trying to encourage you.
But I think it's a psalm forall of us here right now,
whether we're going through difficult times orlike I mean, Brock was Brock had
a pretty good year in twenty twentythree, and yet he's still study studying

(12:03):
Psalm twenty three, which was avery good indicator to me that even though
he's having a really good year andhe's doing a lot of great things on
the field and people are praising himand his team is in the Super Bowl,
like, there's still a need anda reminder that when we connect with
God, that we do have thosepeaceful opportunities when we're with him, because

(12:24):
chaos is going to hit us nomatter what it feels like in today's age,
and whether things are going great likeI said, or things are going
bad. It feels like things arealways chaotic or busy or there's just stuff
going on, and we never havethat moment where we can just breathe and
relax and you know, have thatthat time of solace or even peace within

(12:46):
our hearts. I mean, somuch anxiety going on in the world and
someone's anxiousness and anger. I thinkit's a good reminder, my friend,
to know that, you know,yeah, there's this guy who loves us,
that he's our shepherd, that helets us rest and wants us to
rest and he can lead us intothis area of peace, Oh beautifully laid
out. And next verse four fromPsalm twenty three end quote, you prepare

(13:11):
a table before me in the presenceof my enemies. You anoint my head
with oil. End quote. Godprepares a table before us in the presence
of our enemies. What what doesthat mean? H Yeah, I think
you know. I mean you couldread through scripture especially you know in the

(13:31):
Gospels, Jesus talks about loving ourenemies, and I think it's a moment
where he he understands that there isa true enemy out there right trying to
steal, kill, and destroy us. But yet God is the one who
prepares us for those moments when hecomes, and if we place our faith
in him, He's going to seeus through and that no matter what happens.

(13:52):
I mean, even in those versesbefore, you know, when you're
walking through the valley, he iswith us. And I think that's what
that table is is He's preparing anopportunity for us so that when the bad
things happen, or the enemy startstempting, or the one who wants to
steal, kill and destroy everything,that we're about comes at us. He's

(14:13):
there, and that table is alwaysavailable to go and sit down and and
just commune with God. And weas we as metaphorical sheep, are always
in need of a shepherd, andand God is that shepherd. And you
know, yeah, I'm with you, man. It's like I got this
table here for you in the presenceof your enemies all time, indicating it

(14:33):
may be bad, it may beugly, and it looks like there's no
way out, but I'm with you. I'm with you. Just believe believe
in me that I'm always with you. And then then in verse four next
was you anoint my head with oil? Now I've been taught the Holy Spirit
is identified in the Old Testament throughfire, water, doves, and oil,

(14:54):
now written well before the New Testamentsaw him twenty three in the Psalms
and the Gospel of course of theOne and Only Messiah Jesus Christ. Is
is this an indicator God is sharingthe Holy Spirit very much, three even
three thousand years ago? When whenwhen it's written, when it's written that

(15:18):
you anoint my head with oil?So do you see that as sharing of
the Holy Spirit? Before the HolySpirit was even written about or known.
Yeah, I wish I could bethe theologian here, Paul and give you
the perfect answer with my you know, bachelor's degree in communications that I have,
but I honestly don't know, butI would. I would definitely see

(15:41):
that. Yeah. I wish Ihad my brother here who's a pastor and
a PhD and you know, biblicalstudies to be able to give you a
better answer than I can. Nowthat, I definitely could see that.
I mean, you can see theHoly Spirit really throughout that passage of Psalm
twenty three, you know, andtalking about God being with us. Yeah,
I mean that comes through his HolySpirit. Yeah. And with verse

(16:02):
four, you prepare a table beforeme in the presence of my enemies,
you anoint my head with oil.I mean it's like bad guys are here.
It looks bleak. I'm with you, in fact, so with you.
The Holy Spirit is with you,and don't forget that. Thus the
anointing of the head with oil.At least that's how I see it now.
You know from the Super Bowl runMan, which was impeccable. How

(16:23):
about Chiefs linebacker Drew Tranquill when heopened a vein with you discussing performance identity
and how it is anti gospel.I mean that was powerful about a minute
and change into that thing. Whatdid he mean with that? Yeah,
so I think first of all,the thing that stood out to me even

(16:45):
more than that in the beginning whenI asked him about his testimony, he
said, I had an encounter withgrace. And that word grace. That's
a game show. When I hearsomebody talk about grace when they're talking about
their faith and not just talking aboutGod or you know the big man upstairs,
that tells me something really genuine happen. I know what happened with you,

(17:07):
It's happened with me. And whenhe's talking about this performance, he's
talking about grace because it's anti worldbecause we're so judgmental in the world in
almost every other area on our performance. And what I mean by that is,
you know, sometimes if we're notcareful, even in relationships, it's
about what can you do for me? It becomes transactional. Thus a performance.

(17:30):
When you go to your job,you have to perform at your job.
You have to do good at yourjob, and how are you reviewed
and rated by your performance? It'sactually performed, it's called a performance review,
at least it was during my timeat ESPN. And so when you're
in this world of every day grindingaway and you're being judged by performance,

(17:51):
it's very hard to suddenly shift towhat God's word says and our faith having
nothing to do with our performance.When Jesus says, or I think it's
the apostle Paul says, it's bygrace through faith that we are saved,
not by anything that we can do. Thus no one can boast. I
believe that's Ephesians two. So theidea of performance is such a flesh thing

(18:17):
and a worldly thing, and prettymuch everything that we do, I mean,
the sport, the world of sportsfootball you are, I mean,
right now, forty nine Ers fansare very unhappy because their team didn't quote
perform well enough to win the SuperBowl. And anytime your team loses,
you feel like you let the teamdown. Brock Perdy talked about that after
the game. I let the teamdown. He took accountability there. But

(18:40):
it's about performance, and so Drewwas really I think, I don't know.
I was just impressed by the waythat he responded through that and talked
about that push pull of Christ inus. Nothing we can do to boast
about it, and yet the worldis all about what can you do for
me? Well, that's just beautiful, man, And that's pretty much exactly

(19:04):
what Drew shared. Now. Ona sad note, though, man,
how about the shooting near the ChiefsVictory Parade. I mean, you talk
about sheer, devil guided evil,one dad, a bunch of kids wounded.
Jason, What a sad, sadstory? Yeah, I mean there's
really not a whole who else tosay other than it was just brutal to

(19:26):
see it was sad. You know, I look at it from so many
different perspectives. I don't immediately defaultto, you know, politics or anything.
I just think about I just thinkabout how sad that is and why
this has to happen. Yeah,especially seeing little kids. You know that
for that to happen to little kids. I mean I live in Connecticut and

(19:48):
Sandy Hook and the school shootings happenedhere over a decade ago, and that's
still is something that's very prominent amongthe hearts of everybody here in Connecticut.
And so to see that yesterday,when you know a million people are converging
together to celebrate and Yeah, itjust sucks and I wish, I wish
it wouldn't happen. And there's alot of different ways I think to think

(20:11):
about this. And you know,obviously we need the Lord now I think
the hearts of those evil people.I just wish that so many people could
experience the joy and the peace that'sfound in Christ. And I believe he
is truly still the answer. That'snot a popular thing to say. You
know, a lot of people don'tlike thoughts and prayers that I get it,
Like we want legislation, we wantthings to stop and people to stop

(20:34):
having these these things happen to them. But I truly believe and Jesus says
that He's the Way, the truth, and the life. I believe that
He's our only hope. And Ijust pray that moments like this, somehow,
some way can help people run tothe Father and run to Christ,
and because I believe he really trulyis our only hope. But I'm sick

(20:56):
and tired of it. Man.I was sitting here with my wife last
night on our bed before we fellasleep, and I just said, how
do we stop this? Like howcan this stop? Like where's the state
where can we go now where wecan truly say this isn't going to happen,
because it's happened everywhere and it's aI don't know, man. I'm
not scared because I trust God andI believe in his plan, but I'm

(21:19):
not not too happy about it.I mean, that could easily be yours
or my kid. And when weput ourselves into, you know, insert
ourselves into these situations, I thinkit becomes personal. And that's where I
just wish. I just wish somethingcould be done, and I'm not quite
sure what it is. Amen onall that, And you've covered sports,
whether it's Sports Spectrum, Sports Spectrumdot Com or ESPN for what a couple

(21:41):
of decades right around there, Soyou know when I ask you this,
it could could this be the lastvictory parade in the history of sports.
And I don't mean to be adoom sayer, but they would be much
more controlled in like a stadium orsomething. But then you look at it
as like, are you letting thebad guys win? I mean it's you
talk about push and pull. It'sa tug war right there. Yeah,

(22:04):
that's a great question. I guessI hadn't thought about that, but well,
I'll answer it this way. Ihope it's not. I hope there's
more victory parades. But I canunderstand if somebody said, you know what,
we're just gonna go celebrate in ourstadium and sixty thousand people need to
sign up and come in and gothrough security, just like a sporting event,
and then they can celebrate that way. Maybe maybe you know, the

(22:26):
days of going through you know,just open air public whatever, and having
people come and go as they please. I don't know. Maybe that's maybe
those days are gone. But Ihope not, Like you said, I
hope that we don't live in fearand run from things like this, and
we just I mean don't know.I mean they had I read they had
seven hundred policemen there or something likethat. Might have even been more.

(22:48):
Yeah, and that's a lot ofpeople like but maybe you have seven thousand
policemen. I don't even know ifthat's possible. But what that had stopped
what happened, I don't know,So I don't Maybe maybe that's where we're
at now. I hope not.Though now my brother, lastly, why
is organically sharing that heartfelt faith andbelief in Jesus Christ being truly the only

(23:11):
way to heaven so important to you. Well, it's changed my life.
I think of one Peter three pointfifteen, and Peter talks about for all
of us to always be prepared togive a reason for the hope that's within
us. To do it with gentlenessand do it with respect, but to
be prepared, and preparation is important, but it's the hope that's within us.

(23:36):
And so what I'm sharing with people, I mean, I believe there's
an urgency that's needed because we justdon't know when our time is up.
And I believe there's a holy Fatherthat loves us and we'll wash our feet
and all those things. But Ialso believe there's a just God who does
not want to see his people perish. But those who are separated from God,

(23:56):
you know, that's pretty clear wherethey're going, and the Bible is
very clear that they're There is twoplaces that happens upon judgment, eternally separated
with God or eternally kept with Godand separated from God, I should say,
and eternally kept with God. SoI want to share the good news
because I know what it's done inmy life for me. I don't ever

(24:17):
want to force it on anybody.And I had some really good conversations last
week in Vegas about that, notabout telling people what they have to believe,
but telling people about the truth ofthe Gospel, but what it's done
for me in my life, Likeit's given me hope and purpose and peace
and joy and love and perspective onlife and empathy. That's just that wasn't

(24:37):
there before Christ. So that's whyit's important to me. It's I want
I want people to see what Ihave and I want them to have it
too, beautiful testimony And as aas a tentacle to that question, Oh,
okay, you have sports spectrum andlike I do this podcast, faith
and Goal. God graciously gave usthose avenues to share what matters more to

(25:00):
us in life. What what doyou say to those wondering how to properly
share their Christian non works works basedbeliefs and not be intimidated in the moment.
Hmm, yeah, that's I mean, that's I think the number one
struggle for all people of faith ishow do I share my faith with others

(25:23):
without fear of rejection or or youknow, being you know, ostracized or
whatever, and Jesus warns it that. He says, listen, there's gonna
be people that hate me, andthey're gonna hate you because you hated me.
But I have the good news andhe wants us to go and make
disciples and share that good news withothers. And I think it's just a

(25:45):
confidence. You know, I wastelling somebody about this last week. I
lead our young adults program at ourchurch, and I was just speaking on
this a few weeks ago about justsharing your faith? What does that look
like? And you know, itwas the how and the why why is
clear because Jesus caused us to Thehow, though, is the hard part
that we all struggle with. Andthe how part of sharing our faith I

(26:07):
think comes down to do you knowwhat you believe? And can you share
it clearly with others? Is what'shappened in your life? You know,
just me telling you, hey,I believe in God and Jesus is the
way. That's wonderful. Post thaton a social media post or whatever.
But what has He actually done toyou? And do you know what you
believe so you can clearly share that. That's why apologetics is so important.

(26:30):
It's really simply just knowing what youbelieve and being able to share that with
others. You know, if you'regoing to talk about football, it's great
to say, just watch the footballgame, but if they're going to trust
you that you actually were a footballplayer and no football, well you need
to kind of explain some of thethings that they're watching and know what you
know. And that goes down toanything in life. You know, we

(26:51):
need to know what we're talking about. And with our faith, I think
it's utterly important that we know whatwe truly believe. You know that by
grace through faith Ephesians two, thatright there is the model of what it
means to be a follower of Christ. But we should know what we believe,
and then I think it's important totry and clearly convey that as much
as possible, not only to giveyour testimony and letting people know what God

(27:15):
had done in your life, butto be able to say, hey,
this is what it says. Nowit's up to you if you want to
accept it and believe it, butthis is what it says. Love you
very much, my brother, Thanksfor the time and to see you.
April twentieth at Grace Church up herein Eden Prairie for a rise with the
guys. Thank you, buddy,love you too. I can't wait to

(27:36):
see you in person. That isJason Romano on Faith and Goal and May
God bless Jason the rest of hisdays with courage and vulnerability and a desire
to use his powerful platform to popularizeand define the beautiful, redeeming, forgiving,

(27:57):
sacrificial life story of Jesus Christ.Jason Romano for me and many put
the super in super bawl and youcan watch it at sports Spectrum dot com.
May God bless all of you andyour families with peace and a desire
to learn more about God's story andthe wonderment that goes into the unpacking of

(28:21):
the stories and the story of themost beautiful and popular book written in the
history of mankind, the Holy Bible. Eric Nordquist produces Faith in Gold and
I'm Paul Allen. Thank you verymuch for listening to Faith and Goal.
And remember, we aren't saved becausewe are righteous. We are righteous because

(28:42):
we are saved.