At that time the college draft selections were published in the newspaper. I remember getting up one Sunday morning and looking down the list to see whom I recognized. Several of my teammates had been drafted, one by Green Bay and another by somebody else. I was like, "Wow, this is so great."

I got down to the 14th round under the Houston Oilers, and there was my name. I couldn't believe it. I started celebrating. My wife came running in, and I said, "I've been drafted by the Oilers." I went off to the Oilers, and then got traded in the expansion draft to the Miami Dolphins. It wasn't such a good deal in those early days to be a Miami Dolphin. I can recall when we got a standing ovation for two first downs in a row.

I work now with an organization called Pro Athletes Outreach. We do leadership-training conferences for professional athletes. Folks don't understand a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in pro sports. For example, most don't realize that the average career is 3.2 years. It's very short. You hear about people like Dan Marino who played for 17 years, but most don't. I was fortunate enough to play for 14 years.

About seven years into my career, it dawned on me that I couldn't do this forever. I decided that I'd better get ready for the day when I couldn't play ball anymore. So while in Miami, I got my real estate license. It was about 1974 when there were partially completed, deserted buildings all over the place. And I went, "Hmm. This isn't going to work too good."

I went back to school and got my land sales license. Now, you'd think even an offensive lineman could figure out if buildings weren't selling, land wasn't going to be doing too well either. But I missed that somehow. I decided that I needed something with stability. So I went back to school again and got my insurance license. I had more licenses than I knew what to do with.

A lot of what we do is to prepare for tomorrow. I decided it might be really helpful if I could check out some of the winners that I knew and see what they did. I started observing some of the winners that I knew, people like Jim Easly, Benny Leprad or Don Shula.

These men were coaches that I had had, and as I reflect on it, every one of them had a positive impact on my life. But Don Shula, in particular, is a remarkable character. He is winningest coach in the history of the National Football League, over 320 victories. He had two losing seasons out of about 34 or 35 years in the NFL.

I began to study him in particular. I thought, "If I could watch this guy and figure out what it is he gets across to his teams and apply it to my own life, maybe it would help me win."

He set records in the NFL winning by running his team and throwing the ball. That's dynamic leadership. So, I tried to figure out, "What is it that he gets across year after year to his teams?" The key ingredient in succeeding that I learned from Don Shula is desire. I'm talking about the stuff that reaches down and takes hold in your life. If I'm committed to the right things, it makes a difference inside.

When I got shipped off to Seattle, we had a guy who was an example of commitment. Al Hunter was not a big guy. Actually, the only big thing about him was his feet. He had size thirteen feet. They called him hot feet. This guy could run. Al Hunter had an incredible positive attitude based on commitment.

If you're really sold out to something, no matter what, you just keep going for it. That's the way Al Hunter was. I'll never forget the time the lowly Seahawks had to play the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers when they were winning the Super Bowl about every other year. They were intimidating guys.

We discovered that they liked to take their middle line backer, a guy named Jack Lambert and key him on the quick back. That just means that anywhere Al Hunter went, Jack Lambert would mirror him. And it was Lambert's job when Hunter crossed the line of scrimmage to nail him. So, we designed a play to isolate Lambert. To make sure the play worked, we decided to pull our right guard. Any time a lineman pulls out like that, it leaves a hole in the line that somebody has to fill. Usually, another lineman does that. But on this play, it became Al Hunter's job to block the left tackle of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mean Joe Green.

Mean Joe Green was 6'6" and 286 pounds. Al Hunter was 5'10" at 165 pounds. Hunter goes running up in there to carry out his assignment. He hits Joe Green and bounces off. Joe didn't even know anybody tried to block him. We look around. There's Al Hunter, out like a light. We picked him up, carried him to the sideline, and lay him on a bench. The minute he woke up, he ran over to our head coach. He said, "Hey, coach, that play don't work too good."

Our coach understood commitment too. He realized that little things make a big difference. That's true in sports. He said, "Hunter, if you'll lower your block, that play will work."

If you're really committed, you'll be resilient. Though sometimes in life, you get flattened. And if you just lay there, life will pass you by. Or the game will.

But there's Hunter ready to go again. There's nothing in the world that makes good defensive tackles any more upset than for some skinny little running back to knock them down in front of 80,000 people. Hunter went running in there and cut the legs out from under Joe Green. And down Joe went. Joe looked around to see who blocked him. There was Hunter out cold again. Commitment. It's an important ingredient in succeeding.

When I got traded from the Houston Oilers to the Miami Dolphins, a remarkable thing happened to me. My wife and I came early for a little Florida vacation. One night, we were looking for the late movie on television. We were flipping the selector back and forth when we came to a local talk show. They were interviewing a man who was speaking locally. The next night, my wife and I got in our car and went to go hear him talk.

He talked about stuff I already knew. He said," Norm, God loves you." I've known that all my life. It's what I learned as a little kid. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have eternal life, John 3:16."

But what I began to learn that night was that God so loved Norm Evans that He gave His only Son. God, the Creator of the universe who spoke countless galaxies into perfect precision throughout the entire universe, that Creator knew my name and knew my needs. And not only does He know my name and know my needs, but He loves me just like I am. No strings attached. He just says, "I love you."

The fellow said, "Norm, the Creator of the universe who not only knows your name, knows your needs and loves you just like you are, wants to have a vital, living, personal relationship with you." This creator of the universe, His name is Jesus, wanted to have this relationship with me.

I remember thinking when I got that scholarship to TCU, that when I got that degree, I'd have it made. I believe in education. But if you take education and try to fill the God void in your life, there's still going to be that emptiness. I got my degree before I went to training camp for the pros. If I made it in the NFL, I'd have the world by the tail. I'd have it made for sure. And I made it.

If you try to take your career and fill the God void in your life, you're still going to have emptiness. When I signed that contract for $10,000 with the Houston Oilers, and got a $1,000 bonus, I thought I was rich.

We went down and bought a brand new Chevy Supersport. I remember driving home, going down the street looking at myself in the store windows. New apartment, nice clothes, but things never filled the God void in my life. Relationships. Lovely wife. People cannot fill a God void in your life. That night, this guy said, "God wants to have a relationship with you." I had tried everything else. Here I was a pro athlete. I had reached my goals, but I still felt like there's got to be more to life than this.

That night I said a very simple prayer. It went something like this. "God, these people say that I can have a relationship with You. And here I thought I had been committed to You all my life. God, I don't understand why You would love me so much You would commit Your Son to a cross for me. And I want to receive Him. And I thank You for loving me that much." It was simple. There wasn't any big flash. What I felt was relief.

I left with a sense of, now I don't have to try to pull this off on my own. That began something that's been so remarkable that it's alive and flourishing, and even more alive today than it was back in 1966. The man said, "There's some things you really ought to do to make it flourish. First of all, you ought to talk to God." I said, "I know about that. That's prayer." So, I started talking to God. He said, "Secondly, you need to be involved in a fellowship where others talking about God."

He said the third thing you need to do is tell others about your faith. I said, "Hold it. You want me to go into the NFL locker room and talk about Jesus? I hear His name there a lot, but never in a very positive light." He said, "Relax. Talk to your family." I said, "No, not the family. Let me go back to the locker room. I'd much rather go to the locker room than my family." He said, "Do you have a pet?" I said, "Yeah, we've got a little dachshund, Stubby." He said, "Talk to your pet."

So, I started talking to Stubby. He never called me a religious freak or anything like that. He just kind of liked the attention. Then the man said, "There's a fourth thing you ought to do, read the manufacturer's manual."

He said, "In football, don't you have a play book?" I said, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, we do." If you didn't learn the book, no job. You're out of there. If you lost the book, you had to pay the fine.

What has to happen to receive an inheritance? Somebody dies. Jesus died to make this book, the Bible, a living reality. You know what I did? I began reading it. I was amazed at what I discovered in it. The first thing I discovered was that I could know for sure I was forgiven.

As a biology major, one of my favorite characters was the hermit crab. Hermits take somebody else's shell or whatever, and pile all the garbage on their back. And that's their house. I was like a hermit crab in the bottom of the ocean; with all this garbage that I knew I'd done that wasn't good. I dragged it around with me. Then I discovered in the Bible that God would forgive me.

I walked out of there that night knowing for certain, based on what God has said and what Jesus has done, that I was forgiven. According to 1 John 1:9, we can count on God's forgiveness and cleansing. What I discovered was the pardon of God. I read a little bit further. And I discovered the peace of God.

In the NFL, life can be rather stressful. I'm from Texas. But I'm playing for Seattle. And I'm a blocker. It was my job to block Too Tall Jones when we played the Cowboys. I'd rather beat Dallas than anything. We, the lowly Seahawks, were ahead of the Dallas Cowboys by one touchdown. We were driving for another. I was blocking Too Tall. Then it happened. I felt it. Somebody landed on my knee, and it snapped. I tried to stay in the game. But I couldn't. I had to go to the sidelines.

I tried to look at the scoreboard. I couldn't see it. My eyes were half full of tears. I was terrified. Thirty-four year old tackles don't get well from knee surgery. And then, I remembered what Jesus said in John 14:27, "I give unto you not as the world gives. My peace isn't fragile. So, don't worry. Don't be afraid."

I remember saying, "God, I've never been more afraid in my life. And I'm worried sick. And if I ever needed your peace, I need it right now." And sitting alone in the middle of the King Dome with 65,000 people, I experienced the supernatural peace of God.

Jesus said, "Peace I give unto you not as the world gives." So, I experienced a supernatural peace from God. And I've had that happen over and over again. I know I have the right to peace because it's my inheritance. By the way, I had to go clear to Oregon to find a doctor that finally said no surgery on the knee. Four weeks later, I was playing again. Nobody could believe it.

Not only have I experienced the peace of God, but also the healing of God. I've experienced His pardon. But what got my attention was His passion. For God so loved Norm Evans that He gave His only son. I haven't gotten over that in thirty plus years. I'm still learning more about how much God loves me.

Our son was a great athlete, far better than I ever was. When he was in high school, USA Today said he was one of the top one hundred high school athletes in the United States. He was a defensive lineman and a receiver. Those two just don't mix. And he was the leading receiver and the leading tackler on the team. But he had never caught a touchdown pass. So, the head coach put in a little play so he could get a touchdown his senior year.

And I was the line coach. Ron, our son, runs into the end zone, puts his hands up. They lob him the ball. He catches it. Touchdown. I was more excited than when we won that second Super Bowl in Miami. When he came bounding off the field, he scooped me up, shook me, and threw me down. He walked off and left me lying there. All of a sudden, I'm watching this great big guy walk away from me. And it grips me how much I love my son. I couldn't sacrifice my son for anybody. But God gave His Son for me.

Ron went to college at the University of California in Los Angeles. During his junior year, Ron won the starting defensive tackle job. He was flying high. A day before that first game, I got a call. He said, "Dad, I blew my knee again." I said, "I'll be there as quick as I can." I jumped on a plane and flew down. I walked into the room. And there's this great big strong little boy.

He said, "Dad, my dream is dead." From the time he was a little boy, every Saturday during the season, he'd go with me to practice. He'd run up and down the sidelines and play with the other kids. And he dreamed of some day playing in the NFL. He knew that since this was the third reconstruction on that left knee, he'd never play again. With all my heart, I wanted to take his place. I said, "God, why couldn't it have been me?" The Bible says that God sent His Son to take my place.

We all have choices to make. I believe receiving Jesus was the most important one I ever made. I thank God for the night when somebody gave me the opportunity to say, "Now I want to receive Jesus."

The Bible says sin, going our own way, separates us from God. I knew I was separated. But God took the load and forgave me. But that night in Florida, thank God, I received him. That's been by far the most important thing that ever happened to me, more important than any Super Bowl or anything else.