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Growing up, if I hadn't had sports, I don't know where I'd be. God only knows what street corners I'd have been standing on and God only knows what I'd have been doing, but instead I played hockey and went to school and stayed out of trouble.

I am convinced that God wanted me to be a baseball player.

I've always believed since I was a kid that God was gonna allow me to play professional football, to use it as a platform to proclaim and live out the name of Jesus. And, you know, that's the most exciting part about my life because God has done things in me to change my character to benefit the kingdom.

I really feel like that concept of enjoying the now and not worrying about the future is what my coach has been trying to teach me for 14 years - and that is what has made me such a different athlete 10 years later, and that is what has made me strong enough mentally to make this Olympic team.

I used to pray that God would make me a great athlete, and He never did.

At the end of the day, everything is God's plan, and he cares about what we do. He cares about our hearts, how we play the game, and how we treat people. He's definitely involved with how we handle sports and not just the outcome of it. I'm proud when athletes mention God in any way.

Even now I want to keep my amateur spirit, to spend my time, to be in the sport with all my heart.

It's been one of those things where anybody that's played a sport at the professional level, there's always a lot of challenges. And the one thing that's always been a constant for me is Jesus Christ and my faith - and just knowing that my walk with Christ is steadily going up.

When I got injured, I think I was starting to sense that there was more to the world than just sports. This dream of playing professional soccer probably wasn't the best track for me.

When I was younger, I thought maybe one day I'd be involved in sport in terms of career.