Shaun Alexander: Being a Man of God
CBN.com On the surface, Shaun Alexander’s autobiographical book release might seem like the typical cool and calculated marketing move any other star athlete in his shoes would have made. After all, the guy is the National Football League’s reigning MVP and he did just lead the Seattle Seahawks to the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.
Forget the fact that last season he also tied the NFL record for rushing touchdowns. His 27 scores matched Kansas City tailback Priest Holmes’ 2003 performance.
So it all makes sense except for one small detail: Alexander originally planned to write his story two years ago. While one might think his decision to wait was a stroke of good luck, the native Kentuckian says it has more to do with a deeply-rooted personal philosophy.
“I just try to wait for God’s timing,” Alexander says. “I keep things real simple. God’s good though. His timing is flawless.”
The release of Touchdown Alexander (Harvest House)—written with Cecil Murphey—couldn’t have come a better time. Despite his team’s disappointing 21-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Alexander’s popularity is higher than ever. Within the book’s pages, football fans can expect a wealth of great behind-the-scenes stories from his high school, college, and professional playing careers.
Those stories certainly do appear in bulk, but there are just as many details of the people and events that shaped Alexander’s life long before he made the number 37 famous.
One of those people is his mother Carol who Alexander describes in great deal throughout the early chapters. When his parents divorced while he was in the sixth grade, she was the one who took on the burdensome responsibility of raising five young boys.
“I just think about her character and how strong she was and always wanting to help people,” Alexander reminisces. “We had an anointed woman of God teach us how to be great men. Even still today, cousins and friends go back to our house hanging out with my mom because she always brought that light. She always brought that authentic unwavering love that can only come from God.”
In his book, Alexander also gets into some of the challenges he faced as a teenager including all of the predictable issues that young people deal with today. While he rarely got into trouble, he openly shares how he personally managed to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol and drug use, premarital sex, and rebellion.
Alexander, who played his collegiate ball at the University of Alabama, describes himself as a “blunt person.” He believes that his upfront and honest approach speaks to the current youth culture.
“I just think that in today’s society, the young people need some really true, authentic, direct love,” Alexander says. “If a person’s missing something and they can get the answer, they would want it straight. If it’s red, give it to me that it’s red. Because then they can make a true choice. But nowadays, it seems like everybody tells them, ‘It could be brown or green or yellow or red.’ You give them the total truth just wrapped in love.”
As an NFL superstar, Alexander’s platform has grown significantly. But that increased positive attention has been joined by a certain measure of scrutiny as well. For example, during the 2004 season, Alexander finished one yard shy of the NFL rushing title and could have easily reached the mark had he received one last attempt late in the final game against Atlanta.
Afterwards, a reporter badgered him with questions and ultimately misled Alexander to believe that head coach Mike Holmgren purposely denied him the opportunity. That led to the now infamous “I guess he stabbed me in the back,” comment that, according to Alexander, was severely blown out of proportion.
“For me, that’s just a slang term,” Alexander says. “It’s not a malicious statement. But I learned that if it could be malicious to you, then it’s wrong. I think that’s a valuable lesson to learn. Sometimes you don’t think it’s wrong because you didn’t do anything that looks wrong in your tradition or your core beliefs. But, if it could be wrong to somebody else, then it is wrong. That’s a great lesson to learn.”
Not only has Alexander learned how to choose his words more wisely with the media, he has been taught some hard lessons about how money can severely distort people’s perception about professional athletes—especially those that espouse Christian values. Alexander took his time before signing an eight-year contract extension in March of 2006. That $62 million contract made him the highest paid running back in the NFL.
And while some criticized his laborious handling of the contract negotiations, Alexander says it was all about waiting on God. In the end, he received more than he was expecting. As a firm believer that “Christians can’t be greedy,” Alexander has big plans to use that money to help others.
“People need to understand that God plans even for the financial things,” he says. “We’re small-changing God. He’ll take care of everything. It’s the whole nine yards. He’ll give you the big contract if it is designed for you to have the big contract. So you just wait on it. He’ll give you the house of your dreams if it’s His will for you to have the house of your dreams. Get focused on going after God and then watch God go to work.”
As Alexander continues to reap the benefits of his career-best effort, he makes sure to keep the fame, the accolades and the financial windfall in perspective. He does so by remaining faithfully thankful to his ultimate source of success.
“It’s always good (to be named MVP),” Alexander says. “But it’s a dangerous thing because anytime people start calling you valuable and it’s not wrapped around Jesus Christ, it’s very easy to fall in that trap of thinking, ‘Now I’m something’ or, ‘Now I’m somebody.’ It’s honorable. I wouldn’t mind being called MVP again next year. But at the same time it really humbles me to say, ‘Okay God, I want to make sure that I’m Your MVP first.’”
Alexander was also humbled by his team’s lackluster performance in Super Bowl XL. Several months after the runner-up finish to Pittsburgh, he still maintains a certain level of frustration from being so close to the prize yet falling short.
“I honestly believe that we blew it,” Alexander says. “I think that a good team can get to the Super Bowl. I think that great teams win the Super Bowl regardless of what happens around them. We didn’t make enough plays. The referees probably didn’t have their best day. The coaches probably didn’t have their best day. And we had some players that didn’t have their best day. All of those things mean you blew it and that’s what we did.”
But in the life’s bigger picture, Alexander isn’t really that concerned about winning or losing. He’s most passionate about being the husband to wife Valerie and father of two daughters, Heaven and Trinity.
Beyond that, he is a father figure to countless teens and young adults through the Shaun Alexander Foundation which “empowers young men through education, athletics, character programs and leadership training.” Future plans include the expansion of these goals through burgeoning mentoring program aptly named Club 37.
It’s his way of combating what he calls “the Great Curse” or “the Fatherless Plague.”
“I don’t have to change the world but it’s a powerful thing when I speak into somebody else’s life,” Alexander says. “I think that’s one of my callings. We have the future running through this program. We have future Presidents. We have future men of integrity, future vice presidents and presidents of companies and future football stars. They are the next mentors of the world. That’s the heartbeat (of Club 37). We’re raising young men up to do this now.”
Alexander may be known as a great football player, but he’s much more interested in letting people who he is as a man—more specifically, who he is as a Christian man. If you don’t catch that theme in his book, then you probably didn’t read it. And through his words and his example, Alexander hopes he can shake up some people’s perceptions of what a Christian man is all about.
“Somewhere in the world’s mind, a Christian has to be weak,” Alexander says. “They can’t go out and win the game and they have to be poor. They’ve got to barely make it. And I just don’t believe it. I believe that God’s children are the kings. They stand up. They’re dominant. They’re the ones that have the money to help the poor that are needy. They’re the ones that will be victorious.”
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