Soccer Star Eddie Pope: "Life is Too Short to Live Without God...." (GLM #180)

He is a retired American soccer player. He last played for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Although he spent eleven years as a defender for the United States national team, he spent most of his career playing for D.C. United. In 2011, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. In 1998, he helped United win both the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Champions Cup and the InterAmerican Cup. In 1997, he was named the MLS Defender of the Year. 

He said of his faith, "I grew up going to church every Sunday with my family. Although church was meaningful to me, it soon became more of a routine than a heartfelt faith. That began to change during my freshman year at the University of North Carolina. I was playing both soccer and football. It was a grueling time because I had two practices a day for each sport I was playing. It wasn’t long before I was exhausted. Then a teammate gave me a card that contained some Psalms from the Bible. They made a lot of sense to me. They also provided me with the peace and strength I needed to get through each day."

He went on to say, "I came to realize that God is a 'personal' God. His Word can be applied in every situation. I also realized it was time to quit going through the motions, to stop treating my relationship with God as a routine and to start making it the foundation of my life. So, in a strange way, soccer has forced me to develop a relationship with God. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. With all the traveling and being away from family, having God as part of my daily routine is essential—even though He is anything but routine. Life is too short to live without God. He is a necessity."

His name is Eddie Pope.