Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans: Texas A&M Aggies combines the great passion of the Aggie fan with the great passion of the fan of Christ into one set of devotions, one book that is fun while providing a time of reflection about God and your faith.
* The Aggie women celebrated their basketball national title with a gourmet meal — at Steak 'n Shake.
* What A&M did in the last half of a football game once made 'Ripley's Believe It or Not.'
* On one occasion, A&M prepared for a game against the University of Kentucky — and somebody else showed up.
* Trotting to his position, an Aggie infielder discovered his glove fingers were stuffed with wieners.
* The Aggies once had a football player who was homeless.
These stories and more are recounted here. Also appearing are John David Crow, Danielle Adams, Mike Sherman, the Twelfth Man, Shawn Andaya, and many others. Their stories - along with legendary games, improbable victories, and historical events - are told with a twist: They are all tied to God's story.
SAMPLE DEVOTION
THE CHALLENGE
Read Matthew 4:12-25.
"Come, follow me," Jesus said (v. 19).
Aggie head coach Mike Sherman challenged his players' manhood, and the result left the opposing coach talking about his players' "fat little girlfriends."
The Aggies appeared to be little more than cannon fodder when they showed up in Lubbock for the Oct. 24, 2009, game against the 21st-ranked Red Raiders of Texas Tech. Two weeks before, Tech had blasted Kansas State 66-14. A week later, State had embarrassed the Aggies 62-14 to drop them to 4-3 for the season. The line for the game had Tech favored by three touchdowns.
Sherman figured that for his players the Texas Tech game was about something much more visceral than proving they were good football players; they had to prove they were men. So the head man challenged them during the week to go out and prove what they really were made of. Sherman especially targeted his offensive linemen. "I really challenged those linemen," he said. "I was on them in practice and really backed them into a corner."
Their abilities and their manhood challenged, the Aggies, in the words of their proud coach, "came out swinging" against the Red Raiders. They stomped Texas Tech 52-30, the first A&M win in Lubbock in sixteen years.
And they played tough. On one play, tight end Jamie McCoy snagged a pass across the middle and was blasted by the Raider defender. Both crumpled to the turf until a Texas Tech player came over and taunted McCoy. "I had to get up," McCoy said. He did, leaving the Tech player alone and down.
After the game, Tech coach Mike Leach said his players spent the whole week "strutt[ing] around and laugh[ing] and listen[ing] to their fat little girlfriends" tell them how good they were.
Like the A&M athletic teams every time they take the field or the court, we are challenged daily. Life is a testing ground; God intentionally set it up that way. If we are to grow in character, confidence, and perseverance, and if we are to make a difference in the world, we must meet challenges head-on. Few things in life are as boring and as destructive to our sense of self-worth as a job that doesn't offer any challenges.
Our faith life is the same way. The moment we answered Jesus' call to "Come, follow me," we took on the most difficult challenge we will ever face. We are called to be holy by walking in Jesus' footsteps in a world that seeks to render our Lord irrelevant and his influence negligible. The challenge Jesus places before us is to put our faith and our trust in him and not in ourselves or the transitory values of the secular world.
Daily walking in Jesus' footsteps is a challenge, but the path takes us all the way right up to the gates of Heaven - and then right on through.
Sports challenge you and build character for everything you do in life.
— Howie Long
To accept Jesus as Lord is to joyfully take on the challenge of living a holy life in an unholy world.
Overview
Daily Devotions for Die-Hard Fans: Texas A&M Aggies combines the great passion of the Aggie fan with the great passion of the fan of Christ into one set of devotions, one book that is fun while providing a time of reflection about God and your faith.
* The Aggie women celebrated their basketball national title with a gourmet meal — at Steak 'n Shake.
* What A&M did ...