In what many are calling the most exciting Super Bowl game ever played, Tom Brady ended the debate over who is the greatest quarterback of all time. He is the only quarterback to win five Super Bowl games, and it’s a record that may last decades. At one point the Patriots were down 25 points, and I found myself congratulating a pastor friend who lived in Georgia on a great victory. But, as one commentator put it, “Tom Brady saved his most ruthless performance for the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl.” The unlikely, and terribly suspenseful, comeback sent the game into the first overtime period in Super Bowl history before the Patriots forced their way into the end zone to win it in overtime.
As I sat there in amazement, watching the celebration, I turned to my wife and said, “Isn’t this the guy that 10 years ago said…” After searching online, I found the sobering interview with Tom Brady I was looking for.
In June 2005, 60-Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft spoke with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady about his success on and off the field. What he said about being satisfied in life surprised everyone.
BRADY: …There’s times where I’m not the person that I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is.” I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think: God, it’s gotta be more than this. I mean this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be. I mean I’ve done it. I’m 27. And what else is there for me?
KROFT: What’s the answer?
BRADY: I wish I knew. I wish I knew…
Watch the clip starting around the 55-second marker:
After watching what was the best game I’ve ever seen, I went over to the auditorium at Calvary Chapel Bible College for our first Sunday Night Chapel. As I sat there in worship, we sang the song Crowns written by Hillsong. As I listened to the song, and personally found great joy and peace in the Lord, I found myself praying for Tom Brady. As you read the lyrics, you may see why. The chorus goes like this:
My wealth is in the cross
There’s nothing more I want
Than just to know His love
My heart is set on Christ
And I will count all else as loss
The greatest of my crowns
Mean nothing to me now
For I counted up the cost
And all my wealth is in the cross
Until these words ring true in the heart of every person, they will find themselves saying, “There’s gotta be more than this.” What people experience after they come down from amazing highs in life was described by Solomon thousands of years ago when he wrote, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).
Take a moment and pray for Tom Brady, and every person you love who cannot agree with the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8).
I’m not trying to rain on the Patriot’s parade (which will be on Tuesday). They provided me with one of the most exciting sporting moments I’ve ever watched, for which I was and am grateful. But as I stood after worship last night to preach from 1 Corinthians 1:23, it was a good moment to remind the students that, while we witnessed sports history tonight, the single climactic event that changed the course of human history was the crucifixion and the resurrection. Until we live our lives “in light of the cross,” our semester theme, we will not find the purpose, satisfaction and peace that we are searching for.
With that said, this New York Jets fan wants to say, “Go Patriots!” and, “You’ll get em next time Falcons!”
