First Things First

What a blessing to see Kurt Warner back in the Super Bowl this year, this time with the Arizona Cardinals. For Warner, playing in the NFL was always a dream, but the route that he took was certainly not a “traditional” one. He was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Northern Iowa in 1994. He was cut by the Green Bay Packers in training camp, spent 3 years with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and then spent 2 years with NFL Europe’s Amsterdam team. Upon finally arriving in the NFL in 1998, the route continued to have many ups and downs. He was the fourth-string quarterback with the St. Louis Rams early in 1998, but then was elevated to backup because of injuries. When Trent Green went down, Warner began the magical run that led to the Super Bowl. Many of you may recall Warner’s first appearance in the Super Bowl in the 1999-2000 season. The “Greatest Show on Turf” defeated the Tennessee Titans and Warner was named MVP. Two years later he was the regular season MVP and had the Rams back in the Super Bowl. This time they lost to the New England Patriots on Vinatieri’s last-second field goal. Since then, Warner has bounced around to a couple different teams and been benched four times. First, he was benched in St. Louis (in favor of Marc Bulger), then with the New York Giants (in favor of Eli Manning) and then twice since coming to the Cardinals in 2005 (in favor of Matt Leinart). In spite of all the ups and downs he has certainly kept things in perspective and lives his life by the Matthew 6:33 principle, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”.

Matthew 6:33 is the theme verse for Kurt Warner’s foundation called, “First Things First”. Warner has spoken freely of his faith in Jesus Christ and always carries a Bible with him to every post-game press conference. In 2001, he and his wife Brenda established the “First Things First” foundation to promote Christian values. You can read more about this foundation at www.kurtwarner.org. You can be pretty certain that Warner will keep things in perspective as he prepares for another Super Bowl. Don’t be surprised if, in the next two weeks, he is more outspoken about his faith in Jesus Christ than about the Pittsburgh Steeler’s defense.