Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is breaking records, leading him to a potential MVP award. Jackson has led the team with a 12-2 record and a whopping 40 touchdowns. He also leads in rushing yards with 1,103 and is the only player in NFL history to accumulate at least 2,500 passing yards in a single season. He’s the youngest player to be selected as Offensive Player of the Week four times in one season in 2019, and is the youngest player with five touchdown passes in multiple games.
Whoa!
Pretty amazing, right? Reporters thought so, and wondered: What keeps him humble?
Jackson flashed a captivating grin during a press conference and replied:
“The Lord.”
“I give Him all His praise, the glory, the honor because, without Him, I could have been doing anything.”
“I’ll be thinking about it, talking to Him throughout the day like, ‘Man, appreciate You. I thank You.’ Because, when you feel like you’re bigger than the Lord, that’s when all that success dies. It goes away. You have to let Him know He’s the reason you’re having that much success. We’ve just got to keep going and let the Lord know He’s No. 1,” he said.
Actor Al Pacino is another person drawn to the phenom. He compared Jackson to the inspirational character Willie Beamen in “Any Given Sunday,” where fans clearly see a player loving the game.
“…occasionally these players that are inspiring because you can see the game that they play is a game, and you can actually sense the joy they have in what they do,” said Pacino in an interview with The Ringer.
Pacino proceeded. “That’s inspiring. Watching Lamar Jackson is an inspiration to actors. Finding that pocket, finding, where is that joy that gets under you and brings you out? The freedom to let go of the conscious, and get it to the unconscious and fly like he does?”
Jackson talking about his faith in Atlanta, Ga. in 2016.
At age eight, Jackson could launch a football 20-yards according to his first quarterback coach, Van “Peanut” Wilson. In high school, he hurled a football 100-yards. God continued to cultivate his talent. Jackson won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, and was unanimously selected as an All-American as a sophomore in 2016 at Louisville. He was among five quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, including Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen.
Jackson tweeted in 2018, “I Promise God will Take you places you’ve never been” with a #KeepyourloyaltywiththeLord.”
God’s sure taking Jackson places he’s never been in his career and in his walk with Jesus. Recently, representatives from the Archdiocese of Baltimore presented Pope Francis a jersey, highlighting Jackson’s number, his autograph and has the name “Francis” on the back.
