Former NFL QB Luke McCown Talks Importance of Prayer

Published: October 16, 2023

Former NFL QB Luke McCown Talks Importance of Prayer

By Movieguide® Contributor

Luke McCown, former quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast to discuss how he impresses the power and importance of prayer on his son.

“Not only am I wondering if I’ve communicated to him the importance of prayer, but have I demonstrated the importance of prayer,” McCown began, explaining what he hopes to teach his son. “The tool and the place that it has in my life for when I make decisions. It hits you in the face, the reality of ‘What have I been showing him?’ and how much longer do I have to show him the right things.”

Then, he described an important lesson he shared with his son.

This past summer, the McCown traveled across the country to different college summer camps in hopes of getting his son a scholarship.

“There was a point where we sat down, and there was frustration,” he expressed. “Maybe the offers weren’t coming in, and he thought he performed well enough. I said, ‘Hey, sometimes it doesn’t always go based on our performance. Performance isn’t the thing that pulls the strings for us. God still pulls the strings. He’s still the one that navigates or orchestrates what happens in our lives.”

“It’s really a lesson in grace,” he continued. “Sometimes it’s not about how good I am, it’s simply about how good God is…Helping him understand that sometimes you just have to hold it with an open hand and go, ‘God, I really like football. I love football, and I don’t want my senior year to be the last year I play football. And there’s not really an opportunity at least no one has presented me an opportunity yet. How do I reconcile that in my own heart?’ I said man, let’s take a week and pray. Dive into God, press into God, and really pray. Ask Him, ‘Is this what you want for me?”

McCown often uses his social media to communicate the Good News.

McCown shared a John 10: 3-5 on his X page, which reads, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

McCown captioned the photo, “Sheep have poor eyesight..Jesus talks of being the good shepherd.. but never once does he say that (we) the sheep should recognize him by sight, but rather by his voice. Jesus told Pilot: ‘everyone on the side of truth, listens to me.’ No other voice sounds like truth.”

Sheep have poor eyesight..
Jesus talks of being the good shepherd.. but never once does he say that (we) the sheep should recognize him by sight, but rather by his voice.
Jesus told Pilot: “everyone on the side of truth, listens to me”
No other voice sounds like truth
👂👂👂 pic.twitter.com/QZ6fIBJERD

— Luke McCown (@luke_mccown) July 24, 2023

“Luke McCown played quarterback in the NFL from 2004-2016. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, and also spent parts of his 12-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. In 2017, McCown was inducted into the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame. One of his brothers, Josh, was a longtime NFL quarterback (2002-2019) and is now a coach with the Carolina Panthers, and Luke’s other brother, Randy, played QB at Texas A&M (1995-1999),” Sports Spectrum reported.