Former NFL LB Grateful for Career-Ending Injury: ‘Goodness of God’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former NFL linebacker David Pollack suffered a career-ending injury that ended up changing his life for the better.
In his second season in the NFL, Pollack played for the Cincinnati Bengals. In one tackle, he landed wrong and broke his C6 vertebrae in his neck. But through the injury, he experienced God’s goodness.
“Man, I am so grateful because there are some things in our lives that God is going to spare us from 100%,” Pollack told Matthew West. “The goodness of God — He is going to take us around potholes that exist and come up in our lives. And then, man, there are some things in life that He’s gonna have to take us through, and if He doesn’t take us through it, we can’t learn it any other way.”
“Since that moment, I go straight from there to a neck brace. I got a neck brace for a couple months,” he continued. “I got a halo for four months, surgery, a neck brace,and a lot of slowing down. In my personality, in go, go go, I had a good relationship with Jesus. I had a prospering relationship with Jesus, but you know what? I had a one-sided relationship. I talked to Jesus and I told Him what I wanted when it was convenient, and I talked to Him when it worked in my schedule.”
“The Bible says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ I didn’t listen to God. I talked to Him, but I refused to listen, and I didn’t get still enough, and God said, ‘Slow down, big fella,’ and I had a year and a half plus of slowdown,” he said.
And in that time, he learned to listen to God, and it changed his life.
READ MORE: ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST TRUSTS GOD’S PLAN: ‘LOVE WHERE GOD HAS ME’
In a post on his social media in 2022, Pollack reflected on the injury.
The football analyst said, “The day I broke my neck was the best day of my life. 16 years ago today everything I grew up wanting to be was taken away in one hit. When we find ourselves broken, God’s peace comforts our spirit because He has a perfect plan and a purpose in our pain.”
Pollock was fired from his position as an ESPN college football analyst over a year ago, and he’s grateful for it.
“I’ve been very thankful that I’ve been fired,” he said. “It’s opened up me to be able to talk about whatever the subject is in a truthful manner.”
“I’m definitely going to make sure that I take advantage of it because we have a lot of stuff going on that I want to hear from certain people and I want to hear a Biblical perspective and different perspectives besides people,” he explained.
READ MORE: ESPN HOST RECE DAVIS SHARES HOW FAITH IMPACTS HIS LIFE, CAREER
