From peewee leagues to pro football, America loves football! We combined the love of the game and the love of God into Power Up! Gridiron Edition . The inspirational articles take you onto the field, behind the scenes, and into the lives of star Christian players. Each of the 100 power-packed devotions delivers a football-based meditation, a short Scripture passage with additional Bible references for further reading, an interesting “Fast Fact,” and stats and faith quotes from Christian football greats. Get in the game and discover how you can be a spiritual champion.
I have been tackling two new devotional books for sports fans. One, Power Up! All-Star Edition and the other, Power Up! Gridiron Edition both edited by Dave Branon. These two devotional books have something for everyone.
The Power Up! All-Star Edition covers stories and players from Hockey, Basketball, Baseball and Football. They look at individual players, games, and situations from each sport. The introduction stories each relate to the Game Plan, i.e. the topic of the devotion and the passage to read and ponder. They also have a "Follow Through" ("Point After" in the Gridiron Edition) section, in which they give you a question to think about that relates to what you've just read.
At the end of each devotion is a short recap from one of twenty-five top memorable games from each sport. Most men will recognize the games referred to in these recaps, but others may not. Regardless, this feature alone is worth the price of admission.
The Power Up! Gridiron Edition focuses solely on Football and follows the set up of the All-Star Edition, but instead of the 100 greatest games (25 games per sport), they give you the 100 Top Christian football players, separating them into the Top 10 of each position. Some of the players profiled are Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Drew Brees, Brian Sipe, Archie Griffin and Steve Tasker. You might not always agree with the choices, and you may even be surprised to find out a certain player is a Christian.
One of the coolest parts of each devotional is that a few of the devotions are written by college and professional players, coaches, and others involved in sports. Some of these players are Matt Stover (Football), Mike Gartner (Hockey), Tim Cash (Baseball), Ron Brown (Coach), Kyle Brady (Football), Jon Kitna (Football) and Jessica Wuerffel (Married to Danny Wuerffel).
I have to admit, I was not expecting much from these devotionals. Good quality devotional books for men and boys are few and far between. Most are geared toward women because, let's face it, they are the ones who buy devotionals and bible studies. Yet these two books were surprisingly enjoyable and challenging, great for fathers and sons, individual devotions, and even for youth leaders. They can be used as a source for great stories to introduce topics or passages of Scripture.