UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA FCA NEWSLETTER August 28, 2002

JEREMIAH CASTILLE TO SHARE HIS LIFE STORY

AT FCA TONIGHT AT 9 O’CLOCK

“When I came to Alabama, I was an 18-year old boy. When I left, I was a 22-year old man,” says Jeremiah Castille, who became campus FCA Director on August 1.

Raised in the home of alcoholic parents and a large family in Phenix City, Jeremiah will tell you that life looked bleak for him. His way out was through athletics and a football scholarship to the University of Alabama.

At Alabama his football skills led to a letter as a freshman, the same year the Crimson Tide would win the national championship in 1979. He excelled for Coach Paul Bryant’s teams for four years. He did so well that he was an All-American defensive back as a senior in 1982. He was the most valuable player in Coach Bryant’s last game vs. Illinois in the Liberty Bowl, intercepting three passes.

The 5-9, 165-pound standout also felt inspired to give a charge to the team prior to the kickoff that “whatever it took, we had to win this game for Coach Bryant.” Alabama did 21-15. One month later at Coach Bryant’s funeral, Jeremiah served as a pall bearer. From there, he played six years for Tampa Bay and Denver in the NFL and played in two Super Bowls. In 1992, he was named to the Alabama All-Century team.

Tonight, you will be amazed with Jeremiah’s childhood story, his athletic career and how he found Christ as a football player at Alabama, which changed his life. You will be the richer by hearing his story at 9 p.m. at the College Annex across from Calvary Baptist Church on Paul Bryant Drive. Make a special effort to attend.

THOUGHTS

“Within every person has been placed a desire to be different, distinctive…To be an original. Every person has been endowed with a certain mixture of abilities and opportunities which makes him unique. No mixture is insignificant. There is something that God has placed within each of us that causes us to cry out to be above average and extraordinary”…John Mason, An Enemy Called Average

TODAY I WILL…Make myself valuable to somebody…Leave someone better than I found them…Do at least three things that will take me out of my comfort zone…Judge this day, not by the harvest, but by the seeds I plant.

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself”…Henry Ward Beecher

“For my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus”…Acts 20:24