WEBVTT 00:00:00.233 --> 00:00:02.065 When it comes to recruiting. 00:00:02.065 --> 00:00:06.533 Recruiting is about buying that bright fancy spaz car. 00:00:06.533 --> 00:00:09.233 I want the biggest, best thing out there, right? 00:00:09.233 --> 00:00:10.432 And it's just being honest. 00:00:10.432 --> 00:00:11.699 That was not me. 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:12.666 That's not who I was. 00:00:12.666 --> 00:00:21.065 I was more of like a Honda Civic, you know, that had like 150,000 miles on it, you know, old, reliable and get you to and from that was more so me. 00:00:21.065 --> 00:00:30.500 And so it ended up working out for me and my I didn't get a lot of Division one offers, even though my stats were just as good as anybody in the country. Right. 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:38.633 And so Yale was what I was going to settle on going to, and that was my best academic and athletic opportunity that I was going to pursue. 00:00:38.633 --> 00:00:42.232 Right before I signed my letter of intent, coach Nick Howell approached me. 00:00:42.232 --> 00:00:46.133 And he he is the defensive coordinator at UVA at the time. 00:00:46.133 --> 00:00:47.732 And he said, I can't give you any money. 00:00:47.732 --> 00:00:50.432 All I can give you as an opportunity right? 00:00:50.432 --> 00:00:51.799 And I said, okay, I'll take it. 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:54.665 I’ll bet on myself because I've always wanted to play Division one football. 00:00:54.665 --> 00:00:56.865 So I took that chance and I came. 00:00:56.865 --> 00:01:01.232 It was the worst decision I've ever made in my life at that point in time, I hated it. 00:01:01.232 --> 00:01:07.465 I don't know how many of you know what being a walk on actually is and what it means, but it's basically like being a practice dummy. 00:01:07.465 --> 00:01:10.933 Truth be told, like once you're utilized, you're thrown in the closet. 00:01:10.933 --> 00:01:16.200 You don't really care the maintenance of it, as long as it's there when you need it the next time, that's pretty much it. 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:20.099 So I go through this first year and keep in mind I still want to play. 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:23.700 So we have what's called like a beginning of the season meetings. Right. 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:32.900 And that's basically where you're envisioning it like for school, say you meet with your teachers for the youth and for your adults in the room, it's like when you go to a job and it's like, what's your career plan? 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:34.066 Where do you want to be in ten years? 00:01:34.066 --> 00:01:35.132 Where do you want to be in five years? 00:01:35.132 --> 00:01:39.433 It's more of that conversation, but more just condensed down to your time in football. 00:01:39.433 --> 00:01:44.599 I told my head coach and I told our offensive coordinator, I said, I want to be the starting running back at this university. 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:50.700 And both of them laugh at me straight in my face, laughed, and I said, wow, okay. 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:55.632 You know, these are the guys that have to essentially give me the job promotion and they’re laughing at me on day one. 00:01:55.632 --> 00:01:58.033 That's not exactly a good, good sign, right? 00:01:58.033 --> 00:02:00.632 But now that you're not there, I keep working right. 00:02:00.632 --> 00:02:05.200 Working hard, repeating the work ethic that I had and I get nothing from it. 00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:07.433 And then we have a situation that comes about. 00:02:07.433 --> 00:02:13.233 And for walk ons, you don't get taught what you're supposed to do in the actual offense. 00:02:13.233 --> 00:02:20.500 So imagine showing up to a job or showing up to class, and you're trying to get a grade and they don't tell you how to get the grade, and they don't tell you how to do your job. 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:23.532 And if you don't do it, you get in trouble. 00:02:23.532 --> 00:02:25.633 So lose lose situation, right? 00:02:25.633 --> 00:02:26.733 Like you really can't win. 00:02:26.733 --> 00:02:28.233 And it's designed that way. 00:02:28.233 --> 00:02:30.800 And so we get put out there. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:31.500 Coach says, you know what? 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:35.699 We're going to put the walk ons out with the ones today just to see how it goes. 00:02:35.699 --> 00:02:37.099 So he throws us out there. 00:02:37.099 --> 00:02:40.032 And I had no idea what I was doing. 00:02:40.032 --> 00:02:41.599 I asked our starting quarterback. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.599 I said, okay, what am I supposed to do? 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:45.265 And he said, good luck. 00:02:45.265 --> 00:02:48.532 I said, oh man, okay, this is going to be rough. 00:02:48.532 --> 00:02:50.599 So the ball is snapped, right? 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:54.400 Boom, clap starts to play and I just stand there frozen. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:57.932 Looking around. 00:02:57.932 --> 00:03:00.133 Everybody else is moving around me and I'm just watching. 00:03:00.133 --> 00:03:05.466 And I get called every name in the book all the way off the field. 00:03:05.466 --> 00:03:05.733 Right. 00:03:05.733 --> 00:03:08.900 And I remember being so upset and so angry. Right? 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:13.665 Because I was like, how can you put me in a situation to lose and be mad that I lost? 00:03:13.665 --> 00:03:15.199 Like, that's not my fault? 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:19.932 You knew I didn't know the play, but you put me in any way like that didn't make sense to me. 00:03:19.932 --> 00:03:21.000 So what do I do? 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:22.265 I called my dad. 00:03:22.265 --> 00:03:27.199 Which, kids in the room, If you're ever in a problem, call your mom. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.233 Don't call you don't, don't. 00:03:29.233 --> 00:03:30.400 Don't call your dad. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.665 Don't call your dad. 00:03:31.665 --> 00:03:32.099 All right? 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:33.032 Mom's going to tell you. 00:03:33.032 --> 00:03:37.133 She's going to give it to you softer, but neither here nor there. 00:03:37.133 --> 00:03:43.633 So my my dad was like, basically, in a nutshell, he said, you can't give someone else the control or control over your life. 00:03:43.633 --> 00:03:45.900 And what you get that's on you. 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:46.800 That's your decisions. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:48.332 You can't give that power away. 00:03:48.332 --> 00:03:49.733 And I was like, dad, you don't understand. 00:03:49.733 --> 00:03:51.932 No, you're in control of that. 00:03:51.932 --> 00:03:53.633 He said, so what are you going to do about it? 00:03:53.633 --> 00:03:54.733 Not what someone else is doing. 00:03:54.733 --> 00:03:56.665 What are you going to do about it? 00:03:56.665 --> 00:03:58.400 So I said, okay, cool. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:06.932 I wake up the next morning renewed spirit and renewed sense of energy, and I start thinking of different ways that I could possibly put myself in a position to obtain what I wanted. Right? 00:04:06.932 --> 00:04:12.032 And you notice how during this point in time, I'm not mentioning anything about God. 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:16.000 That's intentional. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.665 Keep that in the back of your mind. 00:04:17.665 --> 00:04:18.932 So I'm working, right? 00:04:18.932 --> 00:04:19.865 I'm working, I'm working. 00:04:19.865 --> 00:04:24.199 I say, okay, I'm going to go to the facility right before the cleaning ladies come in, right. 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.199 And I'm going to get the plays out of the trash can that the upper classmen had. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:28.300 And I'm gonna study those. 00:04:28.300 --> 00:04:30.500 I'm going to watch some of our upperclassmen running backs. 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:31.932 His name was Chris Sharp. 00:04:31.932 --> 00:04:34.033 Don't tell him this because he still doesn't know to this day. 00:04:34.033 --> 00:04:40.699 But I watched him log in and I took his login so that I can match the plays, that I got out the trash up with, the plays that I was watching on film. 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:41.065 Right. 00:04:41.065 --> 00:04:43.333 And then I would go back to the facility after hours. 00:04:43.333 --> 00:04:55.500 I would repeat every single exercise that I didn't do well the previous week, so that my weaknesses were now strengths, everything that I could possibly do when my friends were saying, oh, Perris were from to go out, you know, to the bars and to this party, I would say, okay, cool. 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:56.300 Yeah, I'll be there. 00:04:56.300 --> 00:05:01.466 And I was going to the facility to get more work in, like anything I could possibly do to give myself an advantage. 00:05:01.466 --> 00:05:10.632 And before I knew it, soon enough I was stronger, I was faster, and I knew the plays in the system better than any other person on our team, offense and defense. 00:05:10.632 --> 00:05:12.266 And they didn't teach me. 00:05:12.266 --> 00:05:24.000 So the next time the situation comes around and where the coaches put us in to seemingly keep us down, I knew what I was doing, ran off the field and the coach said, how did you know that? 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.432 Don't worry about it. 00:05:25.432 --> 00:05:28.233 You know, I know it, I know it, that's all. 00:05:28.233 --> 00:05:29.399 That's all you need to know. 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.932 So I figured it out and I started doing really, really well. 00:05:33.932 --> 00:05:36.065 I started gaining momentum right in practices. 00:05:36.065 --> 00:05:39.432 I was outperforming my teammates and I still wasn't getting any playing time. 00:05:39.432 --> 00:05:40.733 So I did really, really well. 00:05:40.733 --> 00:05:47.932 Ended up earning a scholarship my fourth year, and I still didn't get any meaningful snaps, still didn't get any carries, still didn't get what I wanted. 00:05:47.932 --> 00:05:50.932 And so I called my mom after four years. 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:52.500 Remember what I told you? 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.266 I called my mom, you know? 00:05:54.266 --> 00:05:58.833 So I called her and I said, mama, you know, maybe this isn't it for me. 00:05:58.833 --> 00:06:05.065 Maybe this is God telling me to go into a different direction, you know, because I've tried everything I could possibly do for four years. 00:06:05.065 --> 00:06:06.800 I'm far faster than everybody else. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.000 I'm stronger than everybody else. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.632 I know the system better than anybody else, and I'm still not getting any chances. 00:06:11.632 --> 00:06:14.932 Maybe there's just God telling me football is not the path he wanted me to walk. 00:06:14.932 --> 00:06:16.333 And she says, you know what, baby? 00:06:16.333 --> 00:06:17.266 Pray about it. 00:06:17.266 --> 00:06:21.733 God will give you a sign if he gives you a sign to leave I'm behind you to enter the transfer portal. 00:06:21.733 --> 00:06:23.800 If he doesn't, then you got to stay. 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:25.233 I said, all right. Cool. 00:06:25.233 --> 00:06:26.266 Wake up the next morning. 00:06:26.266 --> 00:06:27.699 And I'm like, man, nothing's going to change. 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:35.699 I had already started researching the portal entry, where I could potentially go to coaches to reach out to, and our head coach gets fired right when I wake up in the morning. 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:36.432 Breaking news. 00:06:36.432 --> 00:06:38.432 You know, Bronco Mendenhall stepping down. 00:06:38.432 --> 00:06:40.500 I'm like, oh, that's a sign. 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:41.399 I guess. 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.132 You know, it's a pretty good sign. 00:06:44.132 --> 00:06:47.199 So I stay and Coach Elliott comes in. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:49.266 I repeat the same process I've been doing. 00:06:49.266 --> 00:06:52.132 I was blessed to be awarded with the starting running back position. 00:06:52.132 --> 00:06:52.399 Right. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:07:03.100 And then the first year that I started in my first game, I broke school records in the in the process of doing it first running back in over a decade to have over 100 yards and two touchdowns in his first ever career start. 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:06.100 So it was everything I wanted, right? 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:08.399 I was on a high, I was on a high. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:14.665 And keep in mind, God came in when I felt like I wasn't getting what I wanted. 00:07:14.665 --> 00:07:17.699 That's when I started talking about God to my family again. 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:20.466 Crazy how that works. 00:07:20.466 --> 00:07:25.065 The story progresses and so we keep going and I'm doing really well. 00:07:25.065 --> 00:07:27.266 The team's not doing so good, but I'm doing good. 00:07:27.266 --> 00:07:34.300 In terms of personal, I'm starting to make a name for myself at the college level now where teams are starting to know who I am and I'm doing that, I'm doing that, I'm doing that. 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:36.199 We get to the end of the season, right? 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:39.100 And it's a Sunday night. 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:42.432 I'm a very routine guy, military dad. 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:54.899 Also, being a college athlete, I'm pretty much anybody that knows me can guess what I'm doing on any given day, at any certain time, because it's pretty much the same, very similar. Sundays, that's my reset days, right? 00:07:54.899 --> 00:07:58.132 So I get up in the morning, I listen to my worship, listen to my word. 00:07:58.132 --> 00:08:04.632 I go clean my house, play with my dog a little bit, start preparing myself a nice dinner, and then I watch a movie. 00:08:04.632 --> 00:08:07.300 I go to sleep. Every Sunday. 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:10.000 It doesn't change, like every Sunday. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:15.466 I'm doing this and at the time I live with two other people, Ronnie Walker and Michael Hollins. 00:08:15.466 --> 00:08:16.800 Both of them were running backs. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.333 Both of them are very, very dear friends that I consider brothers to this day. 00:08:20.333 --> 00:08:20.833 Right. 00:08:20.833 --> 00:08:24.500 And so we go up, I go to sleep. 00:08:24.533 --> 00:08:27.333 Mike's doing something, Ronnie's doing his own thing. 00:08:27.333 --> 00:08:30.533 And typically when I go to sleep, I shut my door. 00:08:30.533 --> 00:08:33.399 When my door is not shut, it's an open door policy. 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:36.633 You walk in and get whatever you need, whatever you need for me, you want to talk, whatever. 00:08:36.633 --> 00:08:39.399 But when that door is closed, I'm sleeping. 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:42.399 All I ask is that you respect my privacy. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:43.533 Respect the time. Right. 00:08:43.533 --> 00:08:45.399 And all my both of my roommates knew that. 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:48.600 So Ronnie comes beating on the door in the middle of the night. 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.399 I try to act like I don't hear it. 00:08:54.466 --> 00:08:58.899 I tried to ignore it, and he keeps banging and I'm like, man, okay. 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:01.399 And so I open the door and I'm like, what's up, Ronnie? 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:04.432 And he's like, man, like, do you know where Mike is? 00:09:04.432 --> 00:09:10.232 And I say, middle of the night, weekend day. 00:09:11.232 --> 00:09:15.033 You could probably roll the dice and know where he's going to be at, you know? 00:09:15.033 --> 00:09:16.265 And I just let him do his thing. 00:09:16.265 --> 00:09:17.633 We'll see him in the morning. 00:09:17.633 --> 00:09:20.299 He says, no, P, something is wrong. 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:21.899 Something is really, really wrong. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:23.232 Like we don't know where Mike is. 00:09:23.232 --> 00:09:25.899 We haven't heard from our other teammates either. 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:26.899 And I said, okay. 00:09:26.899 --> 00:09:27.932 So I go into the room. 00:09:27.932 --> 00:09:29.265 Mike's room is right next to mine. 00:09:29.265 --> 00:09:31.066 I look for any signs of life, right? 00:09:31.066 --> 00:09:34.299 Any keys, any clothes on the ground, anything of that nature. 00:09:34.299 --> 00:09:38.832 Look outside to see if Mike's car is in the driveway in the parking lot. It's not there. 00:09:38.832 --> 00:09:40.799 So I say, okay, let's hop in the car. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:43.200 Let's go drive around the town and see where they're at. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:44.865 You know, see, see, we can find anything out. 00:09:44.865 --> 00:09:46.832 See if anybody knows where he's at. 00:09:46.832 --> 00:09:48.432 Nothing. Nobody's heard from him. 00:09:48.432 --> 00:09:49.466 No one seen him. 00:09:49.466 --> 00:09:52.299 Nobody knows anything for many of our teammates. 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:53.832 So we keep driving around. 00:09:53.832 --> 00:09:54.732 We drive past. 00:09:54.732 --> 00:09:58.133 I guess Mike was on a field trip, so we drive past where the bus was. 00:09:58.133 --> 00:09:59.232 The bus was sitting there. 00:09:59.232 --> 00:10:00.666 We're like, okay, well, no one's on the bus. 00:10:00.666 --> 00:10:09.432 So, you know, they must be in other places, keep driving around, and then we say, you know what, let's go to the hospital just to rule out there because we know he can't be there. 00:10:09.432 --> 00:10:11.466 So let's just cross that one off the list. 00:10:11.466 --> 00:10:14.066 We go there and our head coach is there. 00:10:14.066 --> 00:10:17.033 We don't put two and two together that he wouldn't be there if they weren't there. 00:10:17.033 --> 00:10:19.066 But he says, go home. 00:10:19.066 --> 00:10:22.332 And when we know something, we'll tell you something. 00:10:22.332 --> 00:10:23.466 Of course we're not going home. 00:10:23.466 --> 00:10:27.000 We keep driving around, so we keep driving, we keep driving, we keep driving. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:32.832 And you know, when you're sitting in a situation and you have that pit in your gut, right? 00:10:32.832 --> 00:10:35.832 That just gets heavy when you know something is wrong. 00:10:35.832 --> 00:10:37.133 You're like something doesn't feel right. 00:10:37.133 --> 00:10:40.799 And it just gets heavier and heavier and heavier. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:41.832 That's what we were. 00:10:41.832 --> 00:10:44.265 And then we go and we sit down in the Wegmans parking lot. 00:10:44.265 --> 00:10:54.633 Wegmans is a grocery store, and we just wait, wait, continue checking Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, anything we can think of to see if we can hear anything. 00:10:54.633 --> 00:10:56.500 And then the news comes out. 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:00.666 Three people were killed, right, shot and killed tragically. 00:11:00.666 --> 00:11:02.600 So, okay, who was it? 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:04.265 So we're waiting, we're waiting, we're waiting. 00:11:04.265 --> 00:11:08.299 And it says three football players were killed tragically. 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:10.666 Okay. Who was it? Like, who are the three football players? 00:11:10.666 --> 00:11:15.000 And then they released that we had lost Devin, DeShawn and Lavelle. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.600 Three dear teammates were tragically shot and killed on a field trip bus coming home. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.066 Mike was fighting for his life in critical condition. 00:11:22.066 --> 00:11:27.666 He had a bullet that went through his spine and just missed his vertebrae and went out through his stomach, right? 00:11:27.666 --> 00:11:32.299 He was in the hospital fighting and then we had another young lady, Marley Marley Morgan, who was shot. 00:11:32.299 --> 00:11:33.533 But she was she was okay. 00:11:33.533 --> 00:11:34.700 It just grazed her. 00:11:36.332 --> 00:11:41.666 We cried so all we could do, we just sat there and cried. 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.600 How do you deal with something like that? 00:11:46.133 --> 00:11:54.732 You know, where where's the instruction manual to navigate that kind of a situation or that space or that mental space? 00:11:54.732 --> 00:11:58.500 How do you go play a football game after that? 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:00.633 How do you do that? 00:12:00.633 --> 00:12:02.399 Right. It's rough. It's hard. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:11.265 So we come together the next day as a team and we meet no words, just a facility full of tears. 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:13.932 That's all it is. 00:12:13.932 --> 00:12:14.899 Facility for the tears. 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:17.033 We just cried. Embrace each other. 00:12:17.033 --> 00:12:23.865 Got to the point to where we could crack a couple laughs and remembrance of our fallen teammates and situations and things that they would have done. 00:12:23.865 --> 00:12:25.500 And for me, that was it. 00:12:27.033 --> 00:12:29.232 I'm a heart on my sleeve kind of a guy. 00:12:29.232 --> 00:12:36.232 You know everybody that's in my circle that I love and even people that aren't in my circle, I love everybody, so it's hard for me to do and keep doing them. 00:12:36.232 --> 00:12:41.100 Like thinking selfishly of what I'm going to do when I know other people that I care about are hurting. 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:43.265 So in my eyes, I was done with football. 00:12:43.265 --> 00:12:46.033 I called my mom and I said, mom, I'm done. 00:12:46.033 --> 00:12:48.399 And like, I'm just going to go pursue something else. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:53.732 Like, I can't play ball anymore because, you know, in the locker room, I was number two when I played. 00:12:53.732 --> 00:12:55.666 Lavelle was number one. 00:12:55.666 --> 00:12:58.832 I saw him every single day for the last four years. 00:12:58.832 --> 00:13:00.399 Every single day. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:08.899 And I can't go into that locker room and sit next to a locker that I know he's not coming back to, not because he's late, but that's just because he's just gone. 00:13:08.899 --> 00:13:10.000 I couldn't do it. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:11.899 So I was like, mom, I'm not doing it. 00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:14.466 And she says, whatever you want to do, baby, I support you. 00:13:14.466 --> 00:13:20.299 I said, okay, we go in and have more meetings, and I tell some of the guys, I'm like, yeah, man, I'm done. 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:25.100 You know, like, I'm just going to support you guys from afar and be here for whatever you need emotionally or mentally. 00:13:25.100 --> 00:13:28.533 But outside of that, I think football is it. It's done for me. 00:13:28.533 --> 00:13:30.066 It's a wrap. 00:13:30.066 --> 00:13:33.466 They said, Perris, we need you to come back, you know, just one more year. 00:13:33.466 --> 00:13:34.033 One more year. 00:13:34.033 --> 00:13:35.466 And after that, if you want to be done, be done. 00:13:35.466 --> 00:13:37.466 But the guys on the team need you here. 00:13:37.466 --> 00:13:39.000 You know your brothers. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:40.799 As I said, I'm a heart on my sleeve kind of guy. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.600 Whatever my people need for me, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:49.000 So I come back and play, try to put the pieces together as best as I possibly can, right? 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:52.899 Work out, get Grant at the start and roll again. 00:13:52.899 --> 00:13:54.432 Start doing really, really well for myself. 00:13:54.432 --> 00:13:57.533 I put myself in a position where I could potentially take care of my family. 00:13:57.533 --> 00:14:01.466 It's getting towards the end of the season and my coach comes to me, says PJ. 00:14:01.466 --> 00:14:02.932 I've been getting calls from the league. 00:14:02.932 --> 00:14:05.200 You know, there's some teams that want to give you a shot. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:10.033 All you have to do is finish the season healthy and you're going to the next level. 00:14:10.033 --> 00:14:12.666 That's it. I said, all right, cool. 00:14:12.666 --> 00:14:14.066 And so I do that. 00:14:14.066 --> 00:14:17.133 And not too far from here. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.500 We're at L&N Stadium here in Louisville. 00:14:19.500 --> 00:14:21.899 Right. And I get an ordinary play. 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:23.332 It's an ordinary day. 00:14:23.332 --> 00:14:25.932 You know the games for the games going how it typically goes. 00:14:25.932 --> 00:14:27.200 We're starting to gain some momentum. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.799 I get a swing pass that I've run a million times. 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:40.066 I can tell you exactly where everybody on the field is going to be at every exact second with my eyes closed, because I've done this exact place so many times. It’s that routine for me. 00:14:40.066 --> 00:14:42.732 And so I catch the ball, I see my blockers. 00:14:42.732 --> 00:14:46.332 He's pushing the nickel back out, the safeties coming down with the outside linebacker. 00:14:46.332 --> 00:14:50.033 I think to myself, I'm going to end this play the same way I've ended every play for the last 18 years. 00:14:50.033 --> 00:14:54.666 I've been playing this game, put my head down, endured the collision, get up, go to the next play. 00:14:54.666 --> 00:14:55.332 Right. That's it. 00:14:55.332 --> 00:14:56.732 That's all there is to it. 00:14:56.732 --> 00:15:03.600 Except when I encounter the hit, my lights come off, I can't move. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:08.332 I don't even feel myself hit the ground and I drop the ball, which I'm still mad about. 00:15:08.332 --> 00:15:11.432 I still like every time I think about it, I get mad. 00:15:11.432 --> 00:15:13.700 But I dropped the ball right? 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:17.600 And I remember just laying there, looking up at the ceiling, looking up at the stars. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:26.100 And I don't know if you guys ever been in the stadium full of like 60,000 people and had them go silent on the drop of a dime, but it's scary. 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.932 It's real scary, especially when you're the cause of it. 00:15:28.932 --> 00:15:33.066 So I'm laying there and all the thoughts are rushing through the head, right? 00:15:33.066 --> 00:15:37.432 I'm sitting there saying to myself, man, like, why is this happening? 00:15:37.432 --> 00:15:42.299 This is only 362 days after my teammates were shot and killed. 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:45.033 So not even a year yet. And this happens. 00:15:45.033 --> 00:15:46.432 What am I doing wrong? 00:15:46.432 --> 00:15:47.399 Like what happened? 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:48.232 Like why me? 00:15:48.232 --> 00:15:49.133 Why this situation? 00:15:49.133 --> 00:15:50.932 How am I going to take care of my family? 00:15:50.932 --> 00:15:52.500 How I'm going to take care of my mom? 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:55.232 I'm going to how am I going to provide for myself? 00:15:55.232 --> 00:15:58.432 Who's going to want to be with me now if I'm paralyzed and I can't move? 00:15:58.432 --> 00:16:05.432 Which thankfully my wife here, my newlywed, she she said she would be there, but we don't know if that's true or not, but we're going to take her at her word. 00:16:06.432 --> 00:16:15.466 So but it's you know, all those thoughts are going through my head in that moment of just just doubt and question, right and worry. 00:16:15.466 --> 00:16:21.399 And right after that I said, you know what, God, I'm listening. 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:24.466 Whatever you want to do in my life, you do it. 00:16:24.466 --> 00:16:25.066 Whatever. 00:16:25.066 --> 00:16:27.832 And as soon as I open my eyes from saying that prayer. 00:16:27.832 --> 00:16:31.932 I was overcome with a sense of peace that to this day I still cannot explain. 00:16:31.932 --> 00:16:33.832 I can't, I can't describe it. 00:16:33.832 --> 00:16:39.033 And I write a lot, and I still can't find the words I can't. 00:16:39.033 --> 00:16:43.332 It's so surreal and not of this world, the peace that I was given. 00:16:43.332 --> 00:16:44.799 And so they carted me off. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.066 They take me to the E.R. 00:16:46.066 --> 00:16:52.100 and they bombard me with all these questions and these tests, and they say, you know what? 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:56.432 We're going to have to rush into emergency surgery to preserve some of your movement. 00:16:56.432 --> 00:16:57.832 You know, as much as we can. 00:16:57.832 --> 00:17:00.466 And so we say, okay, we go into that situation. 00:17:00.466 --> 00:17:03.066 They said, there's a good chance that you may never run again. 00:17:03.066 --> 00:17:06.066 You may not walk correctly or normal. 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:08.500 You may not be able to function normally. 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:15.532 I run two miles every day to this day and I walk just fine, right? 00:17:15.532 --> 00:17:23.566 And so in that moment, I realized when I was laying in a hospital bed and my grandmother came and she she's my she's my warrior man. 00:17:23.566 --> 00:17:25.299 She's my spiritual warrior. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:27.333 We talk about a lot in that sense. 00:17:27.333 --> 00:17:30.900 And I was asking her questions while I was in there. 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.633 I was like, mama, why is the Lord brought me through so much? 00:17:34.633 --> 00:17:40.732 Like, why has he put me in so many of these different situations that no one wants to go through, right? 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:46.266 She's, you know, she said, sometimes, baby, God takes you to deep water because the things trying to get you can't swim. 00:17:48.932 --> 00:17:50.232 I was like, wow. 00:17:50.232 --> 00:17:54.099 You know, like that's that's pretty that's pretty revolutionary. 00:17:54.099 --> 00:18:02.333 And I begin to understand that, you know, like man like and my dad, he was really, really rough on me, like, pushed me really, really hard. 00:18:02.333 --> 00:18:04.665 And I didn't understand that why either. 00:18:04.665 --> 00:18:11.133 And then in conversations that took place when I was in that bed, I was like, man, like, dad, why did you do what you did? 00:18:11.133 --> 00:18:14.500 And he said, I was just pushing you as hard as I thought, because I knew what life was going to throw at you. 00:18:14.500 --> 00:18:16.900 I didn't know, but I knew. 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:18.633 And he said, at times I questioned myself. 00:18:18.633 --> 00:18:24.732 But I'm so glad that, you know, he he used to if I got a bad grade, he was the kind of dad to drop me off at the highway and make me run home. 00:18:24.732 --> 00:18:27.633 And like he was, he was he was one of those. 00:18:27.633 --> 00:18:31.133 So he was like, you know, at times I felt like I was pushing you too hard. 00:18:31.133 --> 00:18:45.000 But I'm so thankful that I built that within you so that what you're dealing with now, you can face it head on. Every single day when I was in that hospital bed, I was surrounded by people who couldn't walk, who were in breathing tubes, who couldn't eat on their own. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:50.099 I was in that position for a little bit, like they were just in crazy circumstances. 00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.700 And I was like, man, I feel like I didn't deserve to be here. 00:18:52.700 --> 00:18:58.099 I felt like I was okay compared to them, and so I felt like I had to be a blessing to them any way I could. 00:18:58.099 --> 00:19:02.200 And for the first time in my life, I couldn't rely on my athletic ability to do it. 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:10.500 I had to talk to someone, you know, I had to hear them, had to try to give them a smile, you know, and things that I'd never really done, things that I'd never really focused on. 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:13.299 And I couldn't brush my teeth for a while. 00:19:13.299 --> 00:19:15.032 I couldn't eat on my own for a while. 00:19:15.032 --> 00:19:16.799 And it was frustrating. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:19.432 But I realized that God was trying to reposition me. 00:19:19.432 --> 00:19:21.066 And you remember what I said earlier? 00:19:21.066 --> 00:19:24.200 I didn't come and rely on God till I needed him. 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:25.532 Every single time. 00:19:25.532 --> 00:19:28.900 Every time my back was against the wall, that's when I wanted to turn to God. 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:32.299 Not because he wasn't in my heart, but just because I lost sight of it. 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:35.200 I started chasing the things of this world, right? 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:44.532 I was caught up in the limelight, the people coming up asking for autographs, the praises, the screams, the scoring touchdowns, the interviews, all those things were things that I started to live for. 00:19:44.532 --> 00:19:49.232 And I forget why I started living for him in the first place, or why even started playing this game. 00:19:49.232 --> 00:19:56.932 I told my dad when I first before I played my first snap with him, I said, the reason I'm playing this game is to glorify God with the platform that this would give me. 00:19:56.932 --> 00:20:01.232 By making it to the NFL, I could tell about what the Lord has done in my life. 00:20:01.232 --> 00:20:04.266 When I got hurt, I thought I couldn't do that anymore. 00:20:04.266 --> 00:20:08.232 And then God said to me, man, just turn around and look. 00:20:08.232 --> 00:20:10.400 I gave you everything you wanted. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.633 You have exactly what you started playing this for. 00:20:13.633 --> 00:20:16.700 It's not how you thought it would look, but you have it. 00:20:17.865 --> 00:20:19.833 It's not about how you think it's going to look, man. 00:20:19.833 --> 00:20:22.032 Submit to what he wants. 00:20:22.032 --> 00:20:25.799 And when you do that, you'll never have a bad day again. 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:30.032 Every day I get up in the morning, I'm thankful. My wife will ask me, I'm walking up the stairs. 00:20:30.032 --> 00:20:32.599 She's like, why are you smiling? 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:34.133 Because, you know, nobody likes stairs. 00:20:34.133 --> 00:20:35.932 But she's like, why are you smiling? 00:20:35.932 --> 00:20:41.000 I'm like, man, there's a point in time where I couldn't do this, you know, like I'm eating. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:41.932 And she's like, slow down. 00:20:41.932 --> 00:20:45.599 And I was like, there was a time that I couldn't do this, you know? 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.865 And there's people that can't. 00:20:46.865 --> 00:20:51.665 There's so many things that happen in our day to day lives that we take for granted because they're the mundane. 00:20:51.665 --> 00:20:55.732 There are things that you've done since the time you can remember, so you don't think about it. 00:20:55.732 --> 00:20:56.400 How many? 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:58.732 Well, let me clarify this question. 00:20:58.732 --> 00:21:01.633 I hope you all thought about brushing your teeth this morning. 00:21:01.633 --> 00:21:08.799 But, but, but while you were doing it, how many of you thought about what you were actually doing while brushing your teeth? 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:09.500 You didn't think about it. 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:11.633 You just did it right? 00:21:12.633 --> 00:21:14.500 I hd to think about it. 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:18.133 I was stabbing my gums for a while because I couldn't do it properly. 00:21:18.133 --> 00:21:24.333 But it's just small things of that nature that you got to be grateful for and so after that what do you do? 00:21:24.333 --> 00:21:24.599 Right? 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:28.232 I told you guys when I started this that I had no direction after. 00:21:28.232 --> 00:21:30.200 I didn't know what, but I knew God had a plan. 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:33.333 And God comes to you and sometimes through other people. 00:21:33.333 --> 00:21:43.465 And for me, that was my grandmother who told me to get up on stage as much like this and preach my story and tell my story, in hopes that it can help somebody else along their journey. 00:21:43.465 --> 00:21:45.532 I didn't want to do it. 00:21:45.532 --> 00:21:48.032 I didn't think I was qualified to do it. 00:21:48.032 --> 00:21:53.032 And so that lends my first challenge for everybody in the crowd tonight, right? 00:21:53.032 --> 00:22:05.200 You all have a story to tell every single person in here, and there's many situations that you're going to be in where you're you are the only Bible someone's ever going to get a chance to read. 00:22:07.133 --> 00:22:09.266 You are. Not the book. 00:22:09.266 --> 00:22:15.266 You and your day to day actions tell your story. 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:16.865 Tell your story. 00:22:16.865 --> 00:22:22.000 And it doesn't have to look like mine because it's not mine. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.066 It's yours and somebody needs it. 00:22:25.066 --> 00:22:26.232 So that's my first challenge. 00:22:26.232 --> 00:22:32.599 My second challenge is for you guys to be grateful for everything, every single thing in this world. 00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:41.732 I lost a friend, a dear friend to cancer about a month ago, about a month ago, and he was so full of life. 00:22:42.133 --> 00:22:48.633 And I remember saying to myself, and I even said to my wife, I was like, man, I don't even know why I'm crying. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:49.932 I don't know why I'm crying. 00:22:49.932 --> 00:22:56.465 I know where he's going for one, but two, the word can't just be word. 00:22:56.465 --> 00:22:57.799 You gotta live it. 00:22:59.333 --> 00:23:01.833 You gotta live it. 00:23:01.833 --> 00:23:03.400 That's my second challenge for y'all. 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:05.900 Live it, live it, live it. 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:09.865 Make sure that there is fruits of the word in your day to day life. 00:23:09.865 --> 00:23:12.865 Don't let it just be a Sunday thing. 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:14.465 Don't let it be that. 00:23:14.465 --> 00:23:15.532 Live it, right? 00:23:15.532 --> 00:23:23.432 And then the third thing and the final thing, which is really for I want everybody in here to vibe every single day. 00:23:23.432 --> 00:23:27.900 Vibe does not just mean dance, although if you want to dance, dance, I encourage it. 00:23:27.900 --> 00:23:33.266 My grandmother, other grandmother used to always tell me that there's power in laughter and joy. 00:23:33.633 --> 00:23:37.799 So if you want to dance, dance, but vibe and it stands for four different things. 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:38.532 Okay. 00:23:38.532 --> 00:23:41.000 Every hardship situation. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:42.932 Excuse me. Situation that you come to. 00:23:42.932 --> 00:23:47.266 I want you to do these four things and it'll help you get through it, I promise you. 00:23:47.266 --> 00:23:49.032 For one, it's V. 00:23:49.032 --> 00:23:51.000 It stands for vision. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:51.665 Okay? 00:23:51.665 --> 00:23:55.500 Sight is what you see directly in front of you right now. 00:23:55.500 --> 00:23:58.665 Vision is telling me what's on the other side of that wall. 00:24:00.665 --> 00:24:01.400 Okay. 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:02.732 Vision. 00:24:02.732 --> 00:24:05.599 The I stands for intention. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:06.799 It's why you do what you do. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:07.732 It's the purpose. 00:24:07.732 --> 00:24:09.133 Don't do anything just to do it. 00:24:09.133 --> 00:24:10.732 Have a reason behind it. 00:24:10.732 --> 00:24:13.133 Because we serve an intentional God. 00:24:13.133 --> 00:24:16.266 So you guys be intentional as well, right? 00:24:16.266 --> 00:24:18.799 B stands for believe. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:25.700 Nothing can occur if you don't believe in yourself and in what you're doing and who you're doing it with. 00:24:25.700 --> 00:24:32.066 Believe. E, which in my opinion is the easiest of all of them is just execute. 00:24:32.066 --> 00:24:34.133 That's putting the rubber to the road. 00:24:34.133 --> 00:24:35.400 All right? 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:40.532 If you do those four things, I promise you in every single situation you'll be okay. 00:24:40.532 --> 00:24:42.099 Alright, so y'all remember those. 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:44.232 What's the V? 00:24:44.232 --> 00:24:46.333 What's the I? 00:24:46.333 --> 00:24:48.133 What's the B? 00:24:48.133 --> 00:24:50.500 What's the E? Execute. 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:52.732 You do those four things you will be okay. 00:24:54.665 --> 00:25:00.865 Don't ever think that the situations that you're in in life are meant to break you because they're not. 00:25:00.865 --> 00:25:03.465 They're meant to qualify you. 00:25:03.465 --> 00:25:12.299 Every hardship situation that you come into is just another way for you to prove that you serve an Almighty God, and that he's doing amazing things through you. 00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:16.266 Amazing in any category, amazing has a lot of different views. 00:25:16.266 --> 00:25:18.099 It looks a lot of different ways. 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:24.732 Okay, so if you will bow your heads, please, I want to lead you guys in prayer before I get out of here. 00:25:25.932 --> 00:25:28.200 Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for this time. 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:31.799 I want to thank you for these people being here and coming together. 00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:34.532 We know when two or more gathered in your presence, you are here. 00:25:34.532 --> 00:25:35.665 We know you're in this room. 00:25:35.665 --> 00:25:40.232 Lord, I pray that you move and let this message hit whoever it needs to. 00:25:40.232 --> 00:25:45.299 I pray that you empower everybody underneath my voice right now to go out and tell your story. 00:25:45.299 --> 00:25:52.633 Lord, your story of what you've done in their lives in hopes that other people can realize what he can do in theirs. 00:25:52.633 --> 00:25:59.000 Lord, I pray that you increase in us a spirit of conviction to understand the times that we're in and the things that are coming. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:03.299 And we know that the enemy is scared because you are moving now more than ever. 00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:08.400 Give them the conviction and the courage to follow you and know what's of you and what and what's not. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:13.333 Lord, I pray that you increase in us a spirit of love and grace. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:17.099 All things can be mended with love, Lord, and your grace. 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:21.900 We're called to serve as you did, and we pray that you increase that in us, Lord and Lord. 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:26.732 Honestly, I ask that you, everybody in this room is just happy. 00:26:28.066 --> 00:26:31.000 This happy. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:35.932 We serve you, Lord, and you've done amazing things in everybody's life. 00:26:35.932 --> 00:26:42.032 I pray that they can take a moment and think about those things and be grateful for them, and be grateful for you. 00:26:42.099 --> 00:26:45.066 We have no bad days because you are supreme over everything. 00:26:45.066 --> 00:26:46.900 Every situation that happens. 00:26:46.900 --> 00:26:53.732 You ordained that, you knew it was going to happen and you've given us the tools to navigate through it, and I pray that you give them confidence to do that. 00:26:53.732 --> 00:26:58.133 And we ask this in your name we pray, Lord. Amen. 00:26:58.432 --> 00:27:00.266 Thank you guys. 00:27:00.266 --> 00:27:02.532 Hold on, hold on now. 00:27:02.532 --> 00:27:07.665 We are going to end this the same way that we started it. 00:27:07.665 --> 00:27:09.299 Before I turn it over to pastor. 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:11.232 It's only like 10s if that's okay. 00:27:16.865 --> 00:27:18.266 All right. 00:27:18.266 --> 00:27:21.266 You guys remember or you need a refresher? 00:27:25.333 --> 00:27:28.333 All right. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:31.266 Valley View. 00:27:31.266 --> 00:27:34.266 What day is it? 00:27:36.099 --> 00:27:38.133 Thank you guys, I appreciate you. 00:27:38.133 --> 00:27:41.133 And God will bless you. 00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:45.333 Thank you, Perris. 00:27:45.333 --> 00:27:49.266 And thank you for making sure our kids know to call mom when they need something. 00:27:49.266 --> 00:27:51.732 I'm very grateful for that. 00:27:51.732 --> 00:27:53.400 I think they know that already, though. 00:27:53.400 --> 00:28:05.465 But one thing you shared with the men that really stood out to me, that I think is good for all of us to hear, and I think. 00:28:05.465 --> 00:28:08.465 Let me see if I remember this right, that your grandma every day would say to you. 00:28:08.465 --> 00:28:09.633 What verse would you quote? 00:28:09.633 --> 00:28:11.932 28? 00:28:11.932 --> 00:28:18.732 God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love him, for those who are called according to his purpose. 00:28:18.732 --> 00:28:21.200 Every day she would say that to him. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:23.032 Hold on. He's going to correct me. 00:28:23.032 --> 00:28:29.500 That's also her contact for - that's her contact for him. 00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:31.532 28. 00:28:31.532 --> 00:28:33.833 28. 00:28:33.833 --> 00:28:35.299 God calls us all. And listen. 00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:36.932 That verse gets thrown around a lot. 00:28:36.932 --> 00:28:38.799 Oh, God's going to work all things out for good. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:45.200 But if anybody can embody that verse through the adversity that Perris has been through. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.900 I mean, when he walked through the things because I knew I saw him on the football field, I thought, this whole story is going to be about that. 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:56.066 And then you hear all he's been through and how God has worked all of that for good in his life. 00:28:56.066 --> 00:29:04.532 I thought, this is a message I needed to hear because the smallest little thing will derail me, let alone those huge things he's been through. 00:29:05.532 --> 00:29:07.133 And I was just so grateful to hear that. 00:29:07.133 --> 00:29:09.732 I think each of us can walk with that encouragement today. 00:29:09.732 --> 00:29:11.232 And I don't know what you've been through. 00:29:11.232 --> 00:29:13.333 I don't know what God has going on in your life. 00:29:13.333 --> 00:29:16.333 It may be harder than what he faced. 00:29:16.333 --> 00:29:17.400 There's a good chance, though. 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:23.032 There's some things that are much less than that that are derailing us, and we've got to depend on him to get us through that. 00:29:23.032 --> 00:29:27.400 So I hope his story was an encouragement to you today. 00:29:27.432 --> 00:29:30.099 What I'm going to do now is just pray and close out our time together. 00:29:30.099 --> 00:29:33.799 So if you would stand, we'll have a closing prayer of blessing. 00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:34.799 Thank you for being here. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.465 We're continuing that emphasis of walk by Faith. 00:29:37.465 --> 00:29:43.633 Next week we'll be back in Hebrews 11 talking about that as well as [?] But let me just pray and close us out. 00:29:43.633 --> 00:29:46.032 God, we thank you for today. 00:29:46.032 --> 00:30:01.000 Thank you for this powerful story of how you've worked in Perris’s life, whatever you're going through today, I pray that God guides you, that he comforts you, that he gives you direction, that you would sense his presence around you. 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:03.000 May the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.599 May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. 00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:09.599 And may you know his peace today. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:11.932 Jesus, we love you. 00:30:11.932 --> 00:30:13.500 We thank you for this day. 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:16.200 It is the best day ever. 00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:18.799 We love you and your name we pray. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:21.532 Amen. Have a great day. Go in peace.