Dear Derek,

Today is the day you leave for college. As I pen this letter, I am confident that you are still asleep. I’m up early again, as usual, but my thoughts are on you, and I felt led to write them down.

As you take this next step on your journey I wanted to share some insights that might assist you along the way. I’ve heard it said that life is to be learned backwards and lived forward. My goal is to be transparent and share what I’ve learned through both my successes and failures. It is the desire of my heart, son, that you realize all your dreams as you live life forward.

Needing just one win to secure a national championship, Oklahoma softball player Brianna Turang and her Sooner teammates devastatingly lost the final two games of the 2012 Women’s College World Series. Rather than dwelling on the past, the two-sport standout senior (also a member of OU’s soccer team) has committed to helping her team complete the mission this season while modeling her faith in her final year on OU’s campus.

I grew up in a very loving, Christian family that showed me from the beginning what true love was. Still, it took me a few years to realize that my faith didn’t revolve around my family, but around God—around who He is, and what He’s done.

When it came to matters of faith, I grew up going to church with my family on Sundays, but that’s about as deep as my faith went. I was a member of our high school’s FCA Huddle, and, while I may not have embraced it at the time, FCA did help me begin to see how faith and sports could be intermixed.

You would never know it. Not by the welcoming smile or the calming spirit. You wouldn’t have a clue there was a time in Tamika Catchings’ life when she was shy, withdrawn and intimidated by the world around her. That description doesn’t fit the typical girl who would become the face of the WNBA.

But Tamika Catchings has never been one to conform to stereotypes. She was born with a mild hearing loss, which caused her to speak with an impediment and wear hearing aids (which she hates even to this day).

Texas A&M forward Adaora Elonu may have been born and raised in Houston, but her childhood was also influenced by more than just the Texas culture—specifically, her family’s Nigerian roots and her parents’ desire to raise their five children as Christ-followers. Now a senior with the defending NCAA National Champion Aggies, Elonu is working to establish a legacy of her own—one of both basketball brilliance and spiritual impact.

I grew up in Slidell, La., about 30 miles away from New Orleans and the area's famed Bayou Country. My paternal grandfather was a minister who preached faith in God and a strong work ethic. He instilled those values in my father, Gene, who faithfully passed them on to my older brother, Bryan, and me.

As kids, Bryan and I really benefited from our dad's wisdom. Our family attended church every week at Hartzell Mount Zion Church in Slidell, and that was where I placed my faith in Christ when I was 15 years old.

I absolutely love the New Year! If the previous year was long and difficult, the New Year provides a fresh start and a clean slate. If it was exciting and fulfilling, it brings an expectation of great opportunities to come. Either way, the possibilities and potential are energizing.

Coach Jeremy Williams led his Greenville High School Patriots to an undefeated regular season in football this year—an accomplishment in and of itself that deserved recognition—but this wasn’t about his win-loss record. The reason Williams was named the West Central Georgia FCA Coach of the Year was because of his unyielding, unending desire to share Christ’s love with others, even as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) slowly and methodically destroyed his body.

Webb Simpson's U.S. Open Championship trophy may tarnish with time, but his Savior's offer of salvation will forever be secure.

If God’s will is a highway, Russ Ortiz doesn’t want to spend anymore time on the side roads.

After tearing through his first seven seasons in the majors with outstanding numbers, Ortiz found himself in unfamiliar territory in 2005. Not only did he make his first trip to the disabled list with a stress fracture in his ribs, he also experienced his first losing season at the major-league level. As a result, Ortiz, who came to Christ at an FCA Huddle meeting at the University of Oklahoma, found himself struggling with new challenges and frustrations. And what he learned was that God’s way is always better than man’s way.