When STV caught up with Craig Kanada, he was shopping for shampoo at Target near his home in The Woodlands, Texas, accompanied by his wife, Brooke, and their three sons.

Nobody asked for his autograph. It is likely that nobody recognized him, even though at that time — five weeks into the PGA Tour season — he was outplaying Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, John Daly, Stewart Cink and many of the big names who had been padding their multi million-dollar portfolios while Kanada was piling up over 100,000 miles on a Chrysler minivan with malfunctioning locks.

Her name is often stretched across the headlines of sports pages around the nation: Courtney Paris, University of Oklahoma All-American. Of course, it’s hard not to talk about an athlete who frequently adds to her growing list of NCAA records, which already stood at an astonishing 16 at the beginning of her senior year.

But unlike many egocentric players who drool at the mention of having their name in print, Paris remains unfazed. Yes, it comes with the territory, but to her it is “irrelevant.” She is too focused to get caught up in the hype surrounding achievements. She knows her most significant accomplishments won’t ever be listed in press clippings. Rather, they are humbly imprinted on the lives of those she influences.

Steve “Chappy” Hudson has been committed to full-time ministry since he was 23. After attending seminary, he joined the ministry team of a church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Six years later, he felt the tugging of the Holy Spirit to step out of the church setting to reach the “unequipped.” And what better place than at Charlotte Motor Speedway?

Cat Osterman had Callista Balko’s number: nine to be exact. Balko had been 0-9 in her previous career at-bats — nine straight Ks — when facing Texas’ three time national softball player of the year.

“She threw my weakness — a drop ball,” said Balko, a junior at the University of Arizona. “I was trying to adjust anything to hit off that girl. I don’t think I even fouled off a pitch during those nine at bats. It was a frustrating time.”

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Have you ever heard the phrase, “Nothing good comes easy”?

Kevin “Chappy” Hynes, Jill Perry, Scott Shepherd and Ray Lawrence share an office in Athens, Georgia. One of the most visibly enticing elements is a large dry erase board, topped with this question: SITUATION ANALYSIS — WHAT ARE WE DOING WELL? Below that are the answers: variety, weekly meetings, discipleship with leaders, buddy relationships, trips, Bible study. And below that, another question: WHERE CAN WE IMPROVE? And the answers: discipleship with others, team interaction, feature teams, worship team, coaches.

In sports today, everything a pro athlete does is under a microscope. Every single day newspaper headlines scream about another athlete who has crashed and burned. Sometimes it's part of their personal life, while other times it's directly related to his or her sport. Either way, we have access to information about virtually everything these athletes do. Their lives are in full view.

If we're honest, I don't think any one of us would want that kind of scrutiny and spotlight on our lives. We all sin. And since our mistakes don't usually make the headlines, it's easy for us to think that we're getting away with them and just sweeping them under the rug. But, like I tell my kids, the truth always comes out.

Is a balanced life possible?

Throughout the Native American reservations scattered around the Black Hills of western South Dakota, the locals' love of basketball borders on obsession, offering a nightly escape from days flush with hopelessness and indescribable poverty.

No matter how brightly the community's young hardwood stars shine on the court, though, many seem destined to follow the paths of those who support them from the stands. Unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse have tightened their grip on the Lakota people, and the reservation has become a place where suicides quadruple the national average and funerals fail to discriminate between young and old.