Moment High School Football Player Stops To Pray for Boy on Opposing Team Captured in Viral Photo
Two football players in Texas went viral recently after they took a moment following Friday night’s game to pray together.
The most surprising aspect of the inspiring story? They were on opposing teams.
Sherman High School senior Gage Smith probably wasn’t expecting his act of kindness to be captured on camera when he stopped and asked West Mesquite’s Ty Jordan if he could pray with him. He was likely just thinking of the struggles Jordan might have been going through that night.
While most of the players were focused solely on the game, Smith knew his opponent probably had other worries on his mind — Jordan’s mother is currently fighting cancer.
The two athletes had played together on a select 7-on-7 team in the past, Smith told KXII.
The fact that they were now rivals didn’t stop the senior from approaching Jordan after the game on Friday night.
“Football brings people together in so many different ways, and that was just one example of it that night,” Smith said.
“When you’re playing the game, you’re playing to win and the other team is the enemy, but afterwards you still have respect for the other opponent,” he said.
The two players knelt together for a moment of faith and fellowship as they prayed.
“I just had a moment with him praying over him, his mom, and his family,” Smith told KXII.
Jordan’s aunt was the one who caught the kind gesture on camera. She later posted the photos to Facebook.
While she appears to have deleted her original post, the photos, particularly the one of Smith and Jordan kneeling together, have still gone viral across social media.
According to Smith’s football coach, this kind of behavior is no rarity for the teen, who often shows himself to be an example both on and off the field.
“He’s a true leader, and he has compassion, and it followed through for a lot of the guys on the team,” Sherman head football coach J.D. Martinez told KXII.
“It’s pretty special that kind of everybody gets to see really what he is, he’s that type of kid all the time, it’s just not in front of the cameras or anything like that, he’s like that every day,” the coach added.
The social media fame was a surprise for Smith, who was not looking for recognition.
“To see that it blew up I was very surprised by it, and I wasn’t expecting it to be like that you know, I was just doing it for him and doing it for his mom and his family,” Smith said.
However, the fact that the special moment is being widely praised as a powerful moment of Godly love just goes to show that each and every prayer makes a difference.
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