Every Friday morning at Hardee Junior High School in Wauchula, Fla., more than 750 students can be found crammed into the auditorium for an FCA Huddle meeting. In a little more than half an hour, school will begin for the day. But for now, in the junior high auditorium amid the backpacks, textbooks and hundreds of sixth, seventh and eighth graders, praise music blares, and the message of Christ's redeeming love is preached.

Almost 200 students have given their lives to Christ during the morning meetings.

Seven years later, Arnold Thornton still feels the tingle of amazement. He remembers that late August day in 2001, gawking with his brother at the flickering images on ESPN: "Is that really David — our David — putting a lickin' on the defending national champs?"

It was. The name on the back of his jersey was the giveaway. Otherwise, Arnold would have had his doubts. Sure, his son had been a gifted three-sport athlete at Goldsboro (N.C.) High, but Arnold had never seen David fly around the football field like this before.

One thing I've realized in my life is that I have great intentions. And I would imagine that the same is true for most of us. We make resolutions, we make commitments, and we set goals that we intend to keep. If we're really good, we even give someone else permission to hold us accountable and make sure that we do the things we say we are going to do.

Most of us truly want to experience God's best. We want to get healthy. We want to honor God with our bodies. We want to take care of His temple. But somehow we just don't get it done. And in our country, we have access to more opportunities than in any other country on the planet. Whether it's information, entertainment, technology or even food, we have convenient access.

It was a cold, dreary day in February 1984, and Big Red sophomore midfielder Frank Kelly III was scuffling through what seemed like a neverending string of lacrosse drills at Cornell University.

A multi-sport star at Baltimore's Calvert Hall College High School two seasons earlier, Kelly was used to getting showered with accolades and praise for his on-field achievements. But at Cornell, stress fractures in his shins, coupled with an uncanny ability to draw the ire of legendary Big Red coach Richie Moran, had placed him squarely on the team's bench, searching for both playing time and purpose.

What can you find out in seven minutes on the phone with Chris Kaman?

Quite a bit, actually.

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.

Men, let's take a deep look inside our minds and hearts and ask ourselves this question: Am I living a pure life?

Sure, we tell people we are living pure lives, going to church, doing our quiet times and attending Bible studies. That has to be the model of purity, right?

But what if we asked ourselves a more pointed question — one focusing on an area that is so easy to hide: sexual purity.

As a dynamite athlete growing up in Lake City, Fla., Pat Summerall would glance at the Bible from time to time, but it was really more of an afterthought than a priority. Other options were much more appealing.

Years later, at the Betty Ford Center in 1992, as a struggling alcoholic whose drinking problems had damaged his relationships with his family and friends, the Bible was Summerall's only choice.

The economic struggles of the United States strike Albert Pujols differently than most. After all, when you've grown up amid conditions far worse than what the average American considers difficult, it puts things in perspective. While the economic crash of the U.S. is indeed serious, if not critical, the reality remains that many countries are filled with citizens who have been battling for years to find a single daily meal.

No, Pujols himself was never a starving child, but he wasn't wealthy. And the scenes he saw growing up in the Dominican Republic, where he lived before moving with his family to the U.S. at the age of 15, have fueled in him a passion for reaching those in need.

Nashville Predators goalie Dan Ellis, former Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Josh Davis, former college football coach Brian McNeely & FCA President Les Steckel.