Video summary
David Pollack's journey from a promising NFL prospect to a three-time All-American is defined by an abrupt and life-altering moment that occurred in his second season when he suffered a severe neck fracture during a game. This traumatic injury forced him into a period of intense physical limitation, wearing a halo brace and undergoing extensive surgery and rehabilitation, which stripped him of the athletic identity he had cultivated since childhood. However, this crisis became the catalyst for a profound spiritual awakening, moving Pollack from a transactional faith based on routine check-ins to a deep, purposeful relationship with God. He realized that his previous approach to spirituality was merely going through the motions, and the silence and stillness imposed by his injury provided the necessary space to truly hear God's voice and understand that every day is a precious gift rather than an entitlement.
The core of Pollack's message revolves around the distinction between viewing adversity as punishment versus seeing it as a divine tool for teaching and growth. He challenges the notion that bad things happen only to punish good people, arguing instead that suffering allows God to reveal His presence in the storm and to fill gaps in our character that we cannot address otherwise. Through his experience, Pollack learned that while he could not control external circumstances or the loss of friends and opportunities associated with his career ending, he retained full control over his response to those events. This shift in perspective transformed his scars into a source of empathy and authority, enabling him to connect deeply with others who are hurting and to use his unique story to bring glory to God by demonstrating that He is always for us, not against us.
To help others navigate their own difficult times and cultivate a mindset where every day counts, Pollack shares a practical framework known as the "Three Rs" for prayer and spiritual reflection: Reflect, Repent, and Repurpose. This method encourages individuals to pause and reflect on their daily lives, identifying wins and losses; to repent by acknowledging mistakes and blind spots; and finally, to repurpose their current blessings and opportunities for God's glory. By starting the morning with gratitude and a list of things to be thankful for, rather than complaints, one can reorient their focus from what is missing to what is present. Pollack emphasizes that this disciplined approach to prayer prevents monotony and fosters a continuous transformation, ensuring that even in moments of extreme hardship or uncertainty, believers can find strength, purpose, and a renewed appreciation for the simple acts of living, such as walking or breathing.
Read the full video transcript
My guest today knows what it's like to
be on top of the world. A threetime
Allame American, a firstround NFL draft
pick, and then in an instant, it was all
gone. Today, David is here to share how
he learned the hard way that every day
counts. David, welcome to Unscripted
Faith.
>> Thank you for having me on. Appreciate
it.
>> We are honored to have you, David. I
mean, your your your success is
prolific. You have done so much. ESPN
coordinator. You're on YouTube just
doing all the talking and and making
moves out there still today. But back up
for me for a moment and share with me
your God story.
>> Well, it's kind of cool because I I
didn't grow up in church. Um never
stepped foot in a church until my junior
year of high school. And I had this
neighbor across the street, uh Philip
Greenwood. He's like, "Hey man, we're
doing a lock in the church." And I was
like, "What's a lock in?" He was like,
"You come to the church. We lock you in
and you spend the I'm" I'm like, "No,
I'm out. What are you talking about?
Absolutely not." And then he said the
magic words for me at that time though.
He goes, "You get to stay up all night,
eat food, and play sports." And I'm
like, "Okay, I'm in." And that's the
first time I ever heard the name of
Jesus. And so I go to the lockin. And
then next thing I do is literally I have
a teacher, Mark Watson, who was my
physics teacher as a junior. And I'm
like, "Dang, this dude's different."
Like something about his personality,
something about the way he lives. And he
had the Jesus sticker on his computer.
And I called him, I thought he was a
Jesus freak. That's what I called him at
the time. And he played praise and
worship in between um classes at a
public school. So it wasn't like he was
really accepted. So for for English, for
outside reading, we had to read 200
pages of a book. So because someone had
planted the seed, because someone had
lived a life that I was like, "That's
different. something's unique about it.
It made me pick up my Bible and it made
me choose to read 200 pages of the
Bible. And uh when I did that, my teen
English teacher was like, "Wait, wait,
you can't do that." And I was like, "Why
not?" She was like, "Because I can't sit
down with you and make sure you read
it." I said, "Mr. Watson will" and she
was like, "Have you talked to Mr.
Watson?" I said, "No, but he will." And
he did.
>> And he sat down with me and he took me
through the Gospels and he talked to me.
He took me straight to Jesus. And that
was really, really important. And he
just showed me to be brief. He showed me
basically that that Jesus wasn't a god
or a Christian story. Jesus was history.
Just like George Washington was the
first president. We know that was fact
because the history books. The Bible's a
history book. And by the way, the most
dependable, the most reliable, the most
transcribed, the most scrutinized in the
history of mankind. So he literally he
spent his time he spent his talents and
it was it's not the great commission or
suggestion, right? It's the great
commission. and he took his time to pour
into me and that's literally how I
discovered my faith and started to live
it out.
>> Wow. I love that he took the time to
really disciple you. I mean, that's what
was happening in those moments and
sparked this flame of Christ within your
heart as a young age. While you were a
young kid, you also had another spark, a
desire for football. Share with us what
that looked like and where it ultimately
took you.
>> Well, I I was four years old and I knew
exactly what I wanted to be. And what
that meant was I wanted to be an NFL
player. And I know I got plenty of pats
on the head. Probably like Dane, our
next guest is like, "Oh, you can't do
this. You can't do that." Right?
Probably those pats on the heads that
you've got, right? And it didn't matter
because it didn't bother me cuz I wanted
to go accomplish something great. So, I
knew I had to give things up and I gave
up a lot of things along the way and
worked really, really hard. And I lived
out my dream and my goal and I was a
firstround draft pick and my career was
just starting and I'm like, "Yeah, this
is cool. this is what I'm supposed to do
for the next 10-15 years. And then like
you said when you introed me, it was one
hit my second season, my second play.
And uh they take me underneath the the
stadium and they put me on the X-ray and
they're like, "Hey man, you fractured
your C6C7." And I'm like, "Cool. What's
that mean?" I'm out for a couple weeks
and they're like, "That means you broke
your neck." And I was like, "Oh, can we
stick to the fractured C6C7 because that
sounds a heck of a lot better than a
broken neck." Um but but then I re
here's what I realized. I had had faith.
I I I loved Jesus with everything in me.
I I went to church. I knew who God was.
But there's a very big difference
between a transactional relationship
with God and a real relationship. I had
a transactional relationship with God.
I'd holler at him in the morning when I
woke up. I might holler at him before a
meal, but it wasn't every day all
throughout the day. It wasn't purposeful
living talking to him. The Bible says,
"Be still and know that I am God." A lot
of y'all out there, man, you're waiting
to hear from God and you're like, I
haven't heard from him. Have you got
still? Because that's what I had to do.
God slowed me down. Everything in my
life stopped. I I didn't I had a neck
brace. I had a halo. I had surgery. I
had two years of rehab and doing just
about nothing, especially compared to to
what I used to be able to do. And in
that moment, you know what you realize?
You realize that sport makes a horrible
God. Occupation makes a horrible God.
like and so developing my relationship,
getting still with God, talking to him,
getting in my Bible, putting that Bible
in here and I'm pointing to my heart so
it comes out of here, right? Like not
not just checking a box. Like I I did
that for a long time. I was a box
checker. Oh, yep. You see me? I did this
like instead of reading my Bible in the
mornings. First of all, get selfish in
the morning so you can be selfless the
rest of the day. You got to do it early,
right? Do it in the morning as soon as
you get up. But then you got a chance to
really live it out and be successful
because we need that word. We need that
guidance. We need transformation. We
need to continue to find those moments
to spend time with God. And then guess
what? If you do that, if you get still
and you pray and you and you and you
read your Bible and you're still not
hearing for God, then we can have a
conversation. But I but I think when we
do those things, I think you'll realize
that definitely God will speak to you.
David, I love that and that mindset to
kind of continue to push through, but I
can't I I can't fathom that it was easy
for you to digest. Okay, since I was
four years old, I've been working
towards this dream and now in one shot
prematurely, this doesn't make sense.
You know, I'm sure you had a lot of
those questions and had to navigate
through that disappointment. What did
that look like for you? And how can
somebody come out on the other side like
you did? Hey friend, if this
conversation is encouraging you,
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>> My my baby doll, I remember when she
said this because it kind of struck me
when I when I hurt my neck. My wife says
to me, she was like, you know, I I get
I'm very frustrated that other people
gave it away. One of our linebackers
that played for Ohio for the Bengals, um
he he had drugs and he got suspended. He
got kicked out of the NFL. And she was
like, "And you got it taken away."
>> And that's an easy thing that we can say
to ourselves and we can try to
rationalize and justify. But that's also
operating under a premise again. It's
just like, "Why do bad things happen to
good people?"
>> No, it's not that. Like we're all bad.
>> We're all sinned. We're all flawed. And
here's the thing. I don't think bad
things happen for God to punish us. I
think bad things happen for God's to
teach us. I think he allows things to
happen to show us. Here's the thing. Do
you think I ever had uh sympathy,
empathy, and compassion for people that
broke their neck that were in hospitals
and No. Do do you think God could now
use me in a whole different light? Like
God can use those scars whether whether
you have them that you can see like me
in my neck or whether you have those
emotional scars that you can't see. God
doesn't waste things. God is for us.
He's not against us. He wants us to
prosper. He wants us to be successful.
But sometimes that means going through
something that's difficult to realize
how good he is. To realize he's always
there for you in the storm. To realize
who he put in your life. Because that's
one thing I realized really quickly when
you start looking around when you're
making millions of dollars and you're in
the NFL. Like you got a lot of friends.
When you break your neck and you ain't
you ain't got a lot of friends no more
and you ain't playing in the NFL. Life
changes. So, I think God's going to
always use your circumstances in your
life to draw him draw to draw us closer
to him, to make us more complete, to
fill in those gaps in our lives that we
don't have. That the only way we're
going to get them, man, is to go through
a little bit of hard and what if we
looked at things like, I don't care what
happens to me. I care about my response.
Like, that's all I can control. I can't
control what happens. But I do serve a
God in heaven that I know he's not up
there saying, "I want to cause uh pain.
I just I want you to die." That's not
what he's looking to do. He's going to
use some of these extreme circumstances
in our lives. But all of y'all that have
been through something hard, you always
get out of it, and you're like, "Yep,
now I see. Now I understand. Now I have
this authority to speak to other people
that are hurting in a way that I never
would have been able to do. I developed
compassion. I developed sympathy and
empathy in a new way. and now I can go
use that for his glory in a whole new
light.
>> I love that. I love how you've been able
to shift your perspective really and see
that every day is a gift. It really is
like we aren't given anything that we
God doesn't have to do anything for us.
But sometimes we get these moments and
we get confused about what we should
have and what we shouldn't. But you've
been able to very effortlessly
transition your mind, your life into
this everyday counts idea. So in our
last few seconds, share with us one or
two things that can help us today to
learn, okay, today I'm going to live
like it really does count.
>> Well, I when I when I'm in my halo, you
know, they drill that in your skull and
it's down to your waist. Like you can't
do much. And what what you realize
quickly is, oh my I used to be able to
do all these things. I'm a big strong
dude and now I don't take for granted
walking.
>> I don't take for granted doing the
little things. And I think, you know,
that's what God was able to show me when
he slowed me down was like, "Hey, man,
you don't deserve to have X, Y, and Z,
but look at what you do have." Like how
if if we will wake up in the morning and
we will get still and we will thank God
for the things that we have. And we
start to put that list together, man,
you're going to realize how long it is.
Like, you think it's short. And listen,
I I I I'm okay with bringing your list
of complaints to God, too. I'm here for
it. Okay? You can you can bring those
and he's going to listen. But if you'll
go through what you have to be thankful
for, it really reminds you where you're
at, where you came from. And one of the
things that I do with prayer that really
helps me because Dne's going to get to
prayer in a minute, which is awesome.
Like one thing that changed my prayer
life was the three Rs. Okay? So reflect.
When you get to get still, instead of
being monotonous and it always being the
same thing over and over again, when you
get still, reflect. What happened
yesterday? What happened? What was the
my wins? What was my losses? The second
R is repent. Like, okay, where did what
do I need to give to God that I messed
up? And the list of mine is long
sometimes. And then sometimes it
consists of, hey God, like what are some
blind spots I'm not seeing right now?
And the third R is repurpose. Like God,
this is what I have today. Please be in
it on my conversations, in my
opportunities. So those three Rs changed
my prayer life and it changed the
direction in which I have gratitude. And
listen, we all know prayer can be
awkward and it can be different and it
can be repetitive, but those things
definitely help me.
>> I love those three Rs. And with the
alliteration, it makes it easy to
remember. I love that, David.
>> I'm a dumb football player. You got to
do that stuff. It's got to make it easy
in [laughter] your head.
>> Come on. Come on, David. I am so
thankful you came by on Scripted Faith
today to share your story. And I have no
doubt. I know you've encouraged me and
I'm going to get so many stories of the
viewers that you've encouraged. We're
going to be looking for that book,
Everyday Counts. and thank you for being
here with us.
>> Thank you for having me.