NFL running back Shaun Alexander writes:

At the University of Alabama, I was meeting women from a lot of different backgrounds. My mother had taught me never to exploit women—that sex was meant only for marriage—and to treat women with respect. I knew the boundary lines it wasn't right to cross… I knew if I didn't keep my focus, I could fall. And it could occur anytime.

One time it almost did. It happened the first year of college when I'd gone home for a visit. To protect her privacy, I'll call her Sherron. One night we were alone in my room while my mom was gone. We were kissing, and I thought seriously about having sex with her. But something in me kept whispering, This isn't right.

Just then the phone ran. It was my mother, and she asked, "Is everything good, Shaun?"

"Uh…yeah, Mom," I said. "It's good."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," I answered. "Sherron is here and we're going to go out and eat and probably go to a movie. Something like that."

"Okay, that's fine," Mom said. "I'm going to stay in Covington with your grandma, so I'll call you tomorrow."

As I hung up, thoughts raced through my mind. What am I doing here? Something isn't right about this. This is so easy and nobody else will know. But I'll know, and God will know. It was more than wrestling with my thoughts. I was in a full-out fight. I had to decide who my body would serve.

Just then, Sherron leaned close to me and whispered, "I've brought condoms."

My thoughts were racing. Mainly I was thinking, Am I one of those rotten guys who says he loves Jesus but folds when it's easy or when he won't get caught? "No, we can't do this," I finally said.

"Why not?"

"We're not supposed to."

"What does that mean?" Sherron asked.

I jumped up and pulled her to her feet. "It means we're going out."

I hurried her out to the car, and we drove to the mall. That was the closest I ever got to having sex before marriage. Mom's phone call had kept me from making a big mistake. Many times I've been grateful to my mother for calling exactly when she did.