What kind of price are football players willing to pay for NFL money, fame and glory? Esquire magazine reported that during the 2011 NFL season, the roughly 2,000 active players suffered at least 4,500 injuries. That comes out to an injury rate of 225 percent. The long list of injuries includes: "… concussions, torn ACLs, ruptured Achilles tendons, high ankle sprains, hyperextended elbows, broken metatarsals, turf toes, stretched or compressed spines, pulled hamstrings, and torn muscles, along with assorted strains, contusions, and herniations."

A current NFL player who wants to remain anonymous documents his experiences of pain for his children to understand when they're older. Here's a typical entry:

My left knee has been aching this entire week. I don't know why. I didn't get hit directly on it in the last game …. When I start moving around, the muscles and tendons in my leg feel so stressed, sometimes I feel they might rupture. My lower back is so sore, painful and stiff; my right shoulder has lost some mobility for some reason. My right ankle is constantly being twisted; my left feels very weak …. I don't sleep much, I feel super stressed, and on game day I take tons of drugs …

Right from player's early teens the accepted dogma is that injuries should never stop you from "going to war" …. The "theater of pain" is all pervasive for today's player. Green Bay Packer's center Jeff Saturday says,

They see guys writhing in pain. They see guys crying, and they hear guys screaming. They see guys knocked out, guys go limp as a suit sliding from a hanger, guys stay horribly still, guys strapped to the board—and that's what every player fears. The board. Getting strapped to the board.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Negative example—At its worst, this story exemplifies the cost that comes with idolatrous pursuits, disordered ambition and, misplaced priorities. Why would people risk their lives for something that does not ultimately matter? (2) Positive example—At its best, this story shows a profound dedication to sacrifice comfort in order to achieve a goal. As Christians, Jesus does not call us to pursue pain as an end in itself, but at some point we should ask: What cost are we willing to pay to follow Christ?