Runner-Up

By Jonathan Karastury

Humans have always had a Runner-Up mindset in multiple aspects of life; however, we have never truly utilized this mindset towards God. Throughout this book, Jonathan Karastury depicts five factors that will help us put God first in our lives and glorify Him in everything that we do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Harbor Press
• Release date: Jun 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386253556

Jonathan Karastury

Jonathan Karastury is the founder of Runner-Up, which is a ministry designed to offer fellowship opportunities through sports and provide athletes a platform to express their faith. By being involved in athletics his entire life, Jonathan seeks to utilize the popularity of sports for the glory of God.

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RUNNER-UP

RUNNER-UP

JONATHAN KARASTURY

Runner-Up

Copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Karastury.

New Harbor Press

www.newharborpress.com

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE – COMA

CHAPTER TWO – AWOKEN

CHAPTER THREE – BROKEN CHAINS & OPENED EYES

CHAPTER FOUR – KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER FIVE - LOVE

CHAPTER SIX – PRAYER

CHAPTER SEVEN – SERVING

CHAPTER EIGHT – FELLOWSHIP

CHAPTER NINE – CONCLUSION

1

Coma

The clock hit zero and the announcer proclaimed, Congratulations to Columbus High! They have not won a game in a long, long time. As I sat on the bench with my face in my hands, I was in disbelief. How did I go from being awarded WRBL Athlete of the Week last year against this same team to throwing multiple interceptions this year and losing to our biggest rival? I was extremely embarrassed and I found myself questioning God’s reasoning. Before the game began, I was told that I was elected to play in the East vs. West Georgia Senior Bowl, and now I was the laughingstock of Northside High School. I remember walking through the halls at school and hearing, Look! He’s the quarterback who cost us the blackout game against Columbus! I tried my best to hide my face around school; my outfit for the entire week consisted of a hoodie that covered my head, because I was ashamed to show my face. Since I had a decent season my junior year and was picking up some college interest, I thought that the sky was the limit for my senior year. After losing to our biggest rival, and based on the response that I was hearing around school, it is safe to say that any confidence I had gained plummeted. Looking back, I wonder if the outcome of that game would have been different if I would have read Matthew 23:12 which states, For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted before the season started. I remember going to practice and realizing that I was not the only one who was taking the loss considerably hard. The energy of our entire team was drained to the point that our coach stopped practice and allowed us to express our emotions as an entire team. The most common response was that the majority of the players just weren’t having fun anymore.

We moved on from that game and continued to push through the season while picking up loss after loss. In all fairness, we did not have the number of students or the athletic ability to compete with the other schools in our classification. The schools were split into zones, and because we lived in such a large county, this resulted in over ten high schools in our area. Considering the athletic ability was distributed between a substantial number of schools throughout Muscogee County, we had a disadvantage when playing counties that had only one high school. Unfortunately, I developed a mindset of being unconcerned about the number of wins and losses throughout the season. Cruising through the year with an attitude of picking up scholarship opportunities to play football in college consumed me. Now, of course, I tried to win every game that we played, but I was selfishly more concerned about the way that I played. My objective consisted of creating enough impressive plays to make an intriguing highlight tape, which would lead to my goal of picking up college scholarships. I had my eyes set on Faulkner University and I was determined to go there. When I was a senior in high school, Faulkner University was averaging 591 yards per game, which was the second highest in all of college football. The only offense in the country that accumulated more yards per game was Baylor University. Considering the success that Faulkner University had on offense, my goal was to receive a scholarship, put up big numbers, transfer to a division one school, and make a name for myself. I was going to do everything in my ability to be successful and the game of football was the only thing on my mind.

When I played my last down of football for Northside High School, I did not know how to feel. I was extremely pleased that we were able to win the last game of the year against a region opponent, but I had a wide variety of emotions that ranged from joy to sadness. My joy eventually overcame my sadness, because I knew that there was no longer any pressure on me for that specific moment of my life. To be honest, I became so obsessed with being successful that my love for the game began to deteriorate. I remember before we played Jordan High School, I was in the huddle during pregame warmups and I started getting sick. I stepped over to the sideline and began vomiting everywhere. Many people were concerned that I was not going to be able to play because this was a must-win game. I was obviously concerned as well, considering I knew that we had to win this game, which is probably why I got sick. It is not a coincidence that I started miraculously feeling better after I was able to rush for a 79 yard touchdown because of the successful execution by the rest of my team to take the lead and eventually win the game. I knew that the pressure to be successful led to my sickness, so I began taking Tums before each game to settle my stomach. The pressure that I felt to earn the respect of my opponents and to be successful is common for athletes, but when those emotions led to getting sick, I knew that the pressure that I felt was not normal and certainly not healthy. Although I was aware of the issue that I had, I was more concerned about playing college football and showing all of the people who doubted me that they were wrong. Also, I knew that I had a chance to pick up a substantial number of scholarships by playing well in the East vs West Georgia Senior Bowl.

Since the players on each team would be gathering from all over the state of Georgia, we all stayed in the same hotel depending on what team we were on. I was extremely excited when I was introduced to the athletes that were on the West Georgia team. I was able to experience a whole different level of football with insanely talented people. Considering we had to learn an entire playbook in three days, we would practice from sunup to sundown and have two to three meetings per day to go over signals, plays, and strategic plans to win the game. Being able to have this opportunity was an experience that I will never forget, and I was blessed enough to play considerably well. There were four quarterbacks on the West Georgia team, and the four of us would switch out each drive. After throwing a touchdown during one of my drives, I remember going back to the sidelines, sitting on the bench, and