Hearing God Through All The Noise!

The following is a story written by Gentry Estes of the Mobile-Press Register Newspaper.

TUSCALOOSA -- It's OK if you don't quite understand. Glen Coffee expected that.

At the same time, that didn't prevent the former Alabama running back from walking away suddenly after only one season of a promising NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers. Coffee announced his unexpected retirement at age 23 with a brief statement Friday, prompting widespread speculation as to the reasons.

Coffee had been "wrestling" with the decision for a while, he said in a Saturday interview. He said he came to the conclusion that God had another plan for him other than football, and leaving the sport "was just me doing what I should have done a long time ago."
"I feel like it's His will," Coffee said. "It's something that I really felt like I shouldn't have entered the NFL in the first place. I don't know what call God has for my life, but it wasn't football. ... I'll be happier, not necessarily because I'm without football, but because I'm letting Him do his work. Whether it was leaving football or leaving something else, another job, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy because I'm following His will."

Coffee's next step, he said, will be a return to the University of Alabama to finish work on his undergraduate degree before possibly beginning graduate school.
In many ways, Coffee feels his path away from football began while he was at Alabama. In the midst of his Crimson Tide career, he found Christianity and embraced it. He was baptized during the 2007 season, and soon after began accepting speaking engagements to spread his faith.

Religion eventually spurred his decision to leave pro football, he said.
"A lot of people aren't going to understand and realize because they don't have the wisdom to understand," Coffee said. "Their eyes aren't open like mine are open. True happiness is glorifying God and glorifying Christ. That's what true happiness is. ... And for me, that wasn't the NFL. That wasn't where I needed to be."
Coffee seems likely to enter the ministry or a similar career in the religious field, but said he won't force it.
"That will come to me," he said. "There are people asking me to speak right now, so that ministry comes. That's a ministry in itself."

A once-touted prospect from Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., Coffee established himself as one of Alabama's better tailbacks of the past decade. As a junior in 2008, he rushed for 1,383 yards and 10 touchdowns, a driving force on a Crimson Tide team that went 12-2 and reached the SEC title game for the first time in nine years.
He chose to forego his final year of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2009 NFL draft; the 49ers selected him in the third round.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said he was surprised Coffee gave up football and said they had not discussed the decision.
"I really was surprised," Saban said. "Glen was such a warrior-type competitor when he was here. He was a guy that just played fantastic football for us and improved dramatically in the two years he was on the team (under Saban). He always seemed to be a guy that really loved the game."
Coffee said he later regretted leaving school early, but that wasn't because Alabama won the national title without him in 2009.

"When I gave my life to Christ, I had that (2008) season," Coffee said. "So I said, 'Well, if I get paid for football, I'll be OK.' But that wasn't the case. ... I would have liked to have stayed with my teammates, because I left there for the wrong reasons. I left because I was done with football. It's crazy if you think about it. You leave football to go to another level of football, and you think you're going to be happier. Money or no money, that wasn't the case."
He rushed for 226 yards on 83 carries last season for the 49ers last season. Though he was a backup to star running back Frank Gore, Coffee remained No. 2 on San Francisco's depth chart, ahead of rookie Anthony Dixon of Mississippi State.

"I appreciate his honesty," 49ers coach Mike Singletary said, "and I appreciate him not coming out here and going through the motions."
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There will be a number of people who don't understand why Glen Coffee has done what he has.
To answer a call that God has placed on your life is a serious matter, and Glen's attitude through this entire time has been one of great character and maturity.

I bless Glen Coffee wherever God may take him.

God on you...
mb