Hey everybody welcome to the mere Christians podcast I'm Jordan

Rayner how does the gospel influence the work of mere Christians?

Those of us who aren't pastors, were not religious professionals,

but those of us who work as fast food workers or statisticians or pipe fitters?

That's the question we explore every week,

and today I'm posing it to my new friend Sam Acho.

He's a nine-year NFL veteran linebacker,

currently working as an ESPN analyst and a best-selling author.

Sam and I recently sat down to talk about why vulnerability is the key to freedom in your work.

We talked about the power of Christ-like joy in the workplace

and why every mere Christian's work matters deeply to God. I think you guys are really going to enjoy this conversation

with Sam Aceh. Sam Macho,

Sam Macho, welcome the Muir Christians podcast.

It's good to be out with you Jordan.

Hey, so I gotta ask because I'm in Tampa Bay.

You spend a year down here, right?

I did, I did, and it was interesting because of how warm it was on Christmas. Now mind you, my first couple years in the NFL, I played in Arizona, so I was like, I was like 90 degrees on Christmas Eve I think one

Christmas night evening it was a hundred degrees and I was like wow this is hot that's

for the next four years in Chicago and Christmases were negative three degrees. It felt like negative 100 and then my last year was in Tampa and I was like I remember though I forgot how warm it can be in the winter time and so yes I did spend time in Tampa and I really enjoyed it.

Man I've lived here pretty much all my life. I've spent every Christmas of my life here in Tampa.

I can remember a cold Christmas in 36 years. One of them. So welcome to Tampa, Florida. So hey man, I'm really curious what your

testimony is. When did you come to follow Jesus? How did that happen, Sam?

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