Brandin Cooks, wide receiver for the Houston Texas, knows what it is like to face the week-in-week-out pressure of being a professional athlete.  In our most recent episode, Shooting Arrow, Cooks talked with our own Rob Maaddi about playing football as a Christian.

“For me, my faith is my foundation and that’s just how I’ve always been; how I play the game. I play to glorify. God.”

Cooks has a unique touchdown celebration inspired by Psalm 144:6: “Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Send out Your arrows and confuse them.” The celebration is a way for Cooks to inject God into his game.

“It was just a way for me to glorify God in it in a different way, in a unique way. It’s one of my favorite verses, but he also gets me in that mold. It’s not the lightest verse, it is a violent one, but you know, this game is violent.”

In the midst of a busy football season, professional athletes sometimes have to get creative with keep their relationship with God front and center. Often times they’re relying on the people God has brought into their lives to help them.

“I still have my chaplain from college that I still meet with once a week over the phone. Spending time with my wife in the Word (and) by myself. When we get a chance to be able to reset mid-week and getting that Word, I think it's huge. And I think we’re doing such a great job of that, not just individually, but as a team as well.”