So many times in the sports world an athlete will give the glory to God for his or her athletic ability after a great performance. But does that athlete really attribute everything that is given to him or her, good or bad, to God or a higher power? Or is that just a ploy that is thrown out there but never lived out in their lives?

Two ISU athletes and an Oklahoma Sooner who have been at the top of their sports for four years now would say the former rather than the latter.

“You definitely take things a lot easier,” said Grant Turner, one of Iowa State’s 2007 NCAA wrestling championship qualifiers. “There’s always God watching out for you. No matter if I lose or if I win, all of it’s for the glory of God and it’s not for what I’m doing. It’s not to better my name.”

Athletes that have something greater to live for and not just the present athletic forum they’re in have a different outlook in life. They believe their purpose is beyond the present stage they’re in.

Sometimes it takes the inability to play the sport they love in order to realize this.

That’s what it took for ISU football junior wideout Milan Moses, who has been hampered by Crohn’s disease throughout his ISU career.

“When I got sick, it made me sit back and made me realize that football wasn’t going to get me better,” Moses said.

“Football is a game. It’s fun. I love it . But the Lord, you can’t do anything without him in life. I know I wouldn’t have been able to get through my battle without the Lord.”

In reality, the time we have on this earth is very short. To an athlete who has faith there is something beyond this life, the outlook is towards the future.

“None of this lasts forever,” Moses said. “It’s where you’re going to be for eternity.”

For these athletes, the faith they have is solidified and strong and they don’t believe they would be the same person or do the same things without this faith.

“You can’t really do anything without your faith,” Moses said. “I know I can’t.”

Moses believes his faith helps him to focus better and have more trust in his abilities as an athlete.

“When you have faith you have confidence because the Bible says you can do all things through Christ,” Moses said. “Anything that you want to do you can do it through him.”

Family has played a huge role in all three of these athletes’ athletic careers. But the thing they are all grateful for is how their families were able to keep their focus on things above and the big picture in life.

“My dad, I’d like to thank and my mom did a great job of getting the basics in me, getting a way of thinking,” said Sam Hazewinkel, a four-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma. “Now that I’m on my own I kind of understand what he’s [God] doing a lot more.”

It took Hazewinkel a period of time away from his family to realize the things his parents instilled in him growing up were for real and a faith in God is something that molds every single thing that you do in life.

“When you get to college when you’re away from home, you get bombarded with all kinds of new ideas that you just don’t get in high school,” said Hazewinkel. “I think my faith helped me out a lot there. I could kind of see through it and now I think I’m a lot more wise about things than I was going into college and a lot more strong in my faith in that sense too.”

Religion for these athletes is not a thing you can put away and bring back out whenever you feel like it in life. It is their life and God has to be in every aspect of their life in order for what they believe to be effective.

“I think God wants you to have him in all aspects of your life,” said Turner. “Not just like this little thing that you set off to the side . Having God be in your work, be in your wrestling, be in your life and knowing him like that is I think what he wants . He wants to have a personal relationship with you.”

Turner lives that out and the reality of his faith is shown through the testimony that is portrayed in his everyday life towards his teammates.