Enjoy The Trip

Written by:
Michael Warsaw

I’ve loved football for as long as I can remember. I started playing in 4th grade for two reasons:

  1. Tackle football didn’t start in 3rd grade
  2. The same reason I imagine a lot of kids started… to hit people as hard as I could!

While that aspect of the game never ceased to be a major part of why I continued playing (because where else can you full on tackle somebody and be praised for it?) – Over time, there were many, much deeper, lessons that only increased my love for football; lessons that shaped my life and made me into the man I am today. Many of these aspects were learned playing for the LUTES at Pacific Lutheran University.

Football has always been a vehicle for learning about life off the field, even though I may not have always realized it in the moment. My experience at PLU gave me the opportunity to play the greatest game in the world with my brothers, but I also learned to serve, be thankful, and enjoy the trip… because, as Frosty Westering would say: “The goal is not at the end of the road; the goal IS the road!”

This short video, made by Porch.com, is meant to dive into the lives of different co-workers. When they asked me to speak about a part of my life that has shaped who I am today… well I immediately thought about the LUTES of PLU and my friend John “Nellie” Nelson.

This post is dedicated to Frosty Westering and John ‘Nellie’ Nelson. Thank you for living out what it means to be a servant warrior and touching the lives of so many. You are both missed and remembered in our hearts everyday; and I know you are playing football in heaven.