Some people come into our lives for a season, and others for a reason.
Doug Provenzano has coached hundreds of kids through football seasons with West Valley Army Youth Football in Litchfield Park, Arizona. The organization aims to develop young athletes in preparation for high school and beyond.
As seasons change, so do names, faces and athletes. But one “fine young man” came into Doug’s life for an incredible reason.
Five years ago, the football coach met a young boy named Marquise.
“He walked up behind me with a hair cut that was 5 months past due and a big hole in his shirt & one sock on his foot,” Doug writes on Facebook.
Doug Provenzano
“He tugged on the back of my shirt and said, ‘Sir can you teach me how to play football?’”
Doug responded to the boy assuring that he teaches much more than football, before asking where his parents were as the program and football as a whole is quite the expense.
“My mom died and I don’t know where dad is, but my Auntie takes care of me,” Doug recalls Marquise saying.
Before the coach could even dumb up a response, the Lord intervened.
“God spoke to me that second and told me to take care of him in every way. God said to me ‘be a Shepherd.’”
The West Valley Army Youth Football is available for students ages 5-14 years old, as it prepares them for sports—football and cheer—at a high school level.
In May, Marquise had his 8th grade promotion, where his time with WVAYF came to a bittersweet close. But one thing is certain, his time with Doug is just getting started.
Doug Provenzano
The Phoenix dad says he never expected that those three words, “be a shepherd,” would have radically changed his life that day.
“The Lord gave me another son who would change me and him for ever.”
He continues:
“I have never been more proud to sit at an 8th grade promotion as I was today.”
In their time together on the football field, Marquise and Doug won four national titles and multiple state championships.
Doug Provenzano
Doug watched with joy as the boy he now thinks of as a son closed the page on a tremendous chapter in his life. He reflected on the past four years and how one fateful moment changed the trajectory of both of their lives forever.
“But I reflected most on how Jesus dropped him into my life like a stork from the sky and how far he has come since that day.
I Love you Marquise!”
And to top it all off, Doug says, “The Lord gave us four more years of high school together.”
Doug Provenzano
Doug’s testimony is an amazing reminder that following God’s call, listening to his voice and acting in obedience isn’t just for the sake of making some one else’s life better. He doesn’t use your circumstance to change others. He uses it to change you.
And that my friends is a most beautiful thing.
