Paralyzed Rutgers Player Eric LeGrand Needs and Deserves Our Prayers

Eric LeGrand should be on his way to class this morning at Rutgers. He should be with his friends, talking about class assignments, thinking about the next quiz or looking forward to football practice with his teammates later in the afternoon.

He should be. He's not.

Eric is in a hospital bed recovering from drastic emergency spinal surgery to stabilize the C3-C4 vertebrae.

He needs our prayers. He deserves our prayers. When you catch yourself thinking about some insignificant trouble in your life today, think about Eric, the Rutgers defensive tackle who is paralyzed from the neck down, and pray for him.

It is what we fear most about football and seldom talk about. What happened to Eric on Saturday in Rutgers' victory over Army reminds us that football is not a contact sport—it is a collision sport. Bad things can and do happen.

This is one of those really bad, unfortunate things.

What happened to Eric makes things like this first BCS poll seem so very insignificant, and in the big picture it surely is that. When something like this happens, we all need to take more than a moment to put our own daily troubles aside and ask for a miracle for Eric.

He needs to walk again. He needs to recover. He simply has to.

Prayer works, prayer succeeds, prayer provides the promise that good can come from bad and that miracles happen all around us on a daily basis.

Eric needs one of those miracles.

It is unimaginable what his family is going through. Their strong son is lying there in a hospital bed. There is nothing worse in life than the unknown. Fear of the unknown is the worst.

Eric needs your prayers.

When you find a moment today, pray for him.

It's one of the best things in life you can do.