NFL Veteran Embraces New Challenge at Seminary

Since 2009, Detroit Lions safety Don Carey has made a name for himself as a playmaker. Every week he goes up against the toughest competition in football. But as he looks back at his path to the NFL, he says trying to beat his opponent on the field, pales in comparison to overcoming the obstacles he faced growing up with a single mother and three sisters.

“You know, my mom worked 2 jobs to provide. She still struggled. I mean, imagine not being able to pay your gas bill in Michigan when it’s cold outside.”

His mom took them to church, but Don blamed God for the hardships they had to endure.

 “I lumped Christianity in that same pile as fatherlessness, that same pile as poverty, that same pile as everything that I didn’t want in my life. And I kind of used all of that as motivation to go and be successful. But I look back now and would see hatred was my motivation. Hatred for poverty, hatred for my father, hatred for a faith that seemingly kept my mother oppressed or what not,” said Don.

So Don began searching for something else to identify with.

Shawn: What was it you believe you were looking for?  
 “I was looking for God. You know. I think all religions, or anyone claiming to be ‘spiritual’, at the core of that, you’re looking for God,” said Don.

While in high school he thought he found what he was looking for in African Spiritualism.

 “You know, the idea that the black man is god and that really became very appealing to me. So that kind of became my foundation,” said Don.

Don’s mother decided to relocate the family to Norfolk, VA, where she married a man that would become Don’s father.

My dad is who I give that title to William H. Robinson III. Because he really stepped in and he took that role upon himself, you know, to provide for our family, to teach us, to guide us, to discipline us. I’ve learned so many lessons from him,” said Don.

After high school, Don attended Norfolk State University on a football scholarship. After 4 years at NSU, Don was selected in the 6th round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. At the time, Don was all about the party lifestyle and used his religion to justify it.

“If I’m in touch with, you know, African Spiritualism and nature and spirituality, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me smoking weed, right. I’m drinking and having a good time, I’m not hurting nobody else, we can actually go ahead and do those things. So my moral compass was wrong,” said Don.

He was waived by Cleveland during training camp, and picked up by Jacksonville and says it was the greatest thing to ever happen to him.

“That’s when God shattered my whole mindset of Christianity. So I walk into this Jacksonville Jaguar locker room and see guys like Rashean Mathis, Aaron Kampman, Maurice Williams, all these guys who are millionaires, but they are sold out believers in Christ. You know, I could not comprehend—I couldn’t understand it. Looking at the way that they carried themselves. It was something about them that kind of drew me to them,” said Don.

Shawn: So what did that do to you?

“It really caused me to sit back and question, okay, you know. Maybe I should look into this a little more. I just couldn’t say it was weak, helpless people anymore. Because they had every material thing that they would ever need in life, but yet they still bent the same knee to the God that my mom did who had nothing. So I looked at it differently.”

Eventually the team chaplain invited don to attend a conference for Christian athletes. He wanted to know more, so he decided to go.

 “It’s a 3-day seminar where they bring in different individuals and they give 30-minute sessions on the Gospel and living out your faith as professionals. And I remember to this day Tommy Davis led ours. And the passion that he had for the Lord, it just oozed out, right. It seemed like everything he said was a dagger to my heart. And I end up asking the question, God if you’re real, show me. That’s when He showed Himself, right, and I’ve been a follower ever since,” said Don.

Don was beginning to understand what he was missing gave his life to Jesus Christ.

 “I came to the realization that, you know, that faith is about surrendering to a holy and sovereign God, right. And when I came to that understanding, it led me on the path I am now.”

Today as a Detroit Lion, Don knows without a doubt where his identity and purpose come from. When he’s not on the field, he stays busy working with his ministry Don Carey International Ministries, which is geared toward preaching the gospel of Christ. In fact, he’s in seminary studying how to share better’ the love of Christ with others especially those who are searching to fill a void that only God can fill.

“I’ve come to the understanding that the only religion that properly conveys who that God is, is the Christian faith. The only religion that conveys the love of that God is the Christian faith. And more so than anything, I want people to understand that God is Father. Who loves us enough to know the numbers of hairs on our head, right? [He] works all things out for our good in the end. I think is paramount for each individual,” said Don.