Destiny's Team: A Story About Love Choices and Eternity

Destiny's Team is a story that combines deep spiritual truths within the context and drama of professional football. While this story is centered around a professional NFL quarterback as its main character it cannot be seen as merely a sports novel. Central to its plot are the Christian themes of redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness and second chances. An eternal perspective is provided with glimpses of heaven or hell as the ultimate destination for each one of us. An awareness of the unseen spirit world and its impact upon our daily lives is felt throughout the story. Jason O'Connor, the main character, is an NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. After a sensational college career Jason had been a disappointment for the first eight years of his NFL career. However, he finally comes into his own as a superstar when Seattle picks him up in a trade. Within two years after coming to Seattle he ignites the Seahawks bringing them to the NFL's conference championship game with the winner going on to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. During the regular season Jason had teamed up with his old college roommate and wide receiver, Bobby Childs, to dominate the league in passing statistics and bring the Seahawks to the brink of sports immortality. During college both Jason and his friend Bobby Childs were arrogant athletes who, because of their sensational athletic achievements on the football field, ruled the roost on the campus of Washington State University. Both of them had serious girlfriends during this time. Bobby and his girlfriend, Mandy Brooks, were the wild pair who partied and socialized continuously while in school. Jason and his girlfriend, Rachel Thomlinson, were more reserved in their lifestyles but were the constant companions of Bobby and Mandy. Mandy and Rachel were best friends. Both of them become pregnant during this time. Due to pressure from Bobby Mandy, who is pregnant with twins, terminates her pregnancy. Rachel discovers her pregnancy the spring before Jason's senior year. When she tells Jason he demands that she do the right thing and take care of the problem. She breaks off her relationship with Jason. Her last communication to him is a letter sent during the summer telling him that she has taken care of the problem and that she won't be back in school in the fall. Later that fall Jason and Bobby lead their team to the PAC 10 championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl. During a party celebrating their championship Mandy approaches them with devastating news. Rachel Thomlinson had been in a serious car accident and was not expected to live. Mandy loses her composure and explodes in anger at Jason and Bobby in a highly emotionally charged scene. She breaks off her relationship with Bobby and walks out of both of their lives. Later that night Jason drives 6 hours to the hospital bed of Rachel to witness her death. Neither Jason nor Bobby is the same after this. They both play very poorly in the Rose Bowl. Their pro careers are disappointing and at best mediocre until Jason catches fire with the Seahawks eight years later. After his first year with the team Jason convinces the Seahawks to trade for Bobby and the pair catch fire together just like they did in the old days at WSU. The first chapter opens up with the NFCs championship game with the Seahawks playing the St. Louis Rams. The Seahawks suffer from unusual jitters in the first half and find themselves behind 19-0 by halftime. The last play of the first half is a particular embarrassment to Jason as he fumbles a snap from center and lets the ball go into the end zone while he falls on it giving the Rams a two-point safety. In the locker room during the halftime break Coach Paul Wagner, a key character in the story, verbally terrorizes the team and humiliates Jason in front of his teammates. Jason and the team respond with a second half comeback that ends with a sensational touchdown run by Jason on the last play of the game giving the Seahawk a 20-19 victory and a trip to the Super Bowl. The Seattle hometown crowd hysterically celebrates the victory and it takes awhile before they notice that Jason O'Connor, their superstar quarterback, is lying unconscious in the end zone. He is taken off the field in a stretcher and it is later determined that he received a very series concussion from the blow that tackled him into the end zone. His availability to play in the Super Bowl in two weeks is now questionable. After the celebration is over in the locker room Jason and Coach Wagner leave the stadium to drive to the hospital for a CAT scan to be performed. On the way to their car adoring fans and reporters wanting to know more information about Jason's injuries surrounds them. They are standing at the bottom of an unfinished parking garage talking when out of the blue a fan screams a warning and tackles Jason knocking him to the hard concrete pavement and causing another serious injury to his head. The fan's actions were motivated by a large unsecured concrete beam from the second floor of the garage falling over towards Jason. Although the tackle saved Jason's life it clearly further compounded his head injuries. The fan that made the life saving tackle is the Rev. Josiah Johnson, a local African American pastor in an inner city church. Rev Johnson, or "Joe" as he is known, is married to a Vietnamese woman, Helena. They have an adopted son who has Down Syndrome and is suffering from a very rare and fatal blood disease. They named their son Moses because when he was a newborn his mother left him at the steps of the adoption agency in a basket reminding them of the biblical account of baby Moses when he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses' blood disease is terminal. He is scheduled for a blood transfusion the Friday before the Super Bowl. The doctors believe the transfusion will prolong his life but only if the blood donor is genetically related to the child. However, because of the circumstances surrounding his adoption there are no records as to whom might be genetically related and give the blood to make the transfusion a success. The media is caught up in the story of Joe, Helena and Moses. Joe is a former small college football player. He is a football fanatic, but as a pastor of an inner city church he cannot afford to buy season tickets to the Seahawk games. However, he, Helena and Moses attend every Seahawk home game by driving their car to the stadium and listening to the game on the radio as they sit outside the stadium in their parked car. This is why Joe was on the scene at the time of the incident at the parking garage. Because of his actions, the media run with the story making Joe a local hero who saved Jason's life. Jason begins to build a very close relationship with Joe, Helena and Moses and, as he does, one very important question begins to surface. Could Moses be Jason's child? If so, Jason would be the only known genetically related blood donor who could step in to save Moses' life. This issue begins to surface as Mandy Brooks steps back into Bobby's life. She asks to see Bobby as an old friend but she has some information to give him. Prior to her death Rachel had written a letter to Jason telling him that she had prematurely given birth the summer after their break up to a little boy who was very sick. With Mandy's help and encouragement she drove to Seattle and left the baby on the steps of an adoption agency in a basket. Rachel tells Mandy of the letter's contents and gives it to her for safekeeping, as she was not sure she wanted to send it. Rachel dies before she can decide whether to send the letter and Mandy has kept it undisturbed for over ten years. Mandy tells Bobby that she must give this letter to Jason because a local reporter has been doing some investigation and was ready to break the story that Jason had sired a child out of wedlock in college. If written in that way the ensuing scandal would ruin Jason's reputation and take away the focus and concentration of the Seahawk team in its preparation for the Super Bowl. During their meeting Mandy reveals to Bobby another critical matter. She was pregnant when she broke off her relationship with him years before and has a ten-year-old son with him. She named her son Bobby after his father. During this discussion it also becomes apparent to Bobby that Mandy has undergone a major spiritual transformation in her life and has found contentment and peace in a relationship with God. Mandy meets with Jason and he reads the letter from Rachel. Jason immediately suspects that Moses is his son but to be sure he meets with Joe and Helena. At the meeting he asks probing questions about Moses, his physical condition and the circumstances surrounding the adoption. He discovers evidence during this conversation that leads him to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that he is Moses' father. He is now confronted with the decision of whether he should be the blood donor to save the life of his son. If he does so, he will undoubtedly be unable to play in the Super Bowl as his body will still be recovering from its weakened condition in supplying the blood. Jason next has an encounter that will change him forever. After discovering his relationship with Moses he takes a long drive and ends up on a beach in Seattle's Puget Sound. It is late at night and he views the starlit sky while in deep thought. He notices a couple of shooting stars in the sky and has a memory flashback to the time he was a child when his mother told him that every time a shooting star appears it means that God is sending a guardian angel to earth to protect somebody. Suddenly a stranger appears on the beach and begins a conversation with Jason. The stranger, whose name is Josh, tells Jason that he is his biggest fan and has been to all of his games. In introducing himself to Jason Josh says the he "builds bridges" and Jason assumes he is an engineer. Ja...