NARRATOR: Since 2009, Detroit Lions safety, Don Carey,

has made a name for himself as a play-maker.

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 two jobs to provide.

She still struggled.

Imagine not being able to pay your gas bill in Michigan when

it's cold outside.

NARRATOR: His mom took them to church,

but Don blamed God for all the hardships they had to endure.

I lumped Christianity in that same path

as fatherlessness, the same pile as poverty,

the 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 say hatred was my motivation-- hated for poverty,

hatred for my father, hatred for a fate that seemingly kept

my mother oppressed or whatnot.

NARRATOR: So Don began searching for something else

to identify with.

What was it do you believe you were looking for?

I was looking for God, and I think all religions or anyone

claiming to be spiritual at the core of that you're

looking for God.

NARRATOR: 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.

Don's mother decided to relocate the family to Norfolk,

Virginia where she married a man that would become Don's father.

My dad is who I give that title to William H. Robinson

the third because he really stepped in

and he took that role upon himself to provide

for our family, to teach us, to guide us, and to discipline us.

I learned so many lessons from him.

NARRATOR: After high school, Don attended

Norfolk State University on a football scholarship.

After four years at NSU, Don was selected

in the sixth 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 African Spiritualism and nature

and spirituality there's absolutely nothing wrong

with me smoking weed, right?

Drinking, having a good.

I'm not hurting nobody else.

We can actually go ahead and do those things,

so my moral compass was wrong.

NARRATOR: He was waived by Cleveland during training camp,

but picked up by Jacksonville.

And he says it was the greatest thing to ever happen to him.

Because that's when God shattered

my whole mindset of Christianity.

So I walk into the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room

and I see guys like Rashean Mathis, Aaron Kampman, Maurice

Williams-- all these guys who are millionaires,

but they are sold out believers in Christ.

And it was something about them that kind of drew me to them.

You said you walk in, you see these Godly men-- I

mean, what did that do to you?

Like I said, it rocked my understanding of Christianity,

and it really caused me to sit back

and question you know OK, maybe I should

look into this a little more.

You know, I still thought it was something else

for weak-minded people, I just couldn't

say it was for weak or helpless people

anymore, because they had every material thing that

would every need in life, but yet they

still bent the same knee to the God

that my mom who had nothing.

So I looked at it differently.

NARRATOR: Eventually, the team chaplain

invited Don to attend a conference called Professional

Athletes Outreach.

He wanted to know more, so he decided to go.

It's a three day seminar where they

bring in different individuals and they

give 30 minute sessions on the gospel

and living out faith as a professional.

Listening to those guys talk is like every session was

a dagger right into my heart.

And then we would have breakout sessions

and different veterans in the NFL would lead them.

And I remember to this day Tommy Davis led ours,

and the passion that he had for the Lord it just oozed out.

And everything he said was a dagger to my heart.

NARRATOR: Don was beginning to understand

what he'd been missing, and he gave his life to Jesus Christ.

I came to the realization that the faith is about surrendering

to a holy and sovereign God, and when

I came to that understanding it led me down the path I am now.

NARRATOR: 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, which is geared toward preaching

the gospel of Christ.

In fact, he's in seminary studying

how to better share 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 for you to understand that God

is father who loves us enough to know the numbers of the hairs

on our head, but just having an understanding

that there is a personable God who loves us

and who works all things out for our good in the end I think

is paramount for each individual.