Jamie Nieto: Letting God Do the Work
“I always had a yearning for God. I try to glorify God in my jumping,” says Jamie. “As an athlete, it's hard to step back and just let God take over. You want to try and do things so much, but you just have to step back and let God do His work and things will happen.”
Stepping back and letting God intervene has made a difference. When Jamie graduated from high school in 1994, he wasn’t even jumping well enough to earn a scholarship for college.
“From there I made the commitment and prayed a lot and tried to think about what it was going to take to make that full scholarship to go to Eastern Michigan, and things kind of fell into place for me and I was very happy about it. I jumped seven feet, got a scholarship to Eastern Michigan, and went on to break records,” says Jamie.
Three championships to be exact! But, after college he faced disappointment. Four years ago, Jamie failed to qualify for the Sydney Olympics so he is thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to compete in Athens.
“I can’t wait, I’m just very excited, and I want it all to happen now. It’s hard to be patient,” says Jamie. “ I almost wanted to cry, man. It's God blessing me. God gave this to me right now. It kind of brings tears to my eyes.”
With no more than a month until the Olympic competition, Jamie says that this opportunity has strengthened his relationship with Christ.
“I think it just continues to increase my faith. I think going to church and hearing the word, that’s awesome and that also increases your faith,” says Jamie. “I don’t know about the viewers or anybody else, but for me God is out there and He’s watching me and I’m going to do it. Just put your faith in God and everything will come to you.”
