I grew up in a small village not far from Vienna. All I was interested in was soccer. Georg Schmidt, the former coach of the national team, told me about the young Hans Krankl that he would set up a goal on all four sides of his living room so that he could score in all directions. I could fully identify with that.
However, my school grades were very bad and when my parents asked me about my further schooling or my career aspirations, I just didn’t care. Not only that, but I wasn’t even aware that these decisions would shape my future life – I just lived for the day as if there was no tomorrow.
When I came back to the soccer field one evening, there were a few new faces – which didn’t happen very often in our village. A father and his two sons played with us. As it turned out later, they came from America and were sports fanatics, which of course appealed to me a lot, because the club’s training sessions were often too few for me and I was often practicing by myself. Now I finally had the right partners and they even had soccer goals in their garden, which gave me a new plan for the holidays. But I didn’t just get to know athletes, I also got to know a real family: parents with three children. As an only child, that was unknown to me. I loved doing sports with them, playing games and spending evenings together. They also had frequent visits from other families and young students, which further enriched the community.
I had already noticed that they sometimes discussed topics together and gave short talks in front of students, but I didn’t really pay attention. One day the father and his eldest son took me aside and told me about his personal beliefs. In the end, he gave me a Bible and invited me to read it. If I had any questions, I could come to him.
At home I opened this book and couldn’t get away from it! I was fascinated and a new world opened up for me. Not only the world of the Bible, but it was as if light was pouring into my darkness and my eyes were opened to other people, relationships, life situations, literature, society and much more.
One evening, as I was sitting with my Bible, I had a key experience: I was reading the Gospels about Jesus’ Way of the Cross. I knew that from my childhood, but this time it was completely different. Suddenly it was no longer just a historical event for me, but the thought struck me like lightning that God’s Son had done all this for me personally! I literally broke down before God and was given a new life, experiencing His presence, love and grace.
When I later studied theology, I read from Augustine: “If there was only one person living on earth, God would still have sent his Son to save him.” That was exactly my experience that evening. Today I am happily married, have six children and still love soccer – I am a sports chaplain. –Wolfgang