Kaká, Brazil

Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite)
Player on the Brazil Team

Source: www.atletasdecristo.org

As an amateur player, I played for Sao Paulo F.C: since the age of 10. I went through all the basic categories.

I always dreamed about the Brazilian National Team. But it was only a dream! Then one day the dream became a career goal. Things really happened too fast for me. God prepares us and if it happened is because he had already prepared me. God has great things for us, if God wants me to be there, I will be. The will of God is good, perfect and pleasant.

I was born in a Christian family. My parents were already converted and I grew up in the presence of the Lord. My conversion came from my baptism, when I started having a relationship like a son of God. When I was baptized in 1994, there was something supernatural. I do not explain it, but after that experience I got closer to God.

I began to know God more deeply, I learned that faith works within the limits of circumstances. Things with God are resolved at the last moment, and it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not. In October of 2000 I was playing in the Under 20 Championship. I went to visit my grandparents in Caldas Novas, and I went down a slide pool. When I fell into the water, I hit my head on the pool bottom and twisted my neck. That turn caused the fracture of a vertebra. The doctors said that I was very lucky to still be able to walk normally. They were talking about luck and my family was talking about God. At home, we always thank God because we knew that was the hand and deliverance from him that had protected me.

Being an Athlete of Christ for me is not difficult. I am the same within the field what I am out of it. It is necessary to stay calm. I can not be fighting as I am not a fighting person. Also I can not get involved in trouble or be talking dirty words. I do not want to see people saying about me: “Look, this guy says one thing and does another.” My concern before my companions, before the adversaries, is to be who I am and never say one thing and be another. Inside the club I try to be an example. I try to show what God has done in my life and what He can do in their lives too.

Whenever possible, I try to say something about Jesus, about life with God, advises, help. 
To the ones who already have Jesus I use to say you made the best choice and now you are in the best team. Go ahead! Do not give up. The fight is great, but we can only win standing next to Jesus.

For those who have not committed his life to Jesus I have to say: What are you doing out of that team? Come and learn the Word of God, come to know that God is real. Listen, it is supernatural and God has great things for our lives.