Jacob Messer: Where God leads, O'Neal follows

Andre O'Neal and his wife, Tonia, started packing his possessions and clothes from his Ninth Avenue apartment in March.

The former Marshall linebacker had no idea where he was going, but he knew the Lord was taking him somewhere.

"The Lord just led me to start packing everything I own," O'Neal said. "People were asking me what I was doing and where I was going.

"I told them I didn't know. I was just doing what the Lord was telling me because I knew He was taking me someplace."

That place, as it turns out, is Kansas City, where he will vie for a roster spot for the Chiefs when he reports to mini-camp April 27.

Kansas City signed him to a free agent contract Sunday.

No one deserves such an opportunity more than the 6-foot-2, 235-pound O'Neal. Not necessarily because of his athletic ability, which he has in abundance, but because of his character and his patience.

If for no other reason, O'Neal should get the shot because kids deserve a true role model in athletics, a person who is a Christian on and off the football field.

Too often players praise God and thank Him for His role in their touchdowns and tackles on the football field, only to indulge in sex, drugs and alcohol off of it.

Not O'Neal, who became a Christian April 28, 1998.

"It's tough, especially for student-athletes, because there's so much out there to tempt you," he said. "The only thing I can do is live a Christian lifestyle in and out of season. As long as I do that, that will be a testimony in itself."

On his autographs "Andre O'Neal #55" is followed by "G.T.L.I.A.Y.D." ­ Glorify the Lord in all you do.

Instead of corny jingles or straightforward messages, testimonies and scriptures are on his answering machine.

Just ways for O'Neal to be a witness for God.

"Anything I can do to glorify Him," he said, "I'm going to do. Those are great ways to show people your faith and to open their hearts and minds to the Lord."

His methods worked on a friend who plays football for Tennessee Tech.

"He wanted to talk to me about the Lord and he had questions for me, but I wasn't home for a long time," O'Neal said. "It just so happened the message I left on the answering machine before I left answered his questions and was a blessing to him.

"I hadn't talked to the guy and had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about, but the Lord put it into my mind what to say."

His faith was crucial during the NFL Draft this weekend. After seven rounds and 253 players, the draft ended Sunday night and O'Neal was teamless.

Until the deal with the Chiefs, that is. O'Neal had offers from St. Louis and San Francisco, but he chose the Chiefs, who offered more money and did not sign or draft any more linebackers.

"I just asked the Lord to give me patience during the wait and to put me in the right place in the end," O'Neal said. "I knew He would work it out and He did."

His wife, a Bluefield native and Marshall graduate, lives in Charlotte and works for Bank of America. His wife has a 5-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, "but she's our daughter," O'Neal points out.

If O'Neal makes the Chiefs, his wife will join him in Kansas City. If not, he will join her in Charlotte or they will move somewhere else and he will seek another football tryout or use his bachelor's degree in adult fitness to work.

"Wherever God leads me," O'Neal said, "I'll go."